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Ron Nyren

Ron Nyren is a freelance architecture, urban planning, and real estate writer based in the San Francisco Bay area.

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Design and Planning
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Adaptive Use and Building Reuse
ULI Award Winners: Once a Warehouse, Now a Sanctuary for the Unhoused
In a historically redlined neighborhood of Minneapolis, a former industrial warehouse has become a supportive, low-barrier sanctuary for the unsheltered. Up to 200 residents can live at Avivo Village, each in their own private sleeping unit. Single-occupant shower rooms, nongendered restrooms, and communal kitchenettes and coffee areas are all ADA-compliant.
September 19, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Design and Planning
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Awards
ULI Award Winners: Long-Term Affordable Housing That Highlights Community-Building in Sydney Suburbs
In the Sydney suburb of Marrickville, two not-for-profit organizations—Fresh Hope Communities, the public benevolent institution entity of churches of Christ in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory; and Nightingale Housing of Brunswick, Victoria—came together to develop a building that holds 54 units renting at 80 percent of market rates, as well as two community-focused commercial spaces. The Churches of Christ Property Trust has provided a 99-year lease for the land, which allows the units to remain affordable far beyond a more typical 10-year period.
August 28, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Issues and Trends
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Mixed-Use
Repositioning U.S. Retail: More Malls as Mixed-Use Town Centers
As aging retail continue to evolve, one increasingly popular trend has been to redesign malls as town centers—recalling a time when such commercial districts were the heart and soul of a community. Mall–to–town center retrofits are emerging throughout the nation, especially in suburban communities, where pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use environments are highly attractive to millennials now raising families.
August 26, 2025
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Patricia Kirk
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Issues and Trends
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Industrial Development
Product Council Outlook for Industrial Development
What trends are shaping the future of the industrial sector? Four experts from ULI’s Industrial and Office Park Development Council talk about the industrial submarkets and property types that offer the greatest opportunities, challenges developers face in bringing new projects to market, ways artificial intelligence and emerging technologies are reshaping the sector, tenant priorities, and other key trends.

August 19, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Resilience and Sustainability
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London
ULI Award Winners: Reimagining Victorian Heritage for the Modern Workplace
In the heart of London’s Covent Garden neighborhood, a complex of five Victorian-era structures—previously home to a seed merchant company, a brass and iron foundry, and a Nonconformist chapel, among other uses—have been restored and adapted into a single, cohesive office building with ground-floor retail and dining space. The three-year restoration preserved the property’s industrial heritage, yet it provides enough flexibility to meet the needs of today’s workforce.
August 18, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Inside the ULI Foundation
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Leadership
Association for Real Property and Infrastructure Grants $109,000 for ULI’s Global Infrastructure Initiatives
The Association for Real Property and Infrastructure (ARPI) has awarded a generous grant of $109,000 to the ULI Foundation to enhance cross-regional knowledge exchange and research related to infrastructure strategies, with a particular focus on collaboration between U.S. and British members. The ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate will administer the grant.
August 13, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Philanthropic Impact
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ULI Leadership
ULI District Councils and Foundation Partner to Secure External Grants for Community Impact
Recent gifts from Turner Construction Company Foundation, Huntington Foundation, Cleveland Foundation, and Walton Family fuel initiatives
August 11, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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ULI Leadership
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Philanthropic Impact
Vincent Ilustre Takes the Helm as New ULI Foundation President
In April, the Urban Land Institute welcomed Vincent Ilustre as the new president of the ULI Foundation, appointing him to lead philanthropic initiatives and strengthen donor engagement. Ilustre was drawn to the role by the strong connection members have with ULI. “There’s a genuine passion for this organization,” he said. “Members don’t just join ULI—they invest in it because it’s helped shape their professional journeys.”
July 29, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Issues and Trends
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San Francisco
ULI San Francisco Names Winners of Market Street Reimagined Competition
ULI San Francisco and the Civic Joy Fund have announced the winners of the Market Street Reimagined competition. This international competition of ideas, which attracted 173 submissions from nine countries, challenged entrants to create a new vision for the city’s main thoroughfare that would draw more visitors and businesses to the area. A distinguished jury, hosted by San Francisco mayor Daniel Lurie, divided the $100,000 prize among the winning teams and designated eight additional entries as honorable mentions.
