The tide is turning for pension fund advisers. For example, in Texas, equity firms seeking state pension fund business must now compete for it—and get onto a “premier list” of top-performing managers.
This year, several Urban Land Institute members finished strong in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star National Building Competition to see who could reduce their energy use the most.
With a strong economic base, vibrant financial sector, and robust in-migration, Toronto has a real estate market that is probably healthier than any other in North America, says Mark Noskiewicz, the chair of ULI Toronto.
To learn how much public/private partnerships have evolved, one need look no further than a Massachusetts town more than three centuries old, which is the focus of a new paradigm for redevelopment—a private/public partnership in which the developer is taking most of the biggest financial risk.
“Considered anathema 30 to 40 years ago, architects and developers are now designing spaces that focus on employee cognitive functions and productivity to stay competitive in a knowledge economy gone global,” explains David Hobstetter, principal at San Francisco–based KMD Architects.
“Real estate companies have become more sophisticated and require different organizational and leadership structures,” says Richard A. Kessler, chief operating officer of BCP and chair of ULI New York. In the 1990s, real estate leadership became more scientific, taking over from instinct and intuition.
To say U.S. real estate markets have changed dramatically over the past 75 years is an understatement. Not only have American real estate markets grown dramatically, including the creation of REITs, the first CMBS issues, “sustainability” joining the lexicon of land use, and the advancement and implementation of ever-evolving technology in land use.
Postwar master-planned communities enabled Americans to build their lives around great neighborhoods, schools, and suburban amenities. In the coming years, communities will continue to be comprehensively planned, but implementation will be in smaller increments, experts predict.
“Underwriting is changing,” says Michael D. Fascitelli, president and chief executive officer of New Jersey–based Vornado Realty Trust. “It’s getting more conservative. It’s a more cautious world.”
U.S. real estate deal flow is slowing over concerns about the debt situation in Europe, the financial stalemate in Washington, and the continued volatility in the global markets, notes Michael D. Fascitelli, president and CEO of Vornado Realty Trust.
