On a recent summer afternoon in Manhattan, Daryl Carter, founder, chairman and CEO of Irvine, California–based Avanath Capital Management and a member of the ULI Global Board, was walking along Lexington Avenue when he—like a superstar—got recognized on the street. The passerby, who previously worked at Freddie Mac, simply wanted a minute of Carter’s time.

Communities of color struggle to thrive in part because real estate appraisals are marred by racial bias, ossified methodology, and industry practices, according to an expert panel at ULI’s Fall Meeting in Dallas.

At the 2021 ULI Fall Meeting, the Redevelopment and Reuse Product Council hosted a panel discussion of Englewood Connect, a project that is part of Chicago’s Invest South/West initiative on the South Side.

ULI recently joined a coalition of real estate associations to conduct the industry’s first global diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) survey. The results of the survey were discussed in a January webinar with 92 firms reporting some form of DEI initiative.

The first global benchmark of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) metrics for commercial real estate shows that there is a clear mandate and momentum, with 92 percent of firms adopting programs or initiatives to improve DEI in the workplace. The Global Real Estate DEI Survey is the industry’s first global collection of corporate best practices and employee demographics for commercial real estate.

Destination Crenshaw, a transformative 1.3-mile (2 km) infrastructure project scheduled to open in fall 2022, was the focus of a ULI Los Angeles virtual event in July, highlighting plans to boost the Crenshaw community through economic development, job creation, and environmental healing while elevating Black art and culture.

Supported in part by the Urban Land Institute, the Diversity in Commercial Real Estate Virtual Summit brought together more than 450 attendees in November. The focus of this year’s summit was diversifying the commercial real estate industry from the executive leadership and entrepreneurial perspective. In past years, the summit drew primarily from the greater New York City area, but by going virtual it was able to attract a larger pool of attendees and speakers.

ULI Boston/New England and other local partners recently hosted a webinar designed to provide actionable steps to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion within the commercial real estate industry. Citing research by McKinsey & Company, speakers said that companies in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity on their executive teams were 33 percent more likely to experience above-average profitability than companies in the lowest quartile.

How D&I principles worked in the development of the Omni Boston Seaport Hotel.

Lamont Blackstone, chairman of the board of Project REAP, the nation’s leading diversity initiative focused on the commercial real estate industry, shares his thoughts on why the commercial real estate (CRE) industry lagged behind other economic sectors in embracing diversity.