The story of Wynwood’s transformation from a drab, postindustrial pocket tucked in Interstate 95’s shadow into a hip, iconic Miami neighborhood—one of the must-see places in the United States—is something of a real estate fairy tale. Now, Wynwood is set to change yet again with new vertical and residential development
One of two dozen research groups housed at MIT’s Media Lab, the Changing Places group is focused on developing new, more efficient, and creative mobility systems and ways of living and working in cities at a time when urban populations are growing, while the resources to sustain them are shrinking. Kent Larson leads the group and shared several of Changing Places’ projects during the closing keynote speech at the recent ULI Florida Summit in Miami.
An expert panel at a recent ULI United Kingdom conference in London predicted that new development must go outward as much as it goes up, particularly as newcomers to the capital city find affordability to be their greatest challenge.
Given that buildings account for 30 to 40 percent of carbon emissions, the role of real estate owners, investors, and operators in reducing greenhouse gases and atmospheric temperatures cannot be overestimated.
The Box District, a mixed-income neighborhood in Chelsea, Massachusetts, demonstrates how quality affordable housing can actually attract market-rate development.
As competition for the dollars of vacationers and business travelers ratchets up, hotel companies are on a never-ending search for ways to differentiate themselves. Guests are looking for uniqueness, local flavor and history, and bespoke experiences that they can capture and share instantly through social media networks, according to a panel of hotel industry experts at the recent ULI Florida Summit in Miami.
Three new master-planned communities—two in Miami and a third in Sunrise, a west Broward County suburb that skirts the Everglades—are among the most highly anticipated real estate projects in south Florida right now as business and civic leaders gauge consumer appetite for dense, walkable, and mixed-use urban lifestyles. In a state known for sprawling, single-family subdivisions, a move toward vertical, compact communities represents a new chapter.
Noted urbanist and author Richard Florida opened the recent 2016 ULI Florida Summit in Miami by reminding the audience that the creative class and the industries in which it works are the single most important economic drivers in the 21st-century economy. Naturally, some cities—moreover, specific neighborhoods—are better than others at attracting the creative class, mainly by being highly compact, transit-oriented, and walkable, according to Florida’s research.
Conversations are taking place among private developers, public sector leaders, nonprofit organizations, and academic institutions in south Florida on a shared, multifaceted approach to climate change. A panel on resilience and the real estate industry at the recent ULI Florida Summit in Miami described some of these emerging partnerships, which will be necessary to adapt to the new normal of sea-level rise as well as plan and pay for more resilient communities.
While experts, speaking at the at the recent ULI Housing Opportunity 2016 conference in Boston, agree that a mixed-income environment is still the best platform to lift people out of poverty, they also said that new approaches and partnerships are needed to deliver on mixed income’s promise of economic mobility and racial and social integration.
A new generation of “social-impact investors” are eager to place their equity in housing as a platform to address a variety of issues they care about, including economic mobility and disparities in health outcomes and educational attainment. Panelists at the recent ULI Housing Opportunity 2016 conference in Boston discussed platforms aimed at expanding the pool of equity investors with the potential to shore up the supply of affordable and workforce housing.
In theory, mixed-income communities offer low-income residents a chance to move up the socioeconomic ladder, get a better education, and lead healthier lives. But a look at the data so far shows our current strategies are largely inadequate, said Aaron Seybert, social investment officer at the Kresge Foundation, speaking at the ULI Housing Opportunity Conference in Boston.