July 22, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Issues and Trends
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Dallas-Fort Worth
ULI Advisory Services Panel, Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber Partner to Combat Displacement in Historic Northside Neighborhood
A team of ULI experts visited Fort Worth in September 2024 to develop anti-displacement strategies for the city’s historic, majority Hispanic Northside neighborhood, which faces mounting pressure from two nearby megadevelopments, as well as broader metropolitan growth trends that drove up the area’s property values 60 percent from 2016 to 2021.
July 18, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Capital Markets and Finance
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Awards
Pioneering Affordable Housing Preservation in Austin
In 2015, Austin, Texas’ mayor at the time, Steve Adler, brought together business leaders, real estate professionals, and housing experts to take on the crisis in affordable rental housing and the risks it posed to the city’s workforce stability and economic sustainability. With insights and research from a ULI Technical Advisory Panel and ULI’s Terwilliger Center for Housing, the Austin Housing Conservancy fund was born, offering a revolutionary approach to preserving workforce housing. Now known as the Texas Housing Conservancy, the fund became the nation’s first to combine a nonprofit investment manager, Affordable Central Texas, with an open-end private equity fund.
July 16, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Leadership
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ULI Leadership
Remembering Joseph C. Canizaro, Past ULI Chair and New Orleans Development Pioneer
Joseph C. Canizaro, a past chair and trustee of ULI, passed away at age 88 on June 20, 2025. A member of ULI for more than 50 years, Canizaro built one of New Orleans’ most influential real estate development companies, Columbus Properties, which helped shape the city’s skyline.
July 8, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Urban Land Contributors
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Ron Nyren
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Beth Mattson-Teig
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Michele Lerner
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Hannah Miet
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Sibley Fleming
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Shraeya Madhu
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Ben Johnson
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Vanessa Elena DeSantis
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Karen Jordan
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George Fatheree
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Kara Kokernak
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Peter David Cavaluzzi, FAIA
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Brett Widness
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Patrick J. Kiger
Bill Vitek
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Design and Planning
UL10: Next-Generation Design Firms
Ten projects showcase clever urban interventions spearheaded by principals under age 50
July 22, 2024
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Ron Nyren
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Design and Planning
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San Francisco
Rekindling San Francisco’s Downtown by Reviving Its Streets
ULI San Francisco recently hosted a panel revisiting the recommendations made by ULI Advisory Servies panelists to revive the downtown and highlighting the progress that has been made.
July 15, 2024
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Ron Nyren
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Design and Planning
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Office
Adding Life Sciences Space in Proximity to Academic Institutions in Northern California
Berkeley, California, is emerging as a hub for life sciences and technology firms, with new developments opening in the West Berkeley neighborhood. In June, ULI San Francisco hosted a walking tour through two campuses targeting life sciences research and development tenants at the eastern edge of the San Francisco Bay: theLAB Berkeley and Berkeley Commons.
June 24, 2024
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Ron Nyren
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Philanthropic Impact
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ULI Leadership
Nancy and Geoffrey Stack Family Foundation Adds $5 Million to ULI Chair’s Fund
Gift extends Stacks’ long history of leadership in ULI, philanthropic support for community transformation, education, and health care
June 14, 2024
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Ron Nyren
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Design and Planning
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Attainable Housing
UL10: Micro-Housing
Ten projects deliver compact residential spaces that offer more affordable city living options, foster community, and minimize environmental impacts.
May 14, 2024
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Ron Nyren
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Design and Planning
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Attainable Housing
Outlook for Office-to-Residential Conversions: What Opportunities Remain for Revamping Office Buildings as Multifamily Residences?
Experts speak about the near-term prospects for converting office buildings into multifamily housing, best practices for evaluating conversion potential, innovative ways the public sector can support these projects, and other related trends.
May 13, 2024
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Ron Nyren
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ULI Leadership
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Philanthropic Impact
Members Empower ULI’s Mission at the Local Level through Gifts to District Councils
Donations to the ULI Foundation support a wide variety of programs, initiatives, and groups, and among the options, donors may choose to
direct their gifts to their local ULI District Council. Three donors who have made recent substantial contributions to their respective District
Councils—Jack Cohen, Marc Pollack, and Greg West—highlight the impact individuals can have on their local communities. Their gifts, ranging from $15,000 to $100,000, enable their local District Councils to advance ULI’s mission priorities and carry out community outreach, all while helping members build relationships and share educational and other resources in their area.
May 8, 2024
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Ron Nyren
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Issues and Trends
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Industrial Development
The Rising Promise of Industrial Outdoor Storage
Once overlooked as little more than open-air spaces for trailer parking, industrial outdoor storage (IOS) sites are emerging as a promising niche for their increasingly significant role in the e-commerce and logistics sectors and their potential to earn strong returns for investors.
