The highly anticipated launch of the new ULI.org site is nearly upon us here at ULI. A number of new features have been integrated in the site.
As we count down to launch day during the next two weeks, please bear with the staff of The Ground Floor as the posting frequency will slow a bit during this time.
This post was written for The Ground Floor by Rob Goodspeed, an Information Intern at the Urban Land Institute.
Tuesday's ULI member-only webinar, "Bottom's Up: Strategies for Surviving the Economic Downturn," featured a concise discussion of the state of the industry, and how companies can create a strategy to adapt to changing economic climate.
One of the presenters was Charlie Hewlett of Robert Charles Lesser & Company (RCLCO), author of the new ULI Book Strategy for Real Estate Companies. The presentation featured one statistic key to understanding the future of American cities: 77 percent of Generation Y (born 1981-1999) say they plan to live in an urban core area.
Big deal, you say? Encompassing some 80 million people and 27 percent of the total U.S. population, this group is 2 million larger than the Baby Boomers. And the leading edge of the cohort turns 27 this year. RCLCO's Hewlett pointed out this group is already impacting the rental market.
He also observed the largest wave of Generation Y home purchasing begins in 2012, after experts think the housing market will have turned around. Although what qualifies as an "urban core area" may vary widely to different people, it seems a safe bet to expect considerable variety in tastes in the housing market.
It remains to be seen whether the preference will be for center cities, or whether demand for what Christopher Leinberger calls "walkable urbanism" can be met in the suburban context as well.
It is ULI's goal to be "local worldwide," and this summary of District Council activities shows ULI members engaged in their communities through a wide variety of activities.
ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA -- An early-morning meeting drew 85 people to examine and discuss the Park Commons development first hand. A multidisciplinary panel including the city administrator, former mayor, developer, and planners described the history of the 16-acre development, which replaced a strip mall with a mix of housing, retail, and public space.
ULI Minnesota hosted the event as part of their "How'd They Do That?" seminars, which focus on four different developments each year. The series focuses on best land use practices through in-depth, candid discussions.
ATLANTA -- The 25-year, $3 billion BeltLine project is expected to combine green space, trails, mass transit, and new development along 22 miles of historic rail segments that encircle the urban core, linking development, transit and trails, and green space in ways that transform existing intown areas into vibrant, mixed-use and pedestrian-friendly urban environments.
In 2006, ULI Atlanta received a grant through the ULI's Community Action Grant (CAG) program for its proposed work on the BeltLine project. The objective for this grant money was to create a vision for the Atlanta BeltLine Westside community through community awareness initiatives, education workshops, solution planning, and reporting through the Georgia Conservancy's Blueprints for Successful Communities program.
The Blueprints process results in an action plan that provides the community with solutions and resources to implement its plan over the short, mid, and long term. As a community engagement-driven process, Blueprints succeeds by getting community residents, business owners, landowners, municipal officials, neighborhood groups, and elected officials talking to one another and rallying around agreed-upon concepts, solutions, and plans. The final Blueprints report for the BeltLine project is expected to be complete by the end of this month.
Nine worldwide organizations representing both the public and private sectors have been selected for their programs in the first annual Sustainable Cities Awards, sponsored jointly by the Financial Times/ULI Sustainable Cities conference being held in London.
The Sustainable Cities Awards honor global examples of ongoing programs that exhibit new ideas and perspectives for best practices in sustainable land use. Each of the winners is incorporating initiatives that are making a significant contribution in highlighting the concept of sustainability in real estate. The nine were selected from 18 finalists chosen from a field of 86 entries submitted from 15 countries.
The 2008 Sustainable Cities Award winners announced yesterday are:
Yesterday, at the Developing Master-Planned Communities: Closer; Smarter; Denser conference in Washington, D.C., innovative Fred Dust, partner and practice Leader at IDEO, spoke to attendees on how great design creates an experience.
Dust leads IDEO’s Smart Space practice, the working group responsible for helping clients with their strategic and innovation goals around space and real estate. The work puts multidisciplinary teams into the field to translate consumer insight into design concepts for a broad range of industries including healthcare, education, retail, housing, city, and urban design.
