The Ground Floor

Construction Spending Falls Slightly

Ken Simonson’s May 29 -- June 3 issue of "The Data DIGest," reported that construction spending in April totaled $1.12 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), down 0.4 percent from March and 3.9 percent from April 2007, the Census Bureau reported on Tuesday. Public construction spending slipped 0.3 percent for the month but rose 6.8 percent from April 2007; private residential spending plunged 2.3 percent and 21 percent; and private nonresidential spending climbed 1.6 percent and 15 percent.

Simonson, who is the chief economist at the Associated General Contractors of America, also noted that among private nonresidential categories, growth was notable for lodging, 7.6 percent and 45 percent; manufacturing, 3.5 percent and 25 percent; power, 2.9 percent and 33 percent; and office, 0.5 percent and 15 percent. Commercial (retail, warehouse and farm) construction was up 1.9 percent for the month but only 0.3 percent compared to April 2007.

The largest public category, educational, fell 0.3 percent for the month but rose 7.3 percent compared to April 2007, while highway and street construction inched up 0.1 percent from March and 5.2 percent from April 2007. New private single-family construction tumbled 4.4 percent for the month and 38 percent from a year ago; new multifamily rose 0.4 percent from March but slumped 13 percent from April 2007.

Price increases continue for construction materials. In the past few days, Simonson's Data DIGest readers reported immediate price increases for asphalt and aggregate; roofing products and metal wall panels, effective June 1-August 1; "a steel guardrail increase of 40 percent since February [and] rebar for concrete barrier jumped 23 percent in the last 30 days;" "a serious round of increases [for vinyl chloride resin for polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which] will impact pricing for plastic pipe, vinyl siding, vinyl flooring, and vinyl window pricing."

Former ULI Chairman New Dean at School of Design

Effective October 1, Marilyn Jordan Taylor will take over as dean of the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania.

A partner in charge of the Urban Design and Planning Practice at Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP, Taylor is the first woman to serve as chairman of the firm, is internationally known for her involvement in the design of large-scale urban projects and civic initiatives.

During a 35-year career with Skidmore Owings & Merrill, Taylor has led many of the firm’s largest and most complex projects around the world. She was also the first architect and the first woman to serve as chairman of ULI, where she championed a renewed focus on cities, sustainable communities and infrastructure investment.

Projects Taylor led with Skidmore Owings & Merrill’s Urban Design and Planning Practice include Columbia University's Manhattanville Master Plan, the East River Waterfront Master Plan, the reclamation of Con Ed's East River sites for mixed-use development, the new research building at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, and the new urban campus for John Jay College.

She also founded and leads Skidmore Owings & Merrill’s Airports and Transportation Practice, working on projects such as Terminal 4 at JFK airport, Continental Airlines at Newark and the expansion of Washington’s Dulles airport. Her international projects include SkyCity at Hong Kong International Airport and the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Taylor’s transit work has ranged from the award-winning Changi Airport Station in Singapore to the Transit-Friendly Land Use Handbook for New Jersey Transit.

In addition, Taylor has served as a member of The Partnership for New York City, president of the New York City chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and as a visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is a founding member of the New York New Visions Design and Planning Coalition, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Penn Institute for Urban Research.

Moving Beyond 'Drive until you Qualify'

In a joint effort by the Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) and Washington, D.C.-based the Brookings Institute, an interactive mapping web tool -- the Housing + Transportation Affordability Index -- was developed to measure the true affordability of housing by applying transportation costs.

The tool provides housing and transportation costs as a percentage of income on a neighborhood-level basis for 52 metropolitan areas using 2000 U.S. Census data and analysis of household transportation costs.

Urban planners, policy-makers, and transportation and housing advocates measure housing affordability as 30 percent or less of household income. However, housing affordability is not always what it seems.

As Scott Bernstein, president for CNT explained during a presentation today at the Brookings Institute, the old adage of "drive until you qualify" is really no longer an appropriate measure of housing affordability. As gas prices increase along with suburban sprawl, much of the population is paying as much for transportation as they are housing.

Harnessing the Sun

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will invest up to $13.7 million over three fiscal years (2008 – 2010) in 11 university-led projects focusing on developing advanced solar photovoltaic (PV) technology manufacturing processes and products. Combined with a minimum university and industry cost share of 20 percent, up to $17.4 million will be invested in these projects.

