Nearly 7,000 of the world’s foremost leaders in the real estate and land use industry will convene at the 2018 ULI Fall Meeting, set for October 8–11 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.
The meeting’s host committee, which is responsible for highlighting Boston’s considerable assets, is being chaired by longtime ULI leaders Owen D. Thomas, chief executive officer and director, Boston Properties; Pamela J. Herbst, managing director, AEW Capital Management LP; and Franz F. Colloredo-Mansfeld, president and chief executive officer, Cabot Properties. All are ULI trustees and highly engaged members of ULI Americas.
“Boston is an excellent example of how cities are adapting to the needs of future generations,” Thomas says. “The 2018 Fall Meeting presents a prime opportunity to demonstrate how our members are helping position Boston for success in the decades ahead.”
“The revitalization that is occurring throughout Boston has been nothing short of transformational,” Herbst says. “We look forward to showcasing the many projects throughout the area that are making Boston more sustainable and livable.”
“While steeped in history and tradition, the Boston region is at the forefront of the future of city building,” Colloredo-Mansfeld says. “Our city is leading the way with inspired and highly successful design and development. We are excited to explore these best practices at the meeting.”
Each day of the meeting will emphasize a separate area of focus, starting with Monday, October 8, which will be dedicated to tours of innovative developments occurring throughout the area, including the following:
- Eastside Story: A Tale of Development and Advantageous Location
- Tapping into Boston’s Maker Economy
Tuesday, October 9, will emphasize leadership, offering lessons learned from experts in the real estate industry and beyond. On Wednesday, October 10, the focus will shift to industry trends, including a keynote presentation by Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at NYU Stern, founder of L2, and author of The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. Galloway will be speaking on the benefits of breaking up these mammoth tech companies for consumers and the economy in general. The discussion of trends will continue on Thursday, October 11, with the release of the highly anticipated annual industry forecast, Emerging Trends in Real Estate® 2019, which ULI copublishes with PwC. Thursday will also feature ULI experts sharing best practices in the art of making deals.
The 2018 ULI Fall Meeting is made possible with generous support from numerous sponsors, including Icon sponsors Boston Properties and Union Point; Principal sponsors NKF Capital Markets and Suffolk; and Platinum sponsors Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and GreenbergTraurig.
Boston was named one of this year’s top ten cities in the United States for investment and development by the 2018 edition of Emerging Trends in Real Estate. The report cited Boston’s appeal to highly educated millennials, and the aggregation of medical and health technology companies as economic drivers for the metropolitan area. It also pointed to a near-record influx of capital to the area due to the strength of the market.
Over the past several decades, panels of Institute members convened through ULI’s Advisory Services program have advised the metro region on a range of urban development challenges, including recommendations on the following: the redevelopment potential of Kendall Square (1976); revitalization strategies for Roxbury (1994); the redevelopment potential of Lowell (2003); planning strategies for South Bay (2012); the redevelopment of Malden and Everett (2015); and, most recently, recommendations on downtown development that could result from an underground rail line linking North Station and South Station (2017).
