A general session at the ULI Carolinas Meeting, moderated by Risa Wilkerson of Healthy Places by Design, showcased how the convergence of the built environment, health and equity forms a complex web that impacts every facet of human life. Dr. Malo Andrew Hutson, a distinguished academic at the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture, provided a deep dive into how residential segregation and the built environment contribute to health disparities.
Many populations and regions face well-documented housing affordability challenges. For college students, specifically, the lack of options located on or near campus creates an additional hurdle in achieving their higher education goals. The inability to affordably live close to school has a huge impact on their time, performance, expense, and quality of life—not to mention increased output of greenhouse gases. Perkins & Will is partnering with the University of California San Diego (UCSD), which receives the second-largest of number applications of any university, nationwide, to help those students by designing the largest on-campus housing project in the country.
Potential trouble brewing in a sector that has been viewed as relatively bulletproof multifamily sector is concerning. But while stress is very much real, industry participants are quick to point out that the overall foundation for multifamily remains strong. “The cracks that we’re seeing are not structural; they’re superficial,” says Vincent DiSalvo, chief investment officer at Kingbird Investment Management, a family office investment firm specializing in multifamily.
ULI is proud to announce that we have joined MEP 2040 as a supporting organization. MEP 2040 is a movement to radically reduce total carbon emissions associated with Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) systems through collective action. “The embodied carbon associated with MEP systems is a burgeoning topic in real estate ESG.
Finance & Investment
Despite the monetary headwinds and continued economic uncertainty around the world, there is a strong belief that the global real estate industry is at a “pivot point,” with improving prospects ahead for renewed investment activity, according to the latest Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Global Outlook 2024 from PwC and the Urban Land Institute.
For months, if not years, panic-inducing headlines have lamented the existential crisis facing the U.S. office market as a “wall of maturities” looms: $2.2 trillion of commercial real estate debt coming due between now and the end of 2027, according to Trepp estimates.
The latest troubles at New York Community Bank have some observers wondering whether it could be a canary in the coal mine for the broader regional banking sector. Regional banks are definitely in a tough spot due to deposit flight, higher funding costs, and concerns about problematic commercial real estate loans. But, at least for now, troubles seem to be limited to a few isolated cases, rather than systemic.
The strain of higher interest rates is creating sleepless nights for some commercial real estate owners and operators these days. On the flip side, there is significant capital eagerly lining up to take advantage of market dislocation.
Despite the challenges in finding funding, many experts agree that the benefits ofhaving diverse developers in communities of color and across the entire real estate landscape is critical.
Commercial real estate investors are hitting refresh on stodgy investment strategies and sending more capital flowing into alternative property sectors. Portfolio managers that were once laser-focused on traditional property sectors are expanding strategies to include bigger allocations beyond the typical mix of office, retail, industrial, and multifamily assets.
What ULI members need to know about the United States’ largest infrastructure investment in a generation.
Developers, nonprofits, and advocates for homeless services believe that now is an ideal time to raise awareness of Title V.
In Depth
California’s recent landmark legislation on climate disclosure, passed in fall 2023, will drive new evolution in real estate reporting on climate risk and provide more public insight than ever into the industry’s impact on climate change.
As concerns about the sustainability of the world’s love affair with the car and airplane grow, the European Union aims to put more people back on trains, a strategy that will require not only laying new tracks but refurbishing old stations. From Barcelona to Vilnius, some of these developments aim not only to make public transportation more convenient but to renew the quarter in which they are located.
Public-private partnership creates a city within a city on 355 acres of undeveloped land located on the 100-year-old ASU campus.
How can academic institutions and private sector partners collaborate to spur development in a challenging economy?
Sponsored
Despite having more information than at any point in history about humanity’s role in climate change and the importance of reducing our environmental impact, over the last decade, the U.S. building industry has steadily increased the amount of waste it produces.
Best Practices
Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued new rules requiring public companies to enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures. The rules phase in over time, requiring the largest companies or public investor shares to begin making climate risk disclosures in 2025.