University projects have the potential to significantly reduce the cost of electricity produced by PV from current levels of $0.18-$0.23 per Kilowatt hour (kWh) to $0.05-$0.10 per kWh by 2015 -- a price that is competitive in markets nationwide, the DOE said. President Bush’s Solar America Initiative aims to make solar energy cost-competitive with conventional forms of electricity by 2015.

Each participating university will work with an industry partner to ensure the projects retain a commercialization focus and that results are quickly transitioned into market-ready products and processes.

Queen Noor of Jordan: A Woman on a Mission

This post was written by The Ground Floor contributor and ULI director of media relations, Marge Fahey.

Queen Noor of Jordan is on a mission to bring economic growth, sustainable development, and enhancement of human development through adequate health care and freedom of conflict and oppression to the Middle East.

"Democracy gives us the ability to achieve these goals in a local and global context," she told attendees at ULI’s fall meeting.

The queen acknowledged that her background in urban planning (she holds a B.A. in architecture from Princeton) was the best training she could have received for the work she is now doing.

Her love affair with the Middle East began in the 1970s when she went to Iran and saw conditions that led her to consider switching careers to journalism. Instead, through a quirk of fate, she moved to Jordan, consulted for King Hussein, fell in love with the late King and made the Middle East her home.

She was able to influence development in Jordan and improve conditions for the people. "I moved to the Middle East 30 years ago and was overwhelmed by the suffering," she said.

The Right Leader for the Right Reasons

ULI members got a lesson in leadership on the closing day of the Institute’s annual fall meeting from an expert on the subject –- Bill George, author of Authentic Leadership and True North. According to George, executive leadership in the United States has been slipping over the past several decades because "we have been choosing the wrong leaders for the wrong reasons," opting for those with charisma, rather than character; and basing decisions on image, rather than integrity.

True leadership, George said, is rooted in taking responsibility, not making money or power, and on a firm commitment to customer service. "If you don’t create better value for your customers, your competitors will, and you will be out of business," he said.

He urged ULI members to offer younger employees opportunities to lead and advance. "They are knowledge workers who probably know more than you do. They need an opportunity to make a difference…People have a right to the sense that they are making a difference with their work. When they feel that way, they will give you their hearts, not just their heads. Leadership in the 21^st century is about leading with a clear sense of purpose, not about getting people to follow you."

What Did You Hear at the Spring Council Forum?

The following is a summary of numerous conversations in the halls of ULI's recent Spring Council Forum, information gleaned darting from one Council meeting to another, and attending the real estate capital markets plenary session on Friday morning. Agree? Disagree? Hear something else? Join the discussion in the comments section of this post.

Ditch the Humvee, Hop on a Bike

When it comes to short trips, Europeans have the right idea -- grab your bike. An ample supply of sophisticated two-and three-wheelers designed for carrying kids and groceries, plus easily accessible bike routes running throughout cities such as Copenhagen and Amsterdam, make a strong case for leaving the car behind. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal (subsc. req'd) details efforts from London to Munich to Zurich to boost opportunities for transportation by bicycle. Activies include: significant expansion of bike lanes, building parking garages for bikes, and use of free bikes or rental bikes outside some transit stations. Children are taught early that cycling is how they are expected to get around, and programs are in place to teach non-natives who might be hesitant to start pedaling.

Health benefits notwithstanding, biking is drawing more interest now due to concerns over air quality and global climate change. European countries, the article says, are aiming to reduce short (less than 7.5 kilometers) car trips, which make up six percent of all car emissions in Europe.

Meanwhile, back in the U.S., the love affair with cars continues. In all but a handful of cities, cyclists are in direct competition with autos for the asphalt. "In the U.S., bike commuters face more challenges, including strong opposition from some small businesses, car owners and parking-garage owners to any proposals to remove parking, shrink driving lanes or reduce speed limits," the article notes. It lists the top bike-friendly towns in the U.S.: Boulder, Colo., where 97 percent of the arterial roads have dedicated bike lanes; and David, Calif., where 95 percent have bike lanes. The next closest: Madision, Wisc., with 37 percent.

Perhaps it's time for America to take biking more seriously. With obesity at epidemic levels, traffic congestion getting worse each year, and carbon dioxide emissions steadily rising, we have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain.

