Archives

ULI MEMBER–ONLY CONTENT: Decisions made years ago to invest in new technologies—and to continually upgrade existing platforms—allowed ULI to pivot rapidly to online delivery of vital member services.

For more than 50 years, Earth Day has been observed as a day of mobilization for environmental protection and preservation. This week, it is celebrated by ULI, environmental stewardship organizations, and other organizations working to enhance the built environment and implement solutions to make communities more green, healthy, and equitable.

A team composed of students from three Toronto-area universities—Ryerson University, York University, and the University of Toronto—has taken top honors in the 2021 ULI Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition.

Washington, D.C., can advance the recovery of the business, tourist, and neighborhood activity in its central business district (CBD) through multiple community-led initiatives, according to a new ULI report, based on the first ULI Virtual Advisory Services panel (vASP).

While many businesses in the United States have been coping with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for a year or longer, the broader availability of vaccines and a rebounding global economy are cause for more optimism than skepticism across the real estate industry, said industry leaders participating in a recent ULI webinar. Industrial, self-storage, and single-family rentals have been some of the sectors surging, while laggard sectors are still betting on a burgeoning recovery.

Much of the United States is walking a fine line between providing much-needed housing and also meeting federal, state, and local sustainability goals. Three panelists shared how the seek to meet or exceed or exceed those goals at the 2021 ULI Housing Opportunity Conference in March.

ULI MEMBER–ONLY CONTENT: Developers, architects, engineers, and scientists are blending design and technological innovations to transform buildings into enduring lines of defense against disease.

Will the COVID-19 pandemic bring about the end of the viability of open-plan office space? Panelists speaking during a recent ULI Asia Pacific webinar concluded that flexibility, technology, variety, and health would be the key concepts bringing companies and key employees back to offices.

A half century or more into their service life, the need to retrofit and revitalize postwar apartment towers across Canada has never been more critical. Compounding the growing inequities laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic, much of the purpose-built rental housing is in need of renewal. Retrofitting costs—as well as financing retrofits while maintaining housing affordability—continue to be a primary barrier.

Speaking at the 2021 ULI Housing Opportunity Conference, Ali Wolf, chief economist with Zonda, formerly Meyers Research, said that the homebuilding industry has been a bright spot in the U.S. economy over the last year. But rising mortgage rates and limited inventory are among the issues that may hamper that growth in 2021.

As part of the 2021 ULI Virtual Europe Conference in February, high-level ULI members from across the global finance and investment sector gathered virtually to discuss capital flows, real estate market dynamics, and debt and equity markets. Among the trends discussed were an acceleration of deglobalization, shifting from “just in time” to “just in case” deliveries, and more interest in the hyperlocal, also characterized as “love thy neighborhood.”

The pandemic has accelerated the use of contactless drones for comprehensive applications in real estate development.

Ten new buildings exemplify sustainable design creativity.

ULI MEMBER–ONLY CONTENT: Although it could be years before the promise of 5G internet can be realized in offices and multifamily spaces, the real estate industry is starting to think about what kind of impact 5G will have inside the built environment.

As the new appointees at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development settle into their roles, they face challenges both old and new. Ethan Handelman, the new deputy assistant secretary of the agency’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs, addressed the 2021 ULI Housing Opportunity Conference in March.

Many landlords in Singapore are recognizing their role in placemaking and helping to meld space, art, and people to imbue the built environment with culture and heritage, said panelists at a roundtable discussion at the 2021 ULI Singapore Annual Conference, held both virtually and in person in early March.

As part of the first Net Zero Buildings Week this week, ULI, the New Buildings Institute (NBI), and other organizations focused on improving the built environment are calling on partners and members to share their thought leadership on net zero.

An excerpt from the forthcoming ULI report The Pandemic and the Public Realm: Global Innovations for Health, Social Equity, and Sustainability, which documents how cities around the world looked to their public spaces to meet changing needs.

COVID-19 has exacerbated a crisis of middle-income households being unable to find attainable homes, with frontline workers faring particularly badly, according to a comprehensive data-informed study from the ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing.

During the recent ULI Asia Experience the Experience retail summit, real estate developer, owner, and operator Sid Yog, founder of the Xander Group and chairman of Virtuous Retail (VR) South Asia, discussed the broader Indian retail sector, as well as several of the company’s recent urban Indian retail developments. Joining him in the conversation was Susheela Rivers, office managing partner, co-chair for the global real estate sector, and head of real estate Asia Pacific for DLA Piper.

Technology is paving the way for a segment of investors, many of whom are “digital natives,” to explore real estate as an additional part of their investment portfolio and participate financially in the real estate sector like never before, said panelists speaking at the 2021 ULI Singapore Annual Conference, held both virtually and in person in early March.

At the 2021 ULI Carolinas meeting, held as a virtual/in-person hybrid event in March, the annual Crane Watch session showcased projects under construction in North and South Carolina that use innovative planning and design in their placemaking efforts, creating iconic projects that help shape the neighborhoods that surround them. The projects this year included a historic storefront restoration, a shipping container–based food yard, and a massive nine-block development.

Members of ULI’s Asia Pacific Tech Council discuss the potential long-term impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the real estate industry.

ULI has launched a new report, Zooming in on the “S” in ESG: A Road Map for Social Value in Real Estate, to guide the industry on incorporating social value into corporate strategy, business practices, and even investment theory.

ULI MEMBER–ONLY CONTENT: ULI full member John McNellis considers how real estate professionals have survived financial winters of the past and present.

Between January and March 2021, Urban Landpublished a series of articles chronicling the efforts of member-led task forces organized by ULI district councils in Chicago, Phoenix, Sacramento, and Tampa to address local policy and regulatory barriers to creation of healthier and more equitable places. These initiatives were part of ULI’s District Council Task Force for Health and Social Equity Project.

European life sciences real estate remains a maturing segment of the market, but there are compelling and immediate opportunities for development and investment, according to a new ULI research paper.

International Women’s Day, marked annually on March 8, is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. ULI’s Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) works year-round to celebrate and support the vital contributions of women to the real estate industry and beyond.

ULI MEMBER–ONLY CONTENT: Members of ULI’s Technology and Real Estate councils discuss the coronavirus pandemic’s shakeup of work/life patterns, how technologies enable new ways of working and living, technologies on the horizon that hold promise for the future, and other related trends.

A return to the “old normal” before the global coronavirus pandemic is neither possible nor desirable, a panel of retail leaders agreed at “Experience the Experience,” ULI Asia Pacific’s premier retail event of 2021.