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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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Awards
Project Profiles: Singapore’s First Net-Positive Energy Nature Park
Once the site of an abandoned quarry, Singapore’s Rifle Range Nature Park now serves as a buffer zone protecting one of the island nation’s last primary rainforests, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, from encroaching development and human activity. Located to the reserve’s south, Rifle Range is Singapore’s first net-positive energy nature park, harvesting more energy than its annual operational requirements.
July 7, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Development and Construction
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Residential
Product Council Outlook for Residential Development: What lies ahead for the housing market?
Five experts from ULI’s Residential Neighborhood Development Council discuss the challenges and opportunities ahead for homebuilders; what buyers and renters want from their neighborhoods, and how they value sustainability and resilience; what state and local housing policies are effectively encouraging housing construction; and other trends.
June 23, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Design and Planning
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Multifamily
UL10: Ten Affordable Housing Developments
10 inventive designs put housing within reach of low- and moderate-income individuals and families
June 13, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Urban and Regional Planning
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Office
Mile-High Momentum: How Denver Is Reinventing Its Downtown
As it contends with the same post-pandemic challenges that confront other urban cores nationwide, downtown Denver is leveraging public/private partnerships to bring back vitality. At the ULI 2025 Spring Meeting in Denver, Colorado, five leaders involved with the city’s revitalization shared recent successes and plans for Denver’s future.
June 10, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Capital Markets and Finance
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Hotels and Resorts
A Bumpy Road Lies Ahead for the U.S. Hotel Industry
The hotel industry in the United States faces complex challenges in 2025, according to Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality analytics for the CoStar Group. During the “State of the U.S. Hotel Industry” presentation at the ULI 2025 Spring Meeting in Denver, Colorado, Freitag highlighted the challenges facing the hotel business amid macroeconomic uncertainty.
May 14, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Issues and Trends
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Obituaries
Remembering Dana Crawford, Pioneer of Historic Preservation and Urban Revitalization
Developer sought to improve people’s lives through her work.
May 12, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Resilience and Sustainability
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Development and Construction
Urban Land Armchair Tour: A 25-Year Journey from Runways to Resilience for Denver’s Central Park Neighborhood
When Denver’s Stapleton International Airport closed in the mid-1990s, community leaders saw a chance to create a new, 4,700-acre (1,900 ha) community just six miles east of downtown. The project’s original developer, Forest City Stapleton (sold to Brookfield Properties in 2018), kicked off an urban transformation that is now nearing completion 25 years later. Known for extensive resilience strategies to reduce the effects of drought, flooding, and extreme heat, Central Park’s 12 neighborhoods are home to nearly 35,000 residents, with 60 parks as well as extensive pedestrian and bicycle trails.
April 4, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Development and Construction
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Mixed-Use
Urban Land Armchair Tour: Denver’s McGregor Square Where Baseball Meets Mixed-Use
The Colorado Rockies’ ownership leased a parking lot adjacent to Coors Field in order to construct McGregor Square, a 3.2-acre (1.3 ha) mixed-use development that serves baseball fans, tourists, and the broader community.
February 24, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Resilience and Sustainability
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Design and Planning
ULX: 10 Resilient Developments
10 projects model ways to prepare the built environment for climate stresses and shocks
February 20, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Issues and Trends
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Philanthropic Impact
ULI Western New York, Local Stakeholders, and Advisory Services Program Seek to Revive Buffalo’s Historically Black Jefferson Avenue Corridor
A group of experts representing ULI visited Buffalo, New York, last November to make recommendations for reviving the city’s Jefferson Avenue Corridor, the main thoroughfare of a historically black area that has suffered a decline in commercial, social, and civic activity and engagement as the result of decades of disinvestment and a recent racially motivated shooting.
February 7, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Design and Planning
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Multifamily
ULI Global Awards for Excellence: 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 NSW and ACT, and Nightingale Housing of Brunswick, Victoria—came together to develop a building that contains 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.
January 28, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Development and Construction
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Office
ULI Global Awards for Excellence: Reimagining Victorian Heritage for the Modern Workplace
In the heart of London’s Covent Garden neighborhood, a complex of five Victorian-era structures—previously housing 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 and provides flexibility to meet the needs of today’s workforce.
January 22, 2025
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Ron Nyren
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Urban Land Contributors
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Ron Nyren
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Michele Lerner
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Sibley Fleming
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Ben Johnson
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Peter David Cavaluzzi, FAIA
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Capital Markets and Finance
Assessing the Risks and Opportunities That Lie Ahead for Global Real Estate
Industry leaders speaking at a general session at the 2023 ULI Spring Meeting agreed that innovation is needed to provide more housing in growing cities.
