This issue of Urban Landculminates an ambitious project: identifying 40 real estate professionals from around the world who, by age 40, have gone about their craft with a sense of innovation, dedication—and sheer gusto—to a degree that makes them pacesetters in land use and development. But who could assemble such a diverse group?
Such a broad task required the resources of a worldwide organization; also, the insights of professionals who are tops in their field, representing all the disciplines involved in real estate and land use. People intimately familiar with the real estate industry in the United States. And Canada. And Europe. And Asia and Australia. This was a list that could be developed only through the broad and deep resources of the Urban Land Institute.
The competition attracted a strong response from ULI members, who nominated more than 400 people for consideration. The inaugural class of 40 Under 40 presented in these pages was selected by a distinguished group of ULI leaders, including Toby Bozzuto, president of the Bozzuto Group in Greenbelt, Maryland; Simon H.T. Clark, head of European real estate, Linklaters in London; Jill S. Hatton, director of the University of Wisconsin Foundation Board in Boston; Tyler W. Higgins, managing partner of Orchard Partners in Lafayette, California; Kari Pitkin, managing director of real estate, Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London; Kenneth Rhee, chief executive officer of Huhan Business Advisory (Shanghai) Company Limited in Shanghai; former ULI Chairman Marilyn Jordan Taylor, dean and Paley Professor, University of Pennsylvania School of Design in Philadelphia; and former ULI Chairman J. Ronald Terwilliger, chairman emeritus of Trammell Crow Residential in Dallas.
About half of the 40 were able to travel to New York City to attend the ULI Fall Meeting in October, and they celebrated at the Urban Land Reception, which was graciously hosted by Grimshaw Architects in the firm’s offices, housed in a wonderful and edgy rehab of the historic Terminal Warehouse building. The long, brick building along the Hudson River in the Chelsea neighborhood was built in 1891 to receive rail cars off Hudson River barges and transfer the cargo to on-site storage or to rail lines running up the west side of Manhattan. A century later, wooden decking was built over the rail tracks that slice through the center of the block-long building, and the space was turned into the jj8Tunnel, a nightclub of some notoriety. Today, the building is attracting upscale tenants and helping lead the renaissance of New York’s west side.
Also in this issue, we address an important residential development question: What is the new golf? Starting on page 56, Trish Donnally examines the new focal points of planned communities. And, beginning on page 64, you will find a summary of one of the Institute’s most popular reports: Emerging Trends in Real Estate®. In this issue, we cover U.S. and Canadian markets. The January/February issue will present findings for Europe and the Asia Pacific region.
My colleagues and I wish you, your families, and your businesses a fulfilling holiday season. See you next year.
