Responsible Property Investment
Nature and water are often “hidden” in certain parts of cities, within confined structures or swamp ecosystems. The March ULI InfraXchange featured Michael Van Valkenburg Associate-led project Waterloo Greenway Waller Creek in Austin, Henning Larsen’s project with Jurong Lakeside Garden in Singapore, and ULI Philadelphia’s North Broad Renaissance Initiative, a ULI Curtis Infrastructure TAP project.
The ULI Foundation has announced that Alex J. Rose, executive vice president for Continental Development Corporation, has donated $1 million to support ULI’s Advisory Services program, which offers expertise and technical assistance to communities facing complex land use challenges. This gift is a contribution to the ULI Foundation’s first capital campaign, Our Cities, Our Future, which aims to raise $100 million in support of the Institute’s global mission.
In a report that emphasized upward mobility and inclusion in Indiana’s second largest city, a ULI Advisory Services panel for the Electric Works redevelopment project in Fort Wayne, Indiana, focused on the economic importance of being a destination with an “open tent.” That means having real and stated plans that emphasize the inclusion of the entire region.
City planners across North Carolina’s rural, suburban, and urban environments assert that a vibrant walkable downtown is their goal. They’re aiming to put that value into practice using a broad range of transportation options with help from the funding in the 2022 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Peter Bedford of Napa, California, a ULI Trustee, Foundation Governor, Executive Committee member, and leader of the Institute and industry, passed away in early January. Since joining ULI in 1980, Bedford was active in all aspects of the Institute and was generous with his time and resources.
ULI Greenprint has announced that its membership has grown to include more than 70 private companies, demonstrating the real estate industry’s momentum toward and commitment to decarbonization. Through measurement, benchmarking, knowledge sharing, and implementation of best practices, ULI Greenprint members strive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 for buildings under operational control.
Real-time virtual models of objects, ranging from a building to an entire city, are an emerging concept that has the potential to transform the built environment and the real estate industry in numerous ways, according to the technology’s proponents.
Despite potential storm clouds ahead, survey results from the Emerging Trends in Real Estate ® United States and Canada 2022report show strong optimism.
Mohamed A. El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz, warns of the danger of significant inflation and calls for a more comprehensive policy approach that speaks to both the supply and demand sides of the economy.
As part of the 2021 ULI Virtual Europe Conference in February, high-level ULI members from across the global finance and investment sector gathered virtually to discuss capital flows, real estate market dynamics, and debt and equity markets. Among the trends discussed were an acceleration of deglobalization, shifting from “just in time” to “just in case” deliveries, and more interest in the hyperlocal, also characterized as “love thy neighborhood.”
Monday marked the beginning of the 28-day-long celebration of Black History Month in the Americas. Established in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson as Negro History Week, the week of recognition was expanded and renamed Black History Month in the 1970s. Black History Month is officially celebrated during February in the United States and Canada and during October in Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. In the spirit of this month, we would like to highlight what we are doing to continue to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in both ULI as an organization and for the broader real estate industry as a whole.
In October, the ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance announced an additional goal to reduce the operational carbon emissions of its members’ collective buildings to net zero by the year 2050. Eleven ULI Greenprint members have already publicly committed to this target on top of the 50 percent carbon reduction goal by 2030 that all ULI Greenprint members have already pledged.
U.S. real estate economists predict generally improved economic and property market news for the rest of 2020, as well as for the following two years, compared with their forecasts of six months ago, according to the fall 2020 ULI Real Estate Economic Forecast.
A ULI member from the San Francisco Bay area weighs the pros and cons of converting the HVAC system of a 1960s-era office building.
The ULI Center for Sustainability and Economic Performance has announced the addition of three new members to its executive board from industry-leading organizations such as JBG Smith, ZOM, HR&A.
Marnix Galle, executive chairman of Belgian developer Immobel, has been appointed ULI Europe Chairman, serving on a voluntary basis for a two-year term starting on July 1, 2020, and will join the ULI Global Board of Directors. He succeeds outgoing Europe Chairman Juergen Fenk, member of the executive board, SIGNA Holding GmbH.
