Property Types
ULI Property Types provides insights into challenges, opportunities, and innovations specific to each property type, supporting developers, investors, planners, and policymakers in making informed decisions and responding to dynamic market conditions. It organizes and showcases content on the major real estate classifications — including hotels and resorts, industrial, mixed-use, multifamily, office, residential, and retail — to help industry professionals understand how different segments perform and evolve.
Hotels and Resorts
The Arizona Biltmore, often called the “Jewel of the Desert,” was awarded the ULI Heritage Award for architectural integrity, landscaping, and high quality of service in 1997. Through the hotel’s 83-year history, its owners have been able to maintain the Frank Lloyd Wright–influenced vision that made the resort famous.
As long as lenders keep a tight grip on their wallets, the much-anticipated trend toward smaller houses probably won’t materialize, according to data presented at the NAHB’s recent annual convention.
Once the butt of jokes by late-night comedians, Newark now has building cranes dotting its skyline—proof that the Garden State’s largest city is experiencing something of a renaissance.
Industrial
With a weak dollar boosting global demand for U.S. exports and the domestic economy inching back from the brink, the health of most U.S. industrial real estate markets is improving, too. Nonetheless, the national vacancy rate remains stubbornly in double-digit territory at 10.2 percent. Read what advice experts at Cushman & Wakefield and other firms have for savvy landlords with vacancies to fill.
As the number of U.S. factory jobs continues to shrink, cities increasingly find themselves with underused or abandoned industrial land. Where these sites border residential areas, the result is blight and increased crime. Read how the Oakland, California, housing authority took aging public housing on a blighted site and remade it to strengthen connections to nearby residences and community amenities.
As cities both large and small transition from manufacturing-based to service-oriented economies, municipal officials are forced to decide whether a site will be prepped for resale to another industrial user or if it should be remediated for residential development and commercial business. Read more to learn what a ULI panel told the city of Indianapolis to do with a well-sited vacant GM property.
Mixed-Use
James Rouse’s visionary development is 50 years old. The process of urbanizing its town center may create a model for other suburban developments.
With roughly 58,000 people moving to the city of Tampa in 2016 alone, the region stands out as an example of accelerating U.S. growth. Water Street Tampa will give an urban facelift to Tampa’s skyline and double the downtown area in size.
At a recent ULI Cincinnati event, panelists agreed that a midsize market like Cincinnati needs cooperation between the public and private sectors to move things forward.
Multifamily
Amblebrook, an innovative retirement community in the historic setting of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was specifically designed to remedy this social disease. It shatters the mold of the conventional 55-plus community.
Spanning 80 acres (32.4 ha) and 1 million square feet (93,000 sq m) of industrial space, The Works is located off Chattahoochee Avenue, a once-quiet industrial corridor on the west side of Atlanta. This pocket of the city—now known as the Upper Westside with a new CID to prove it—has seen explosive growth since plans for The Works were announced in 2017.
A one-two punch is hitting condo owners and associations in Florida, forcing some to sell to cash buyers at massive discounts or risk foreclosure. The setback could have national implications.
Office
Many office property owners are heading for the exits amid weaker demand and looming debt maturities, while opportunistic private equity groups are leaning in to capture what could be once-in-a-generation buying opportunities.
Hollywood and the film industry has changed dramatically over the last several decades, especially in recent years with the rise of streaming networks.
Although residential fell more in the first quarter of 2023, office remains Europe’s most scarred commercial real estate sector, according to advisory firm Green Street. Government mandates around sustainability are also tightening, and Cushman & Wakefield says 76 percent of European office space could be obsolete by 2030 unless landlords start investing now.
Residental
According to data from Yardi Matrix, the average size of a new U.S. apartment has shrunk 5 percent over the last 10 years, while the average price has risen 28 percent. The average floor plan of a new apartment measures 941 square feet (87.4 sq m), but that is still larger than the overall average of 882 square feet (82 sq m).
A novel condo development incorporates fully robotic parking and direct access to high-end units.
Housing affordability has become one of the most talked-about land use issues in virtually every major urban center in North America. Less focus has been directed to the lack of affordable housing options in small towns and rural areas, despite a significant need that spans the demographic spectrum.
Retail
The National Retail Federation predicts a record-breaking 2025 holiday season, with U.S. sales for November and December projected to grow between 3.7 percent and 4.2 percent—pushing total holiday sales past $1 trillion for the first time. Yet there also are signs that consumers are nervous; that mood, plus accounting for inflation, could leave holiday spending relatively flat.
From Dead Mall to Living District: Replacing the “Great Wall of Galleria” with a Connected Urban Core
For decades, civic leaders have tried to revitalize Market Street, San Francisco’s central thoroughfare, only to see their efforts founder. “I sometimes call it the great white whale of San Francisco,” says Eric Tao, managing partner at L37 Development in San Francisco and co-chair of ULI San Francisco. “Every new mayor, every new planning director, every new economic development director has chased that white whale.” This year, however, an international competition of ideas hosted and run by ULI San Francisco, with support from the ULI Foundation, generated fresh momentum for reimagining the boulevard. The competition drew 173 submissions from nine countries and sparked new conversations about the future of downtown San Francisco.