Inside the Beltway -- Not Just for Political Junkies

A study from the Greater Washington (D.C.) Initiative says that the District of Columbia is home to more than just political junkies and federal bureaucrats, and is, in fact, luring increasing numbers of creative and skilled workers not connected to politics or government.  It's not a surprising claim, since GWI is part of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, which promotes economic development in the region. But the GWI crunched numbers to prove the point, comparing labor stats for different professions against those for New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco-San Jose. The surprising conclusion -- the Washington region has the highest concentration of knowledge workers.

According to an article on the report in yesterday's Washington Post, Washington still "doesn't get the respect it deserves" as a major economic hub, and attempts by the business community to change D.C.'s reputation as a government town are challenging. Still, as the numbers show, progress is being made. Between 1999 and 2005, nearly 14,000 additional advertising and marketing workers came to the area; during the same time period, more than 61,000 additional information technology workers flocked to the region.  As described by Richard Florida, author of "The Creative Class," these workers are among the highly sought, highly educated, talented professionals who can work from virtually any location, and, as a result, are highly mobile. Because this group values a high quality of life, Washington must compete as an employment center offering a variety of recreational, entertainment and cultural attractions, he says.

All these clever workers also must need pampering. Interestingly, a business feature story in the same edition of the paper points to an expansion of services (individual cell phone chargers, high-tech hair dryers) at a hip salon in DC's Georgetown neighborhood. "We wanted to bring pop, pizzazz and sex to this city," the salon's chief executive tells The Post. "The people of Washington wanted it."

Imagine -- a transformation from ultra-stodgy to ultra-chic for DC? What's next?

Home Sweet Jigsaw

Yesterday, the custom jigsaw puzzle that I ordered three weeks ago arrived, a map of the 4-mile area around our cousins' circa 1910 lodge on Chebeague Island, ME. It's a hostess gift for our next trip north, but I thought you'd like to know about my find.

My Jigsaw is manufactured in the U.K. by Map Marketing, Ltd., and distributed in the U.S. by Historic Newspaper Archive -- the people who sell commemorative replicas of the front page of the New York Times for any date you want.

I supplied the address and postal code, and $40 U.S., and got a 400-piece boxed puzzle. At the center is a house-shaped puzzle piece of the street address -- or in this case the dirt road name. There's always a jigsaw in some stage of assembly at the Juniper Lodge, so it seemed a contribution to all those who visit next summer.

Seems like it could also be a thank you gift to those you engage in community redevelopment workshops, to a new homeowner, or maybe for a community center or classroom.; Any other ideas?

Young Leaders in Paris

More than 100 Young Leaders packed the room at the ULI Paris Conference for their own afternoon of programming.

The event attracted attendees from right across Europe and the Middle East including Russia, Germany, Turkey, the U.K. and Dubai and was the first time the Young Leaders have had a pan-European meeting.

David Lunts, executive director for policy and partnerships at the Greater London Authority, addressed attendees on the benefits and challenges of tall buildings while Mark Cooper, group editor of EuroProperty, spoke on how he sets the news agenda for the European property market.

The afternoon also included "info-bursts" on topics such as Shariah investing, green buildings, alternative investments and hot and cold Spots in Europe to ensure the Young Leaders were up-to-date on the latest topics.

The event ended with an inspiring speech by Pen Hadow, a polar explorer who was the first man to sledge to the North Pole without outside help. His remarkable feat provided food for thought for Young Leaders on topics such as leadership and reaching personal goals.

It also put in perspective the short journey in the cold Paris night to a local bar where Young Leaders later gathered to enjoy the city's hospitality.

What You Think: Families in Urban Areas

We've briefly covered the changing demographics of downtown residents in this blog, noting that in many cases the revitalization of central cities is driven by families without kids. (Although the good folks over at CEOs for Cities may disagree with our anecdotal evidence.) There seem to be a number of factors in play that discourage traditional households from locating in our downtowns, but we wanted to hear from you, our readers, to see what you feel are the most important factors leading families to choose suburban life.

A clear majority of our readers voting in the poll (click on the image to the right to see the full-size version of the results) believe that school quality is the greatest barrier to families living in cities. Housing costs and safety concerns were a distant second and third. I don't think these poll results are particularly surprising to anyone, but it is yet another indication that cities that want to attract young families will need to pour more resources into fixing broken school systems. Of course, not everyone is of the belief that increasing families in cities is the key to downtown revitalization, but there are a great many political leaders that believe family mobility patterns are the harbinger economic success or failure. Let us know in the comments whether you think families are crucial to a city's turnaround -- and don't forget to vote in our new poll on barriers to workforce housing.