Arizona is at the epicenter of an evolving dynamic that can best be described with a phrase uttered by a panelist at ULI Arizona’s Trends Day 2024—disruption equals opportunity.
The 2024 Terwilliger Center Home Attainability Index (HAI) features a full set of interactive data visualization tools that can help ULI members unpack housing challenges nationwide and specifically for their locale.
Industry Voices
The mental and physical benefits of being close to bodies of water—or “blue space”—have made headlines amid growing consumer interest in health and wellness. Scientific studies have shown the positive impacts of living and spending time near oceans, lakes, ponds, and rivers—benefits including reduced stress and anxiety, improved sleep, and generally a healthier and more active lifestyle.
As office values have declined, it’s created a pivotal moment for astute investors and developers as they evaluate the underlying land value and look for the best property uses over the long term. Indeed, there is latent potential in the evolving office landscapes, but a keen and studied eye will be required to discern the true opportunities from the potential money pits.
Neglected yet historic department store remade into a vibrant destination anchored by buzzy health food grocer Erewhon.
During the summer of 1910, W. Ashbie Hawkins, an African American lawyer, purchased a home at 1834 McCulloh Street, an affluent—and all-white—neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland. He rented the home to his law partner (and brother-in-law), George McMechen, an African American graduate of Yale Law School.
A report released by Philadelphia’s Center City District (CCD) in October 2023 tracks the recovery of twenty-six of the largest downtowns in the United States, exploring four key variables that impact recovery.
Philanthropy
Whether they are increasing representation of women in the real estate industry, educating students and public officials about development, or helping local communities find solutions to their infrastructure needs, the programs that donors support by contributing to the ULI Foundation have a powerful impact.
John Porter, president of Charter Properties, and his wife, Ann, have committed to continue funding the Etkin Scholars Program in Charlotte, North Carolina, thus extending a national scholarship program that Bruce Etkin, former chairman of Etkin Johnson Real Estate Partners, established in 2021 with a $1 million gift. The Porters’ donation helps fulfill Etkin’s vision that other ULI members would be inspired to continue and expand the program.
The ULI Foundation Honor Roll recognizes donors based upon their cumulative lifetime giving. The ULI Foundation’s recognition societies honor and thank members and friends who have committed to supporting the Urban Land Institute generously and consistently.
ULI Housing Opportunity Conference
Coverage of the Housing Opportunity Conference, held February 20-21, 2024 in Austin. This conference is an annual event that convenes housing industry professionals with one common goal—to expand housing opportunities in their communities.
AUSTIN—Despite rumblings to the contrary, the American dream of homeownership is not a fading relic from the nation’s Post World War II era. In fact, homeownership remains a key lever to elevate families from generational poverty to the middle class, according to two of the nation’s top leaders in the housing industry.
AUSTIN – The nation’s housing market may show a slight uptick this year, but for millions of Americans spanning the great gulf of home affordability will remain impossible, according to opening day speakers at the 2024 ULI Housing Opportunity Conference, which drew more than 500 attendees.
AUSTIN—Austin, a tech hub that has become one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation, has grown wider, longer, taller, and denser. And there’s hope that it may become more closely knitted together via an upcoming massive transportation project that could bring more cohesion between affluent areas and traditionally underserved neighborhoods.
UL Interview
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, known for reinventing Paris as a 15-minute city, to receive the prestigious ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development.
When Urban Landlast spoke to New York City landlord Leslie Himmel of Himmel + Meringoff Properties in March, vacancy within the nation’s largest office market was hovering just below 10 percent. While that still registers below the market’s peak of 11.7 percent in 2010, according to Moody’s, that rate has continued to drift upwards since March. Urban Landrecently sat down with Himmel for a lively discussion about doing business in a recessionary market amid rising interest rates, and her ongoing search for what she calls “brave money.”
Internationally acclaimed Chicago architect and Studio Gang founder, known for bringing a sustainable approach to tall buildings, to receive the prestigious ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development.
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