Planning Consultant Tommy Pacello to Present Lecture on Jan. 19 in Little Rock

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Tommy Pacello, special project manager for U3 Advisors, will give a lecture Jan. 19 at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock.

LITTLE ROCK — Tommy Pacello will present a lecture at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, at the Arkansas Arts Center, at Ninth and Commerce streets in Little Rock. The lecture, titled "Innovations in City Building: Lessons from Memphis," will follow a 5:30 p.m. reception.

This lecture is part of the Architecture and Design Network's 2015-2016 lecture series.

Pacello serves as special project manager for U3 Advisors, a national consulting practice that provides real estate and economic development solutions for community institutions.

In the lecture, Pacello will speak about lessons to be learned from the Memphis Mayor's Innovation Delivery Team (MMIDT), a group in Memphis, Tennessee, charged with helping struggling city neighborhoods become economically viable once again. Until recently, he was a member of this team.

Pacello and his former team members worked with distressed communities as they dealt with the challenges of urban blight, vacant properties, youth gun violence and the lack of adequate community services. Through the team's efforts, many distressed neighborhoods have been made livable again and enabled to sustain their viability.

Pacello started his career as an assistant city attorney, representing Memphis in matters pertaining to planning, zoning and constitutional law. He was recently named one of the 40 Top Real Estate Professionals Under 40 by Urban Land magazine.

The 2015-16 Art of Architecture lecture series is sponsored by the Architecture and Design Network, with support from the Central Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Arkansas Arts Center, the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design and community members.

The lecture is free and open to the public, and no reservations are needed. For more information contact, ardenetwork@me.com.