Two on Tuesday: Looking at Legacies

For the return of Two on Tuesday, today we look at a couple of recent profiles of influential people in planning on development -- one controversial historical figure and one present day innovative thinker.

• In the same vein as other media outlets looking at Robert Moses's legacy, the February 5 issue of the New Yorker also takes a look at the controversial planner.
• Meanwhile, the always excellent BLDGBLOG has an eye opening interview with Ed Mazria about his 2030 Challenge, and how the architecture industry needs to address the issue of global climate change.

Smart Growth "Shibboleth"? Excuse Me?

In a December 20 column in the Rocky Mountain News, editorial writer Vincent Carroll takes syndicated columnist Neal Peirce to task for his support of "nearly every smart growth shibboleth and associated schemes to enhance the power of government planning offices."

Carroll's snipes were triggered by a summary Peirce wrote on the recent ULI Larson Forum, which examined trends in the land use industry. In Peirce's report, he recounted discussions among forum participants about the need for greater federal support for thoughtful land use planning at the local level. Unfortunately, Carroll translated a call for greater federal support into a call for "national land-use planning," describing Peirce as a "sucker" for buying into the idea.

No one at the Larson Forum was proposing "national land use planning," and to suggest that Peirce was supporting such a notion is twisting the truth. What was discussed is how to get urban issues -- such as balancing the need to accommodate population with the need to conserve land -- on the radar screen of our federal lawmakers.

Carroll's criticism reads like a page from the NIMBY textbook -- "I have my property, I don't want anything to around me to change, and what's in my best interest is all that really matters. No one can tell me how my neighborhood or my community should grow." I'm sure Carroll really does not think this way. But, the next time he is stuck in endless traffic, or meets someone who cannot afford to live anywhere close to work, he may want to reconsider his position on land use planning.

In the big picture, these are the real suckers: The cities that fail to plan for growth. They will lose in the global competition for talented workers because they cannot provide a high quality of life.

What You Think: Eminent Domain

In our decidedly unscientific poll of blog readers on the appropriate uses of eminent domain, we found that the majority of you (or at least the majority of you who responded) feel that eminent domain is appropriate in a number of situations. The full results are to the right (click on the image for a more legible version of the results). According to our poll, nearly 76% of you felt it was okay to use eminent domain for road and highway development. A little more than 65% of you supported it for schools or civic buildings, while over half of you thought it appropriate for the economic development of distressed areas and the creation of parks and recreation facilities.

Eminent domain is a valuable tool, but a controversial one that has become even more of a political hot button since the Supreme Court's Kelo decision. Do you think the poll results are accurate? Do you think that they are representative of people outside the development business? What do you think is missing from the public debate over the use of eminent domain?

While you're here, be sure to take part in our most recent poll (posted in the menu bar to the left) on the forces that keep families with children from urban cores.

Here's to Dancing, not Puttering

In a recent interview in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Toll Brothers co-founder Robert Toll discussed the company's decision to add downtown condominium development to its product line, which for nearly 40 years has centered around suburban single-family home construction. "We are following our people," Mr. Toll, 65, says in the article. "We have been a builder to the baby boom since we began…We (baby boomers) want the sophistication and joy of culture and music that comes with city dwelling -- and doesn't come with sitting in a big home in the burbs watching the day go by while puttering, painting, reading, writing, making flies for fishing, customizing your own golf clubs, stringing your own tennis racket, tending your tropical fish."

To be sure, Toll Brothers entering the urban condo market says something about the changing lifestyles of America's largest adult age group and the changing shape of our cities. And, in addition to empty nesters, the downtown migration is also being fueled by Generation X, the generation between baby boomers and Generation Y, many of whom are delaying marriage and children in pursuit of careers. As a result, the urban revival of many cities is one that does not, for the most part, include households with children. Is this a sustainable course? Can our urban cores, over the long term, remain viable if families with children remain living on the fringes? Many industry analysts point to public school problems as the main factor keeping families out of downtowns. Are there other factors as well? What do you see happening in your area?