The latest “Real Estate Economic Forecast,” produced by the ULI Center for Capital Markets and Real Estate, points to a U.S. economy that has likely already hit bottom, with growth resuming in the second half of the year that will soften some of the blow. Panelists on a ULI webinar said that this outlook comes with crossed fingers due to uncertainty related to the path of COVID-19 and the time it takes to develop an effective vaccine.
Renowned real estate entrepreneur Wolfgang Egger, who founded PATRIZIA AG over 35 years ago, has won the 2020 ULI European Leader Award. Rising star Hala El Akl, a director at PLP Architecture, was named the ULI European Talent Award winner in the ULI European Leadership Awards. The awards recognize industry leaders in Europe whose contributions to urban development and real estate, along with civic and social endeavors, exemplify the spirit and mission of ULI.
Interest rates have been on a roller-coaster ride over the last year, but cap rates are largely unchanged. The result of these moves is that cap rate spreads relative to the safe investments in the 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds have moved back to the levels seen in 2017. Given everything that has changed over the last year—as well as everything that has not—there may be room for cap rate spreads to move lower.
Outgoing ULI Global Chairman Thomas Toomey reflected on the Institute’s uniqueness as well as its future as an organization with a strong philanthropic culture during remarks made at the 2019 Spring Meeting’s closing session. “What makes [ULI] unique is that our work, performed by ULI members and real estate leaders, changes people’s lives by changing cities for the better. No other real estate institution comes close to doing so much for so many,” Toomey said.
A new report, Supporting Smart Urban Development: Successful Investing in Density, is the result of collaboration between a powerful group of innovative real estate investors and developers that are actively building the cities of the future. Collectively, this group owns or manages over US $300 billion worth of real estate assets worldwide.
Growing cities such as Hong Kong are at the epicenter of what Richard Florida has dubbed “the new urban crisis,” with the city’s success sending house prices soaring out of reach of the average resident. The author and urbanist, who is director of cities at the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto, spoke at the 2018 ULI Asia Pacific Summit in Hong Kong.
Hines, which recently opened operations in Athens, offers its view of prospects for an economic recovery following nearly a decade of austerity.
Just released: Read stories, hear from leaders, and see the progress ULI members made in the Americas and beyond in our 2017 Annual Report.
Brexit and the recent U.S. and French elections came up in many conversations at ULI Germany’s recent Urban Leader Summit in Frankfurt. Although panelists said they are concerned about the geopolitical changes afoot, the domestic German economy remains strong.
While it is generally known that good schools enhance property values, it is not always clear how to improve an existing school system in a way that would benefit a community. Speakers at the 2016 ULI Fall Meeting described their approaches to adding value with stronger schools in both distressed urban neighborhoods and affluent greenfield developments.
Encouraging economic news released in August heightened the potential that the Fed will increase interest rates. But this good news proved to be a bit too positive, as it may have contributed to a withdrawal in the real estate investment trust sector. Plus, interest rate survey data from Trepp.
Author Gary Sernovitz sees the American oil and gas renaissance as “the Internet of oil, a spark . . . that led to an industrial change of such scope and magnitude that we have woken up . . . in a once impossible world.” Yet public understanding of the shale revolution has lagged, leading to hype, scaremongering, and a failure to candidly discuss its urgent moral, technological, regulatory, and environmental challenges.
Even as the broader equity markets fell, real estate investment trusts posted positive returns as economic uncertainty once again took center stage. The Federal Reserve Board’s decision not to raise interest rates this month was good news for REITs in terms of keeping their cost of capital low, but also reflected some weak economic news that could mean economic growth is faltering. Plus, interest rate survey data from Trepp.
Implementation of the Affordable Care Act has driven both health care–related job growth and demand for real estate in the United States. But health care REITs are not immune from external market challenges, and they have thrived in the current low interest rate environment. Plus, interest rate survey data from Trepp.
