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
New, tech-based companies create temporary apartment hotels, monetize absorption vacancies, and stimulate urban mixed-use projects.
Wise choices in fixtures, finishes, and functions may draw guests’ attention.
How are tourism trends shaking up the real estate industry?
Industrial
Solar energy solutions provider Wunder has closed a deal with Blackstone Credit portfolio company ClearGen to fund solar energy systems on commercial properties.
ULI MEMBER–ONLY CONTENT: The dramatic increase in online shopping in the United States has only further increased the appetite for properties close to population centers.
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Global growth in e-commerce spurred by the coronavirus pandemic is boosting investor interest in a “new economy” asset class dominated by data centers and logistics facilities, speakers said in early September at a session during the ULI Asia Pacific REImagine conference.
Mixed-Use
Nestled in the shadow of SSM Health’s new $550 million hospital and Saint Louis University’s medical and undergraduate campuses, the former Steelcote Manufacturing Company Paint Factory and its neighboring parcels constituted a forgotten remnant of St. Louis’ proud industrial past. Few observers, if any, envisioned the area’s potential for housing not only students and hospital employees but also national entertainment options such as Topgolf and a major retailer, Target.
The Colorado Rockies’ ownership leased a parking lot adjacent to Coors Field in order to construct McGregor Square, a 3.2-acre (1.3 ha) mixed-use development that serves baseball fans, tourists, and the broader community.
The historic Powell Avenue Steam Plant, located in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, represents an extraordinary opportunity to reimagine a piece of the city’s industrial heritage. Spanning a 3.09-acre (1.24 ha) site in the heart of Birmingham’s vibrant Parkside District, this historic property is poised to become a cornerstone of downtown’s continued revitalization.
Multifamily
Texas has experienced a prolonged economic boom, bringing with it a significant explosion in population. From 2000 to 2023, the state’s population grew by a remarkable 46.3 percent. This level of growth inevitably places pressure on cities, whether to update infrastructure, revise planning regulations, or address other critical urban challenges.
Currently, vacancy rates in the Washington, D.C. area are around 20 percent, in line with the national average. The nationwide housing shortage, meanwhile, has hit a record high of 4.7 million homes, despite a five-year uptrend in new construction. The deficit is particularly pronounced in highly desirable urban and inner-suburban locations such as Alexandria, Virginia.
The mission of the ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing has been to ensure that everyone has a home that meets their needs at a price they can afford. Established in 2007 with a gift from longtime member and former ULI chairman J. Ronald Terwilliger, the Center’s activities include technical assistance engagements, forums and convenings, research and publications, and an awards program. The goal is to catalyze the production and preservation of a full spectrum of housing options.
Office
When Ballantyne first emerged out of North Carolina farmland, more than 30 years ago, the original developers of this master-planned project already had a concrete vision in mind for its future: evolution. The development team intrinsically understood that, as Ballantyne—an affluent community nestled in south Charlotte—would expand beyond its farmland roots, the project would need to adapt to meet the needs of a more diverse and changing demographic.
Office sector distress hits a decade high with $51.6B in loan defaults, but investors are looking for opportunities to buy at a discount.
As buildings become more efficient and run on “cleaner” energy sources, the industry’s attention will need to include embodied carbon—emissions associated with the manufacturing and transportation of building materials, as well as the construction, maintenance and disposal of buildings.
Residental
As leaders in land use, real estate, and commercial development, ULI members can counter homelessness and advance solutions that are cost-effective and rapidly deployable. Indeed, last summer, through the support of members led by Preston and Caroline Butcher, ULI launched its Homeless to Housed (H2H) program.
Top experts share innovative programming and latest strategies to fund development.
Last year, Massachusetts passed the Multi-Family Zoning Requirement for MBTA Communities (also known as Section 3A). When fully implemented, the law will affect the 175 municipalities—half of the total in the commonwealth—that are served by the state’s mass transit system. Section 3A mandates that there must be at least one zoning district where multi-family housing is allowed “as of right.”
Retail
Headlines have long proclaimed the demise of the American shopping mall. Despite undeniable shifts in the retail landscape, the truth about these spaces is more nuanced. These massive parcels often stand in prime locations and therefore hold massive potential to sidestep scrap-and-redevelop and to truly evolve.
It’s tough to view a strong economy as bad news. Yet a firmly positive economic projection in ULI’s Real Estate Economic Forecast does not bode well for commercial real estate participants who are hoping for relief in rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
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As the recent cultural and real estate realignment called “The Great Mall Sorting” continues, A-plus malls are thriving, while the B and C properties are gradually being repurposed, reused, and completely rethought, according to architect Sean Slater, senior principal at the architectural firm RDC in San Diego.
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