Developing modern buildings adjacent to historic icons can present unique challenges—especially in an area of downtown San Francisco with an active historic preservation community. Learn how a developer solved the puzzle of a San Francisco site by integrating a historic building with its modern neighbors to create a single structure with three parts.

Most cities and jurisdictions are not sustained by large catalytic redevelopments. On the contrary, they are typically built “block by block, or even lock by lock,” by small to medium-sized development businesses accomplishing significant infill developments that contribute to the urban environment. Read about the examples of successful infill projects presented by the panelists at the ULI 2010 Fall Meeting session entitled, “Entrepreneurial Development Strategies for Targeted Infill.”

Leaders who worked on three transformative urban projects showed why the projects had distinguished themselves as ULI award winners at the “Game Changers” session at ULI’s 2010 Fall Meeting. Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore introduced The Southern Ridges; Downtown Fort Worth, Texas and its Sundance Square; and, Columbia Heights, a historic neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C., and its commercial center are three case studies that offer what the public sector can do, even in the current economic climate.

What are smaller scale developers currently doing to survive? Four of them shared stories of what they were doing in 2007 (3 in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., region), and how they’re coping now to position their firms for future opportunities, at ULI’s 2010 Fall Meeting session, “The Current Environment for Smaller Developers.”

It took a Canadian bank without exposure to the U.S. subprime mortgage market to save the biggest real estate deal in Washington, D.C., during the darkest days of the credit crisis. It was Walton Street’s relationship with the Canadian TD Bank that enabled it to get the financing it needed. Read about how it was accomplished and how it has performed.

More and more players in commercial real estate are using social media to connect with their customers, said panelists at “Social Media and Engagement,” a session at ULI’s 2010 Fall Meeting. The tools are being used not only by the consumer-facing segments, such as retailers and real estate agents, but also business-to-business segments. People prefer doing business with those they know, and today people get to know you through social media.

As a result of current market conditions, commercial landlords are facing fierce competition. One way to distinguish your property from that of the competition is to invest time and energy – not necessarily dollars – in a tenant relations program that is focused on addressing tenant needs and delivering meaningful and high-quality services. Learn how to design and execute a successful tenant relations and retention plan.

The JBG companies got their start in 1960 by law partners who realized they were doing more real estate work than law. For five decades the firm has been willing to challenge the status quo, as when they resisted the 1990’s trend toward becoming a real estate investment trust (REIT). Today it is almost impossible to walk around urban Washington, D.C.— particularly the areas surrounding Metrorail stations—without seeing the firm’s familiar lion’s-head logo.

Nashville-based developer David McGowan knew a change of course was necessary to ensure continued success at Lenox Village, a mixed-use, new urbanist development in southeast Nashville. It was 2007 and the market for for-sale housing was slowing down while rental housing was still strong. Read how McGowan shifted the project in the face of the oncoming slowdown in the economy.

Because bus rapid transit (BRT) seems to play out differently in every community, different types of bus infrastructure and service may all be called BRT. Both the public and private sectors need to share the specifics of what is being planned and developed. Only then will it be clear whether there are opportunities to turn your community’s BRT into bus rapid transit-oriented development (BRTOD).