Economic Development
One of Singapore’s most vibrant districts demonstrates how public/private partnerships and the community can shape the built environment.
Nevada, long synonymous with tourism and entertainment, is rapidly transforming into a manufacturing powerhouse. Spearheaded by Tesla’s massive gigafactory, the state has become a magnet for EV production, battery manufacturing, and other industrial sectors. With strategic incentives, a business-friendly climate, and prime geographic location, Nevada is luring companies away from high-cost states like California. However, challenges such as water scarcity and federal land ownership must be addressed to sustain this burgeoning industry.
The second half of 2020 through to the following year was probably the busiest investment period in the two decades at Brookfield in the Asia Pacific region, according to the investment management firm managing partner and chief investment officer Lowell Baron. Baron spoke at a fireside chat session at the 2023 ULI Asia Pacific Summit opposite moderator Radha Dhir, JLL’s CEO and country head for India.
ULI Asia Pacific Young Leaders hosted a forum on housing attainability in May with a focus on Australia, China, and Singapore. The event started with a short presentation by Ken Rhee, Senior Director of ULI China and the primary author of the newly released 2023 ULI Asia Pacific Home Attainability Index.
For some members of the ULI Foundation’s Governors Society, philanthropic giving is a way to support the Institute’s efforts to remedy the worldwide shortage of attainable housing, reduce carbon output to fight climate change, and educate a diverse future generation of leaders for the real estate profession. For other governors, their philanthropy is a gesture of gratitude for the role that ULI has played in their professional careers and achievements, or a way to honor friends they made through the organization. And some just want to be an inspiration to other ULI members.
In the heart of Toronto, a revolution is unfolding underground. Beneath the bustling streets and towering skyscrapers, a network of pipes is tackling the climate crisis. The story of Toronto’s Deep Lake Water Cooling system and its potential to reshape the approach to sustainable development was told during a session at the ULI Spring Meeting in Toronto.
The development of Zibi, a master-planned development under construction in Ottawa on 34 acres (14 ha) of waterfront property is relying heavily on feedback from the community, including consulting with Indigenous people, panelists said at the 2023 ULI Spring Meeting.
Participants in a recent ULI webinar highlighted a new research report, Bridging the Occupier Landlord Gap for the Future of Workspace, which analyzes how changing occupier behavior and broader macroeconomic trends are affecting the demand for office space.
The Real Estate Economic Forecast, produced by the ULI Center for Real Estate Economics and Capital Markets, is based on a survey conducted in April 2023 of 41 economists and analysts at 37 leading real estate organizations. According to the survey, the U.S. economy will slow in 2023 and 2024, with recovery expected to begin in 2025. The real estate market will follow suit, with flat to negative results over the next two years, followed by mostly positive news in 2025.
When the Field Building on Chicago’s LaSalle Street opened in 1932, it was a technological and architectural marvel, with high-speed elevators, drinking fountains, and even air-conditioning, a first for the city. Nearly a century later, the 1.3-million-square-foot (120,774 sq m) Art Deco landmark is a pioneer of a different sort.
In March, ULI member leaders based in Shanghai, China, engaged in a discussion on how China’s real estate market has been recovering since end of the “zero COVID” policy in December.
Office property owners who were able to weather the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic are crashing into a hard reality wrought by sharply lower demand and higher interest rates. Undercurrents of stress are now emerging in the form of defaults.
After nearly eight years, workers are returning to a former General Electric factory in Fort Wayne. A complex financial package helped create a new home for one of Indiana’s largest employers at this postindustrial site in the U.S. Midwest.
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For grizzled veterans of commercial real estate, the return to a “negative leverage” environment may have been unforeseen but surely was not unique.
As we close the books on 2022, we look back on the topics that resonated most with the online readers of Urban Landin the past year.
Toronto’s deep-lake water cooling system stands as an example of the “third wave” of urban energy.
Developers and investors seeking capital to finance commercial real estate are facing a new reality in which capital is both more expensive and less available. Borrowers still have options, but those options depend on the credit quality and type of deal, as well as what that borrower is looking for in that loan.
Real estate economists offered a less optimistic forecast of the near-term U.S. real estate and economic environment compared with six months ago, downgrading predictions for a wide range of economic, capital market, and real estate variables. Some of the biggest changes to forecasts included 2023 gross domestic product, job growth, and private real estate returns, according to the Fall 2022 ULI Real Estate Economic Forecast.
Despite challenges, there is momentum in commercial real estate for capital to be raised and invested in underserved communities across the nation, according to a panel of Dallas/Fort Worth developers at the Fall Meeting in Dallas. The primary example they used to illustrate success is the National Juneteenth Museum in Fort Worth.
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.
Two of Asia’s leading entrepreneurs gave real estate investors a glimpse into the worlds of Web 3.0 and deep tech at the ULI Asia Pacific Summit.
With a goal of helping lure people back to the office in light of the post-pandemic work environment, Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm Coretrust Capital Partners is showcasing new technology which creates a safe and inviting workplace in an historic building.
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.
What ULI members need to know to ensure that revenues support equitable decarbonization of the built environment.
Launched in fall 2020, Delve is an evaluation tool that uses artificial intelligence, Geographic Information System, and user input to optimize real estate development by Sidewalk Lab. Currently available on an engagement model, Delve pairs users with a team of consultants to generate highest and best use design options and help find design solutions for the nuances of complex projects. An updated version will be released later this year.
ULI has announced the 2022 New Real Estate Vanguard, made up of ten outstanding contributors to the real estate sector from across the European region. Selected by the European Young Leaders Group of the ULI and Property EU, each will be featured in the second annual Real Estate Vanguard podcast series.
The Institute has announced 21 finalists for its 2022 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence, one of the most prestigious awards programs in the real estate industry. This year’s finalists include 19 developments in the United States and two in Canada.
Developers that want to build momentum and lure users, especially for big projects, need to think beyond the walls of their buildings and instead create places that become nodes for innovation, panelists said at the 2022 ULI Spring Meeting in San Diego. Economic clusters—places anchored by companies or institutions that attract other businesses and residents—are key, said panelists.
The Dodge Momentum Index, a leading indicator for U.S. commercial real estate activity, increased 4 percent in February to 158.2, from the revised January reading of 151.9. In February, institutional planning rose 9 percent, and commercial planning moved 1 percent higher.
BREEAM, the sustainability assessment method developed by BRE Global (‘BRE’), has announced that Mountain Technology Center—MetLife Investment Management’s development featuring five state-of-the-art manufacturing warehouses in Tracy, California—is the first U.S. development to earn BREEAM International New Construction (‘INC’) certification.
