Topics
Capital Markets and Finance
Molly Maybrun, chief development officer of local developer Fifth Space, and Wallace Whittier, senior real estate officer for University of California, San Francisco, spoke at the 2025 ULI Fall Meeting about their collaboration to build a new proton therapy cancer center at Fifth Space’s Dogpatch Power Station, a multiphase master-planned mixed-use development on the waterfront at the southern edge of San Francisco’s Mission Bay.
The 2026 Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Asia Pacific report, published jointly by ULI and PwC found a mood of cautious optimism among real estate professionals; however, respondents described considerable disparities in markets and sectors across the region. Tokyo was ranked as the top city for investment in the Emerging Trends survey, top of the table for the third consecutive year, followed by Singapore, Sydney, Osaka, and Seoul.
While the full impact of the pandemic has yet to be realized, commercial real estate faces new uncertainties, including questions about the AI boom’s longevity, the spending strength of the U.S. consumer, and debt sustainability. In response to increased competition for quality deals, commercial real estate firms are restructuring their operations, using diverse data sources, accessing new capital, and forming new partnerships.
Design & Planning
The construction phase is where the vision of a future-proof parking facility truly takes shape, where theoretical plans transform into a tangible, tech-ready structure. This step isn’t merely about pouring concrete and raising steel; it’s a critical juncture for embedding the smart capabilities that will define the modern parking experience and ensure its long-term relevance in an evolving mobility landscape.
Once the heart of Kansas City’s Black commerce, arts and innovation, 18th & Vine gave rise to jazz legends like Charlie Parker and Count Basie, athletes like Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige, and institutions including America’s Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. It was a district built from necessity, residents created their own economic and social ecosystem. Every storefront held rhythm and resilience.
District Galleria, the name of a redevelopment plan in White Plains, New York—the county seat of Westchester—will demolish a four-and-a-half-decade-old enclosed mall and transform it into a community-oriented, mixed-use residential and retail space. The development team behind the multi-billion-dollar project is Pacific Retail Capital Partners (PRCP), which formed a joint venture with mall owner Aareal Bank, local developer Louis Cappelli of the Cappelli Organization, and New York’s SL Green Realty in 2022.
Development and Construction
Data centers entail a massive carbon footprint, both physically and operationally, and have often been criticized for their significant energy consumption. The environmental consequences have become even more acute with the rise of AI, which requires enormous computing power and cooling. Cities, designers, and policymakers now face the urgent challenge of reimagining these resource-intensive facilities so that they can meet rising energy demands while mitigating climate pressures, ensuring these buildings enhance their immediate environments rather than compromise them. The Terra Ventures Data Center in San Jose, California, exemplifies this socially responsible approach. Expected to be completed in 2027, the new facility aims to showcase how careful planning can meet both global demand and local responsibility.
Best practices for acquisition and redevelopment
A new report by the construction scheduling platform Planera shows which U.S. states are adding the most new housing in 2025.
Resilience and Sustainability
London is one of many cities rethinking its car-first orientation and embracing a more holistic vision of urban life rooted in social connection. Car-free and car-light streets are most successful when they function as social infrastructure that supports belonging, well-being, and public life. In other words, infrastructure matters, but intentional placemaking determines results.
In October 2025, ULI convened the Water Wise Development Coalition to discuss the latest updates on water and land use policy and their implications for both the real estate industry and the country as a whole. The meeting brought together land use experts, real estate professionals, and public sector decision makers. Guest speakers included Kelly Connolly Kern, director of public affairs at the Alliance for Water Efficiency, and Lindsay Rogers, policy manager for municipal conservation at Western Resource Advocates.
Multifamily buildings occupy structures with storied pasts. The rise of remote work and the continued housing shortage have led to a surge in the number of apartments being carved out of former office space—70,700 in 2025 compared to 23,100 in 2022, according to RentCafe. Developers are increasingly turning to structures with former lives—as offices or industrial or commercial buildings—to create multifamily housing that gives residents dwelling spaces that feel rooted in place and connected to the broader narrative of their communities.
Issues and Trends
Data center demand is exploding as AI and always‑on digital life fuel the sector, which is far outpacing the broader commercial real estate market. Yet a lack of power-adjacent land and increasingly complex approval processes are now slowing projects and threatening to put a ceiling on that growth.
The ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing has announced two winners for this year’s Jack Kemp Excellence in Affordable and Workforce Housing Award and three winners for the Center’s Award for Innovation in Attainable Housing. “ULI’s Terwilliger Center for Housing is excited to present the 2025 winners of the Kemp and Innovation awards,” said Aimee Witteman, Chief Impact Officer at ULI. “Each winner is showing the industry how to create more inclusive and affordable communities through housing production.”
Third edition evaluates top 30 global powerhouses report reveals world’s leading urban hubs rise in popularity post pandemic. Challenges include new economic conditions, rising costs, adaptation to hybrid work, innovation gaps, the climate imperative, and transition to social, mixed-use districts.