An Outside View On New Orleans

They came, they saw, they left -- and unfortunately, they left convinced that New Orleans has yet to set a steady course for recovery. The delegation participating in ULI's study tour of this city and other Gulf Coast communities came looking for investment and development potential in this hurricane-ravaged city. And while participants were impressed with the outpouring of volunteer work to help residents in the Crescent City rebuild their homes and their lives, they  clearly felt that the city's governing officials need to be providing far more guidance and far more leadership to get New Orleans out of intensive care.

Delegates were troubled by the haphazard shape of rebuilding -- a house here, a house there in various phases of redevelopment, surrounded by vacant lots, rubble, and empty houses. Equally troubling: no people and no housing means no retail, no neighborhood amenities.  Among the comments:

"You get the feeling that if you came back in a year, it would look pretty much the same."

"My concern is that New Orleans is 16 months into this, and the city has not made a lot of progress in getting cooperation between agencies. My question is,'Who is in charge?'"

"For anyone coming into the area, a big concern is having an exit strategy. That is the most wearing factor. You wonder how much the leadership here will be able to catalyze (sustainable development). You wonder how you are going to be able to keep operating and how you are going to get out. This is going to inhibit out-of-state investment."

Do you agree with these views? Give us your thoughts.

Reinventing the Gulf Coast

The second day of the ULI study tour of the Gulf Coast was filled with a 13-hour bus tour from New Orleans to Bayou La Batre, Ala., with stops along the way in the Mississippi towns of Pass Christian, Gulf Port, Biloxi, and Pascagoula. At each point, local officials offered their ideas of what their communities could be: one is seeking to retain much of its same character, ruling out much condominium development; another sees itself as becoming a gaming mecca with lots of new condominium development along the coastline. Despite the different ideas, it was clear that all are eager to revive, and in some cases, to reinvent.

A case in point: a 92-acre parcel, the site of a former VA hospital, filled with grand Oak trees and some historic buildings, sits on the Gulf Coast, just across Highway 90. Damaged in the storm, it is now jointly owned by the city of Gulf Port and the federal government. "We are open to all ideas," said a Gulf Port official. "We want something with a 'wow' factor that makes this place special."   

To be sure, there are opportunities throughout the 11 municipalities that dot the coast. But these areas were hit hard by Katrina, with most of the neighbhorhoods under 5, 8, 10 feet of water. The rubble is still piled up, shells of houses are plentiful, FEMA trailers are still being used, and there is little retail, outside of a few big box stores (Home Depot appears to be the most prevalent, along with a couple of Walmarts in the Biloxi area). As Pass Christian Mayor Chipper McDermott said, "There is gold, but you have to dig to get to it."

It is a daunting task. The gaming and shipping industy are thriving, providing jobs for many of the region's workers. But the big problem is that the workers have no housing. Some are still in FEMA trailers, others have doubled up with friends and families, and others drive from far inland to get to their jobs. These communities lost the bulk of their housing that is affordable to their workforce, and they are struggling to find a way to replace housing that now must meet new elevation standards, which will be insured, and which can be built affordably in spite of high land costs throughout the region.

"Affordable housing is our biggest challenge," said Brian Sanderson, president of the Gulf Coast Business Council. "Our success hinges on housing for our workers." While the volunteer rebuilding efforts have been a tremendous help, he said the area needs housing on a massive scale that can only come from the development community. "We need people who recognize that the Gulf Coast is one of the hottest economic development markets in the U.S." 

What are your thoughts on investment and development opportunities on the Gulf Coast?         

Federal Reserve Board Stays Put

For the 3rd meeting in a row, the FRB held the Federal Funds Rate steady at 5.25%. In its release, the FRB noted that the economy was slowing and that it [the FRB] remained "wary of inflation".

Now the debate begins: should the FRB start to cut interest rates in an attempt to ensure that the economy does not fall into a recession, or should the FRB increase interest short-term rates to offset inflation?

What's your view?

Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2007

The Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2007 mini-plenary session was SRO (standing room only) and FFT (floor full too!) After Peter Korpacz of PricewaterhouseCoopers and I presented a summary of the ET 2007, Buzz McCoy moderated a far ranging discussion about the content of the report. You can find a listing of the panelists who participated on 124-125 of the program book.

Don't forget to go to the ULI Bookstore at the Convention Center and exchange your coupon for a free copy of ET 2007.