May 17, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Residential
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Resorts/Second Homes
Creating Attainable Housing for the Workforce in Resort Communities
Resort communities are appealing places to live year round, with stunning natural beauty and recreational opportunities in abundance. However, the same factors that make these places attractive can make them difficult for locals.
February 21, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Resilience and Sustainability
ULI Product Council Insights: What’s Next for Real Estate ESG
Experts discuss the effectiveness of policies that are aimed at increasing energy performance in buildings; the challenges of measuring and reporting climate-related physical and transition risks; strategies for navigating the complexities and uncertainties of environmental, social, and governance investing; and related trends.
February 3, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Philanthropic Impact
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San Francisco
Ron and Mary Nahas Donate $1 Million to ULI for UrbanPlan
ULI Foundation governor Ron Nahas and his wife, Mary, have donated $1 million to UrbanPlan, an interactive educational program that engages high school students, university students, and public officials in understanding the forces shaping real estate development.
January 30, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Development and Construction
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Leadership
UL Interview: Katie Maslechko and Chandler Hogue, Co-Chairs of the Young Leaders Group Steering Committee
In 2021, the ULI Americas Young Leaders Group (YLG) Steering Committee was formed to better support and connect the more than 50 YLG district council cohorts in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Urban Landspoke with co-chairs Chandler Hogue, director of Gemdale USA Corporation in Pasadena, California, and Katie Maslechko, director of development for Beedie in Vancouver, British Columbia, about how the committee works to empower its members to contribute to the Institute and help shape the future of the built environment.
January 23, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Development and Construction
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New York City
UL10: Public/Private Partnership Projects
Ten projects leverage public and private resources to realize complex new developments.
Members Only
January 23, 2023
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Ron Nyren
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Development and Construction
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Architecture – Landscape
Outlook for Urban Living
How is multifamily housing development changing in the era of remote work and escalating construction costs?
December 16, 2022
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Ron Nyren
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Resilience and Sustainability
How CRE Can Prepare to Meet New York City’s Local Law 97
Moody’s Analytics CRE analyzed the potential financial impact of New York City’s Climate Mobilization Act The resulting research paper draws on New York City data on the types of fines likely to be levied, as well as Moody’s own net operating income data from commercial mortgage–backed securities properties, to estimate fines for property owners who take no mitigating measures to reduce energy usage.
November 23, 2022
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Ron Nyren
Resilience and Sustainability
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Capital Markets and Finance
Pent-Up Demand for ESG Investments Presents Opportunities, Challenges for Real Estate Industry
A new survey by PwC identified an exponential increase in the asset and wealth management industry’s desire for environmental, social, and governance–oriented (ESG) investments: in the United States alone, assets under management are projected to more than double from $4.5 trillion in 2021 to $10.5 trillion in 2026. At the same time, asset managers report being challenged to create enough new funds to keep up with the demand, giving an edge to real estate firms with strong sustainability programs.
November 18, 2022
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Ron Nyren
Economy, Market & Trends
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Industrial Development
Disrupted by Pandemic, Demand for Warehouse Space Still Flying High
The COVID-19 pandemic made 2021 a historic year for the shipping and logistics industry, as rising e-commerce sent large retailers and general merchandisers scrambling for warehouse space to hold their inventory, supply-chain issues delayed shipments, real estate developers strained to keep up with demand, and local governments struggled to issue permits quickly with employees working from home.
October 27, 2022
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Ron Nyren
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Economy, Market & Trends
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Fall Meeting
Navigating the Economic Uncertainty of Geopolitical Unrest in 2023
The current spate of crises causing economic uncertainty around the globe is the result of a cyclical “geopolitical recession,” according to political analyst and entrepreneur Ian Bremmer, president of the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, speaking at the 2022 ULI Fall Meeting in Dallas.
October 27, 2022
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Ron Nyren
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Design and Planning
UL10: Biophilia in Health Care Facilities
Ten health care buildings draw on the healing powers of nature.
October 10, 2022
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Ron Nyren
Development and Construction
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Adaptive Use and Building Reuse
Preston and Carolyn Butcher Donate $1.5 Million to ULI to Create Homeless to Housed Initiative
Real estate executive Preston Butcher and his wife, Carolyn Butcher, have donated $1.5 million to the ULI Foundation to create the ULI Homeless to Housed Initiative to identify and disseminate best practices that enable communities to provide housing for people experiencing homelessness.
