Property Types

The U.S. hotel sector, now rebounding from the Great Recession, is on more solid footing thanks to a return to core real estate principles and conservative lending practices, creating the stability required to respond to changing customer values. Read about the trends in hotel development, possible changes driven by technology, and where the boutique hotels are leading the brand hospitality firms.

After undergoing the worst downturn in revenue and demand since the Great Depression, the hospitality industry made a rapid recovery in 2010. While markets like New York, Boston, Miami, and San Francisco are back to prerecession peaks, other markets are seeing increases only in the number of rooms booked, rather than pricing. Find out what else was said about this at the ULI Spring Council Forum.

Resort communities and hotels have suffered the blows of the recession and are beginning to see the light of day. A panel of developers at ULI’s 2011 Spring Council Forum in Phoenix discussed just how this sector is faring and where the opportunities lie now. Read to what degree the panelists think the resort sector is emerging from the recession.

The so-called redline drawn around the Phoenix market by investors seems to have been erased, says Steve Betts, chair of ULI Arizona. He attributes the metropolitan area’s resurgence to HEAT—Health care, Energy, Aerospace/defense, and Technology. Read what other local players are saying about this uptick in activity and why it appears that the road to recovery will be a long and bumpy one.

Dynamic, large-scale projects that create new centers of activity can be catalysts of downtown revitalization. Sundance Square in Fort Worth, the Columbia Heights revitalization in D.C., and L.A. LIVE in downtown Los Angeles—the three 2010 ULI Awards for Excellence winners—are recent examples. Read how these projects created benefits that extend well beyond the neighborhoods where they stand.

2010 ended on a strong note with all-in 10-year mortgage spreads in 5.25%+/- range which should have proved attractive to all but the most jaded investors. But as they say, it’s still “early days” and few lenders have announced plans and targets for 2011.

Les Docks Village is a ground-floor rehabilitation of the Docks, a historic and emblematic structure built in 1857 on the Marseille harbor and purchased by J.P. Morgan in 2007.

The Peterson Companies’ new National Harbor complex development attracts 10 million people each year, but it is likely that few will notice all the measures Peterson has put in place for their protection, which are both well concealed and elaborate.

Congress has thrown its support behind new legislation that aims to fix some of the problems in the condo financing program of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The Housing Opportunity through Modernization Act (H.R. 3700) will loosen some of the more stringent regulatory requirements specific to condo mortgage insurance that were introduced in the wake of the housing finance crisis.

What does it take to secure debt in today’s challenging commercial real estate environment? It all boils down to experience, relationships, and a lot of creativity. That’s according to an expert panel speaking this morning at ULI’s spring meeting at the New York Hilton Midtown. The panel is the first in a series of three, which will include Raising Equity (10 a.m. Wednesday) and Borrowers’ Experiences—Recent Success Stories (10 a.m. Thursday).

Nationwide, the urgent need for more affordable housing has become crystal clear. The United States is grappling with a housing crisis, and building affordable housing has become increasingly difficult. Developers face high construction costs, ongoing supply chain issues, and skyrocketing prices for land, especially in some of the country’s largest cities. Even when a project comes together and gets financing, the process to obtain permitting, gain city approvals, and actually construct a project can take years.

City is actively working to make its neighborhoods safer and more resilient to extreme rain events

This morning in Chicago’s South Loop, ULI members were treated to a tour of two historic and iconic buildings that have recently undergone major redevelopment and renovation: The Willis Tower and the Old Post Office.

At the 2021 ULI Fall Meeting in Chicago, attendees will have the chance to tour two new office towers and hear from their development teams about the measures taken to adapt to the new circumstances.

As attention turns to what real estate markets may be like once the COVID-19 pandemic has wound down, the outlook for office properties is particularly hazy. More than a year of home-based work left office spaces idle, and it remains unknown how many people will resume their daily commutes once health conditions and local regulations permit.

Hospitality, tourism, and medical services remain the largest industries driving Florida’s economy; but hotel and restaurant workers, nurses, and hospital administration employees often struggle to find suitable housing in the state’s largest cities. Panelists at the 2018 ULI Florida Summit discussed innovative solutions to the problem.

Two architects address ten common concerns about shrinking parking requirements.

Panelists at a ULI Boston event in April said that a newfound purpose for technology is emerging in multifamily segments—fostering a sense of community within the buildings and their surrounding neighborhoods.

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.