Companies are increasingly borrowing practices from the hospitality industry in order to attract and retain tenants and residents of all sorts. To address the topic, ULI New York convened a panel titled “The Hotelification of Real Estate,” held in June in Manhattan, featuring a range of experts with specialties spanning commercial, residential, and mixed-use development.

“There is great confusion about what the future will be,” legendary architect Jan Gehl said at ULI Europe’s Real Estate Forum in Copenhagen in June.

Public and private investment reclaimed the area’s cultural heritage. Increased tourism now challenges its authenticity.

Ten years ago, ULI Colorado launched its Real Estate Diversity Initiative (REDI). The grass-roots program has become a model within the Institute for fostering education and career opportunities for people of color and women that is now poised for national growth. ULI is leveraging a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to expand the REDI program throughout its network of district councils in the United States to St. Louis, Kansas City, Memphis, and Indiana.

As we head to Nashville for our 2019 Spring Meeting, I am encouraged and enthused about the progress being made at ULI to improve the member experience. Our initial efforts will be on display at the meeting, with more member-informed, interactive programming designed to foster a broader exchange of ideas and knowledge as well as more member-to-member connections. The event, which follows a highly successful Midwinter Trustees Meeting, Europe Conference, and Asia Pacific Convivium held this winter, will serve as additional confirmation of ULI’s status as the gold standard for real estate organizations.

Alternative lenders increased their market share in the commercial real estate debt sector in 2018, panelists said at a ULI North Texas event in March. That trend is likely to continue this year as competition among all types of debt providers heats up capital markets.

More than 3,000 ULI full members are expected in Nashville, April 16–18, to attend the 2019 ULI Spring Meeting. Music City was ranked fifth among markets to watch in Emerging Trends in Real Estate ^© 2018. Don’t miss these five tours of both the past and the future of Nashville.

Speaking at ULI Arizona’s Trends Day, held in January at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge in Phoenix, an entrepreneur described how there is still room for differentiation in the growing shared-workspace industry.

Why CRE professionals of color should be included in opportunity zone plans.

Congress authorizes tax-free profits for investors in qualified opportunity funds.