September 30, 2022
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Ron Nyren
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Design and Planning
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Urban Design
Climate Resilience Design Standards Starting to Become Mandatory
As climate change worsens and the intensity of extreme weather–related events increases, meeting modern building codes may not be enough. Municipalities, nonprofit organizations, and industry groups are developing climate resilience design standards and tools, some of which are required or incentivized for publicly funded projects, and others of which may become expected or required for commercial real estate transactions.
September 26, 2022
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Ron Nyren
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Development and Construction
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News
Armchair Tour: Oak Cliff Rising in Dallas
Across the Trinity River from downtown Dallas, Oak Cliff is one of the city’s oldest areas, dating back to the 1880s. In its heyday, it contained stable, diverse neighborhoods, including what is now one of the nation’s few intact freedmen’s towns, the 10th Street Historic District. Attendees of ULI’s 2022 Fall Meeting in Dallas can tour new developments that are transforming this area with an eye toward equity.
September 15, 2022
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Ron Nyren
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Resilience and Sustainability
How the Real Estate and Insurance Industries Can Prepare for Extreme Weather Events
In recent years, wildfires, floods, and other extreme weather events have not only caused billions of dollars’ worth of damage to property and infrastructure but also resulted in massive losses for insurance companies. In addition, they have significantly bumped up insurance premiums in many vulnerable areas. As real estate owners and investors look for strategies to understand and prepare for climate-change-related risks, insurers are studying ways to encourage policyholders to implement resilience measures to reduce risk.
September 12, 2022
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Ron Nyren
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Economy, Market & Trends
Product Council Outlook for Travel
What trends are influencing business and leisure travel in the wake of the pandemic? Members of ULI’s travel-oriented product councils discuss the continued fallout from the pandemic; ways the hospitality industry is renovating, repositioning, and reflagging properties in response to COVID-related changes; the rising interest in environmental, social, and governance issues; innovations in hospitality and travel experiences; and other trends.
August 29, 2022
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Ron Nyren
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Development and Construction
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Real Estate Trends
Reversing the U.S. Housing Shortage
The U.S. housing affordability crisis has both sharpened and spread significantly in the last decade: once largely confined to the coasts and the Southwest, it now extends to nearly every state. The number of metropolitan areas that underproduced housing rose from 100 to 169 between 2012 to 169 in 2019; nationally, underproduction nearly doubled in the same time period, from 1.65 to 3.79 million units.
August 23, 2022
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Ron Nyren
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Design and Planning
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San Francisco
UL10: Green Hotels
These 10 hotels embody environmental sensitivity plus energy and water efficiency.
August 22, 2022
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Ron Nyren
Resilience and Sustainability
What the Historic U.S. Climate Bill Could Mean for the Real Estate Industry
Over the weekend, the Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which now heads to the House of Representatives. The bill aims to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030. It also holds the potential to transform the built environment—but experts say that depends on how much state and local governments work with the private and nonprofit sectors to use the federal investments as a catalyst.
August 8, 2022
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Ron Nyren
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Resilience and Sustainability
A Microgrid Powers a Bus Fleet to Slash Emissions and Enhance Resilience
This fall, a fleet of electric buses will begin quietly rolling across Montgomery County, Maryland, their batteries charged by a new microgrid, designed to cut the fleet’s carbon emissions by 62 percent.
August 8, 2022
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Ron Nyren
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Economy, Market & Trends
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Mixed-Use
Armchair Tour: Two Texas Master-Planned Communities Evolve Beyond Office Uses at Las Colinas and Cypress Waters
Attendees of ULI’s 2022 Fall Meeting in Dallas will have the chance to visit two master-planned communities northwest of the city’s downtown.
July 28, 2022
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Ron Nyren
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Resilience and Sustainability
How the Real Estate Industry Can Advance Decarbonization Despite the Supreme Court’s EPA Decision
Even if utilities transition more slowly toward renewable energy sources as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision, the movement toward all-electric buildings is still as important as ever.
July 27, 2022
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Ron Nyren
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Capital Markets and Finance
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Resilience and Sustainability
How C-PACE Financing Is Powering Green Historic Renovations
Thirty-eight states have passed legislation authorizing Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing to date. While C-PACE has been around for more than 20 years, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated its adoption.
July 25, 2022
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Ron Nyren
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