March 20, 2024
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Ron Nyren
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Resilience and Sustainability
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Issues and Trends
Assessing the Impact of the SEC’s New Climate Disclosure Rules on the Real Estate Industry
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.
March 11, 2024
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Ron Nyren
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Design and Planning
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Universities and Educational Facilities
Outlook for Academic Campus Development
How can academic institutions and private sector partners collaborate to spur development in a challenging economy?
February 6, 2024
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Ron Nyren
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Design and Planning
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Resilience and Sustainability
UL10: Green Financing
Ten projects take advantage of financial tools that promote environmentally positive development
January 29, 2024
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Ron Nyren
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Inside the ULI Foundation
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Leadership
John and Ann Porter Commit to Supporting Etkin Scholars Program at ULI Charlotte
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.
January 25, 2024
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Ron Nyren
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Philanthropic Impact
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Leadership
$1 Million Gift from Alex Rose Helps Create Endowment to Increase Reach of ULI Advisory Services Program
A $1 million gift from Alex J. Rose, executive vice president for Continental Development Corporation, will help the ULI Foundation establish a $7.5 million endowment to provide long-term funding for its advisory services program, which assembles panels of volunteer ULI members to provide expert advice and recommendations to communities facing land use challenges.
December 11, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Resilience and Sustainability
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London
UL10: Mass Timber
10 structures showcase the lightweight, carbon-sequestering power of mass timber.
November 27, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Issues and Trends
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Artificial Intelligence
How the Real Estate Industry Can Effectively Leverage AI
A futurist discussed the potential integrating artificial intelligence into the commercial real estate industry in a general session at the 2023 ULI Fall Meeting in Los Angeles.
November 13, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Economy, Market & Trends
Outlook for Mixed-Use Development: How Can Urban Mixed-Use Developments Succeed in the Post-Pandemic Era?
Experts speak about near-term prospects for development, challenges, and opportunities of obtaining financing in the current economic climate, strategies for balancing the mix of uses, ways mixed-use developments can better support local businesses, and other related trends.
October 30, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Design and Planning
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Resilience and Sustainability
UL10: Geothermal Energy
Ten developments take advantage of the environmental and operational benefits of geothermal energy.
September 25, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Economy, Market & Trends
Armchair Tour: A Creative Office Oasis in El Segundo
Attendees of the 2023 ULI Fall Meeting in Los Angeles will have the chance to visit 888 Douglas, a former aerospace research and manufacturing facility in El Segundo that has recently been repurposed into a creative office campus.
August 18, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Development and Construction
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Residential
Outlook for Housing Attainability
Experts discuss the growing crisis of housing attainability for lower- and middle-income households across the United States, including ways the private and public sectors could help increase housing production, preserve existing affordable housing, and give more people access to housing; strategies for encouraging communities to accept more housing construction; and other related trends.
August 14, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Resilience and Sustainability
Joseph Azrack and Dan Cashdan Donate Nearly $1 Million to ULI’s Net Zero Imperative
Joseph Azrack, principal of Azrack & Company, and his wife Abigail Congdon, along with Dan Cashdan, president of Jones Lang LaSalle Securities, and his wife Allisyn Cashdan, have donated a combined $500,000 to the ULI Foundation’s first capital campaign, Our Cities, Our Future, in support of the Net Zero Imperative (NZI), ULI’s multiyear initiative to accelerate decarbonization of the built environment.
July 24, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Resilience and Sustainability
Outlook for Building Electrification
Experts discuss best practices for incentivizing property owners and developers to switch to all-electric buildings, ways to ensure the transition is equitable for low-income communities, challenges to the widespread implementation of building electrification, and other innovations and trends.
July 21, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Design and Planning
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News
ULI’s Apgar Thought Leader Award Promotes Original Research and Innovative Ideas
The Apgar Thought Leader Award honors authors who bridge the gap between academic research and practical land use solutions to inspire a more sustainable built environment.
July 11, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Development and Construction
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Innovation Districts & Corridors
UL10: Infill Housing
Ten infill residential developments help strengthen the urban fabric and add density where it is needed most.
June 12, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Market Trends
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Finance – Capital Markets
ULI Forecast: What Can the Commercial Real Estate Industry Expect in the Next Three Years?
At the recent 2023 ULI Spring Meeting in Toronto, panelists noted that transaction volumes have dropped significantly with the slowing of lending and bank failures.
May 22, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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