The term "mixed-use development" holds a variety of meanings and can be applied to a wide range of community development projects.
Development projects may be classified as "mixed-use" if they provide more than one use or purpose within a shared building or development area. Mixed-use projects may include any combination of housing, office, retail, medical, recreational, commercial or industrial components.
These projects might vary in scale from a single building occupied by a retail shop on the ground floor with an upstairs apartment to a comprehensive "urban village" development with multiple buildings containing separate but compatible uses such as a retail center, office building and medical clinic located adjacent to a multi-family housing complex.
A single owner and business operator might occupy a mixed-use building, or multiple housing and commercial tenants could lease space within a mixed-use development project. Mixed-use projects often involve the redevelopment of buildings and blocks located in aging inner-city commercial districts. However, new construction of mixed-use development is occurring in urban and suburban communities as well.
Regardless of the form it takes, mixed-use development is an integral part of most communities, creating unique places where people can live, work, play and meet everyday shopping and lifestyle needs within a single neighborhood.