Now for your challange. Read the Executive Summary on page 1 and let us know which of the report's findings you agree or disagree with.

Wall Street Journal 1st to report of Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2007

Can't wait for tomorrow's mini-plenary session at 3:00 pm? Want a preview of Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2007? Take a look at today's Wall Street Journal, Section B, page 7 (subscription required to access the online article) where Ryan Chittum summarizes the highlights of ET 2007.

And then plan to join us on Thursday, October 19 at 3:00 pm in Ballroom 4 on the Ballroom level.

Wednesday Wake Up: The Future, Today

The hotels are filling up, the snow has ended, and the fall meeting officially kicks off today. This morning, we will get down to business with the annual ULI/Stan Ross Real Estate Trends Conference. This year's trends conference will gaze into the future with Ray Kurzweil, who believes that man and machine are getting closer than ever before, and Peter Calthorpe, who is trailblazing the field of community planning. We'll be sitting down to talk with both of these two forward thinkers over the next couple of days, so keep your eye on this blog for our podcast series.

Today, we also will kick off our webcast series with a look at the consumers of the future -- Generation Y -- and just what it is that they want. If you're not with us in Denver, you can watch it live at 11:30 a.m. Mountain Time, or you can catch it later in the archives.

We'll also be looking at the future of sustainable development, homeownership, and the hottest retail tenants.

Later this afternoon, the conference officially begins, with a welcome from Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, another address from Calthorpe, and a conversation with noted actor and environmentalist Robert Redford. Your hardy gang of blog contributors will be bringing you all of this, as well as reports from the Expo floor and the Welcome Reception, so be sure to visit us often today, check out what we have to say, and let us know what you think in the comments.

While you're here, don't forget to add your vote to our daily poll on the left side of the page. You can see instant results, and can check back here again tomorrow morning for the final numbers. We have a lot ahead of us today, so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy our coverage of the 2006 ULI Annual Fall Meeting.

How can ULI have a greater impact?

A question I heard today at both the Policy and Practice Committee meeting and at the Trustees Meeting was "How can ULI have a greater impact locally and globally?" How can we work with public officials and others to educate and to better advocate for the best practices we promote, without lobbying for specifica legislation?  What do you think we can do to be more effective?

300 Million and Counting

At approximately 7:45 a.m. EDT on October 17, 2006, the U.S. population reached 300 million. Current demographic trends suggest that the newest little American is most likely a Hispanic born either in the Southwest or South, illustrating the changing face of America.

And, in addition to shifts in ethnic composition, households are changing, with more people having children later, and more people living alone than ever before. Census data tells us that by 2050, the U.S. will be a nation in which minorities are the majority, and in which households will be dominated by singles with no children, single parents, and other "non-traditional" categories. What do all these changes mean for urban growth patterns? This is sure to be a topic of much discussion at ULI's fall meeting this week in Denver. Share your thoughts with us. 

Place Making: The Public Space and More

At ULI's Place Making Conference last month in Atlanta, participants emphasized the importance of designing public space as a focal point -- not an afterthought -- in town centers. The consensus: people, rather than gimmicks, are what makes public space and the surrounding development successful over time.

This discussion continues at ULI's Fall Meeting in Denver -- on October 19, several real estate sessions are devoted to various aspects of place making. What's left to learn? Plenty. Changing demographics, economics and market conditions keep this topic fresh. If you are joining us in Denver, drop by a place making-related session; please share your thoughts face to face and on The Ground Floor!

18 Days and Counting!

Only 18 days -- less than three weeks -- until ULI's Fall Meeting takes flight in Denver, Colorado. For those of you who are attending, we look forward to seeing you, and hope that you will avail yourselves of the many opportunities to network, learn, and play. For those of you unable to join us in Denver, bookmark this blog and we'll bring the speakers, events, exhibits, and buzz right to your computer. Whether in the Mile High City or not, we'd like to hear what you think on the issues and activities that we will be covering -- just select the "Comments" link at the end of each post to add your voice to the discussion. In the meantime, check out the September issue of Urban Land for a comprehensive look at the many diverse land use issues affecting the Denver metropolitan area and the state of Colorado.

Get in on The Ground Floor

Welcome to the blog of the Urban Land Institute's Fall Meeting.   This is the place to find out what everyone's saying in the hallways, not just the podium.