In contemporary development practice, mobility looms as a core driver of real estate value to shape how people live, work, and engage with cities. The ULI report Sustainable Mobility and Real Estate: Opportunities for Creating Lasting Development Value reframes mobility as a critical component of real estate strategies—one with significant implications for asset performance, community well-being, and long-term resilience.
Rather than viewing transportation as separate from buildings and neighborhoods, industry observers understand, more and more now, that transportation and real estate are inseparable. The way people move shapes real estate, and the design of real estate influences mobility choices. This emerging perspective is reshaping how private developers, public agencies, and communities collaborate to create places that are functional and vibrant.
ULI’s new report offers actionable guidance for integrating sustainable transportation infrastructure such as public transit, bike lanes and parking, active travel trails, and walkable streets into real estate projects. Drawing insights from the Promoting Sustainable Transportation in Commercial Real Estate workshop, the report was developed in coordination with a range of ULI members and ModeScore, a global certification body that evaluates how well buildings support sustainable transportation.
How Sustainable Mobility Is Driving Real Estate Value and Market Performance
The report details how real estate can leverage investments in sustainable mobility infrastructure to capture greater returns while helping to advance broader community goals related to climate, equity, and health. When mobility systems are integrated into project planning, they do more than move people—they shape markets.
Key projects that exemplify this principle are included in the report, including The Miami Underline. The Underline is a project funded by public and private dollars that is transforming the land below Miami’s elevated Metrorail transit system into a 10 mile (16 km) linear park, urban trail, and art destination. The project is turning underused land into a lively, multimodal corridor that connects communities, supports active transportation, and enhances access to transit.
According to Patrice Gillespie Smith, COO and president of Friends of The Underline, “The Underline is demonstrating the economic impact that beautiful, inviting, and connected open spaces can have on adjacent real estate. We have taken what was once an eyesore and created residential amenities, so that properties now advertise that they are on The Underline as a selling point. By optimizing their location near these natural assets, property owners can leverage the value of their proximity in sustainable interventions without having to build it themselves.”
By leveraging high-quality sustainable transportation infrastructure, and providing complementary amenities, developers and building owners can align private returns with public benefits.
Project-Level Strategies for Integrating Sustainable Transportation into Real Estate
Developers and owners can use a range of strategies to support sustainable mobility at the project level. These amenities are grounded in research and emerging practice, and they reflect the ways that developers and building owners can both support and benefit from adjacent sustainable transportation systems. They include:
- Bicycle storage. Providing secure bicycle storage rooms unlocks the potential of nearby bike lanes and trails.
- On-site showers and changing rooms. Especially valuable in office and mixed-use developments, these amenities encourage active travel by making cycling and walking more feasible for daily commuters.
- Green infrastructure. Developers and owners can furnish buildings with trees, reflective paving, and other green elements that improve the quality of active travel, expanding the appeal of sustainable modes.
- Real-time transit information (RTI) Screens. Installing up-to-date transit displays helps occupants make real-time decisions about mobility options, effectively reducing perceived wait times and increasing transit use.
- Transit passes. Providing transit passes to tenants attracts car-free households and reinforces the value of adjacent transit infrastructure.
- Parking incentives. Charging higher fees for multiple cars or offering rent reductions and transit passes for car-free residents can shape travel behavior while reducing parking footprints.
- EV charging stations. Integrating EV infrastructure anticipates evolving mobility preferences and leverages growing public investment in charging networks.
These amenities can drive mobility choices that benefit both occupants and investors in the long term.
What Developers Are Learning About Sustainable Mobility from the Miami Workshop
Sustainable mobility in real estate has moved beyond theory, with developers actively responding through real projects and practices. At the March 2025 workshop in Miami, Nico Otheguy, senior development manager at ZOM Living, highlighted the market dimension of this shift.
“There is market demand for walkability,” Otheguy said. “Development that visibly meets this market demand can result in broader victories, like reduced parking minimums, which can lead to higher yield and more development.”
His insight reflects an important theme of the workshop and report: Mobility integration can unlock regulatory and financial flexibility, as well as tenant demand.
Other key takeaways include:
- There is momentum for real estate to leverage sustainable transportation infrastructure. Developers are increasingly recognizing that projects which combine sustainable transportation infrastructure with sustainable amenities at building scale create both market and environmental value.
- Partnerships are essential for success. Close collaboration between developers, public agencies, and community partners helps align transportation investments with broader development goals.
- Financial incentives can support transit use and transit-oriented development. Tools such as transit subsidies, zoning overlays, and density bonuses can attract both developers and residents to sustainable mobility-oriented projects.
- Parking regulations shape development. The reduction or elimination of parking minimums can enable reinvestment in amenities that promote walking, cycling, and public transit use. Parking requirements, as they currently exist, can hinder sustainable development.
- Design decisions can drive behavior change. Intentional features such as bike storage, EV charging, and shaded pedestrian paths incentivize occupants to use sustainable travel modes.
- Perceptions of sustainable modes matter. Comfort, safety, and aesthetics influence whether people choose walking, cycling, or transit. Enhancing lighting, visibility, and overall safety of sustainable travel modes can increase use.
- Accessibility and equity are central. Ensuring low-income residents, people with disabilities, and historically marginalized groups have equitable access to mobility infrastructure strengthens social outcomes and long-term development success.
Why Sustainable Mobility Is Becoming a Core Real Estate Development Strategy
The Sustainable Mobility and Real Estate report reframes mobility not as a backdrop to development but instead as a strategic asset that shapes how places work and endure. When mobility and real estate are treated as co-investments, rather than as separate considerations, they can produce environments that are more accessible, resilient, and economically vibrant for the long term.
Learn more at: https://knowledge.uli.org/reports/research-reports/2025/sustainable-mobility-and-real-estate
