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Capital Markets

Monday's Numbers: May 21, 2012

The Trepp LLC survey showed spreads unchanged during the most recent survey period as the markets spent the week either waiting on the Facebook initial public offering or the imminent default on its obligations by some or all of the southern portion of Europe.

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Carol Browner

ULI Spring Meeting

Clean Energy is Key to America’s Success

Former EPA Administrator Carol Browner in the opening session of the ULI Spring Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, told the audience that whoever leads the world in development of clean energy technology will lead the global economy. She noted that American private sector energy innovators are receiving lukewarm support from the Federal government.

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Planning & Design

Designing for an Aging Population

“The attributes of the single-family house are becoming obstacles to aging in place well,” with the distance from shops and services and the lack of walkability, said Ellen Dunham Jones, architecture professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “We need to link the needs of the aging population with dead big-box stores and dying malls.”

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Planning & Design

Preparing for an Aging Population

The aging of American society is not a transitory phenomenon caused by baby boomers, said Jack Rowe, professor of health policy management at Columbia University, in a recent conference at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. “It’s a permanent structural change induced by greater longevity.”

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Capital Markets

A Competitive Finance Debate

In a session at ULI's 2012 Spring Meeting, ULI members Glenn Grimaldi, executive vice president of HSBC; David D. Clark, senior vice president, Real Estate, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.; and Kevin Pivnick, managing director, Deutsche Bank, all described a healthy mortgage market in which only the long shots are having trouble finding funding these days.

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Economy, Markets, & Trends

Making Money in Residential Real Estate

Panelists at ULI’s Spring Meeting agreed that strategies never considered before are worth considering now in this market in which renting seems to have more appeal than buying. However, George Casey, chief executive officer at Orleans Homebuilders, noted that Orleans is building fewer models and foot traffic is slower per community, but sales are greater.
Infrastructure & Transit

Infrastructure 2012 Highlights Innovation

Constrained public budgets— combined with lack of action at the federal level—are causing states, regions and cities across the U.S. to seek innovative infrastructure approaches and solutions. Infrastructure 2012: Spotlight on Leadership looks at an overall decline in infrastructure funding globally, and it focuses on solutions in the U.S., citing six case studies.
ULI Spring Meeting

Can America Eliminate Its Addiction to Fossil Fuels and Do So Without Congress?

Amory Lovins, cofounder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, told an audience of ULI members at ULI's 2012 Spring Meeting, that there are numerous ways to reduce use of fossil fuels. Doing so, corporate America could earn a $5 trillion savings in net present value and boost the economy by 150 percent.

New Developments

Focusing on Sustainable Development at ULI Summit in Beijing

May 18, 2012

If cities are to continue recovering from the global recession, then livability, flexibility, mobility and choice should remain strongly in focus as planners do their work in the years to come, ULI Chairman Peter Rummell tells delegates to the ULI Asia Pacific Summit in Beijing.
Developers Hone in on Asia Investment Opportunities

May 18, 2012

Raymond Chow, executive director of Hongkong Land, Simon Treacy, group chief executive of MGPA, Patrick Philips, ULI's global chief executive, and Richard T.G. Price, Asia-Pacific chief executive of CBRE Global Investors, gathered at the ULI Asia Pacific Summit in Beijing to bring the region's gold rush mentality down to earth.
When Europe Gets the Flu

May 17, 2012

The European debt crisis has an upside: lending and investment opportunities exist in prime markets, but not for the faint of heart. Both Scott Malkin of Value Retail and Van Stults of Orion Capital Managers agree that the ever-worsening conditions will create substantial opportunities for savvy international investors.

Economy, Market, & Trends

ULI Real Estate Business Barometer -- May 2012

The top 12 trends in this month’s Barometer highlight a tepid economy, uneven signals in the capital markets, and a housing market on a low simmer. Still, compared with a year ago, 76 percent of the key indicators in the Barometer are better and only 23 percent are worse.
2012 ULI Spring Meeting

End the Ongoing Partisan Deadlock--or Face Economic Crisis

Erskine Bowles, former head of a presidential fiscal commission, tells ULI leaders: “If we make tough choices and get our fiscal house in order, America can compete with the best and brightest in the world. But I’m equally confident that if we don’t, this country is on its way to being a second-rate power.”

Infrastructure & Transit

Public Art in Transit

The intangible benefits of public art are well-known, but often overlooked. Read how public art at two downtown Los Angeles transit-oriented developments came to generate ongoing income for a private developer and local government.
Sustainability

Smart Growth Not Enough?

The fact that we are increasing dwelling units per acre, reducing vehicle miles traveled per capita, and reducing tons of carbon emissions compared to sprawl does not mean that we are making great people habitat, posits Kaid Benfield, director, Sustainable Communities, Washington, D.C. Benfield says it is time to focus more on the quality of what we are building.