His work at IDEO includes the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning (SCIL); a new patient care model for DePaul Health Center in St. Louis; a new cardiac-care center for Memorial Hospital in Bloomington, Indiana; and a new format for mobile dental-care centers for On-Site Dental. Other clients have included Mayo Clinic, Marriott, Nike, Gap Inc., Kaiser Permanente, and more.
To create great experiences for users, Dust suggests taking ideas from other industries and reshaping them to your needs. In addition, he told attendees companies that change the customer experience excel such as the Apple store. It is not only a retail store, but it is a gathering place.
He further outlined basic design principles:
Design for Behaviors: Really understand the consumer first hand. Dust used an example of the Honda Element, which was originally targeting high school aged driver. However, the Boomer market is the one who bought the car.
You are not alone: Architects and developers are no longer responsible for being the sole provider of what happens in a community.
Designing for the time: Space has become a remnant of a kind of time. People no longer work or think that same way they did a few years ago. We also don’t use spaces in the same way. For example, the dining is not always used for dining anymore.
Beware of precedent: Just because something worked five years ago, doesn’t mean it will work now, Dust suggested.
The Developing Master-Planned Communities conference is available on audio CDs and downloadable multimedia. Order the complete conference on CD for $199; or the multimedia audio and powerpoint presentations for $199. Order online and receive FREE shipping when you order CD recordings of this ULI conference. use promocode 027-6.
Call: playbacknow at 800-241-7785 | Online: www.iPlaybackULI.com
This post was written for The Ground Floor by Rob Goodspeed, an Information Intern at the Urban Land Institute.
Although the Washington, D.C. neighborhood, Columbia Heights, has seen over $1 billion of private investment in recent years, the result has been an ensemble of buildings that "feels inevitable," in the words of architect John Bower.
Featuring sidewalks bustling with people shopping at a Target, dining in local restaurants, and attending events in the renovated Tivoli Theater, the neighborhood has an urban vitality that makes it hard to believe so many buildings are new.
Indeed, the resulting neighborhood is the product of over a decade of planning by public and private officials. Four people involved in the redevelopment spoke about the process at an event yesterday hosted by the ULI Washington District Council. A standing-room only crowd gathered at the new Highland Park apartment building to hear from designers and developers of three of the neighborhood's new developments. Attendees then toured model units in the Highland Park building, crossed the street to investigate the DCUSA project, and closed the evening with a reception at the top of Kenyon Square condominium building.
Assembled and cleared in the wake of the 1968 civil disorder, city officials ended up with 12 acres of vacant land in Columbia Heights. The land stood vacant for decades as development moved elsewhere in the region. When the Metro station opened in the neighborhood in 1999, development began to pick up. City officials issued an RFP for the land in 2001.
Chris Donatelli of Donatelli Development told attendees some of the challenges involved in developing the Highland Park building included closing the maze of alleys on the site, and working with the city officials to approve a variance for two more stories over the original zoning, which only allowed six stories.
Today, we will be taking a break from blogging to bring breaking news from the Developing Master-Planned Communities: Closer; Denser; Smarter.
Be sure to check back tomorrow.
ULI and the National Multi Housing Council partnered to produce a new toolkit publication, Getting Density Right: Tools for Creating Vibrant Compact Development, designed to help communities meet the demand for walkable, compact development is at an all-time high thanks to rising fuel costs, changing lifestyles and pressure to manage growth.
Getting Density Right is based on a year’s worth of research describing a wide variety of tools implemented in planning compact communities. The toolkit also provides case studies of eight very successful walkable communities, the policy tools they used, and the developments that have been built using the new tools.
Recent research published by ULI showed that changing America's land development patterns to emphasize compact, mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods could do as much to lower greenhouse gas emissions as many of the climate policies being promoted by state and national politicians.
The research, contained in a book titled Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change, concludes that compact development reduces driving from 20 to 40 percent, and even more in some cases. Shifting 60 percent of new growth to compact, walkable neighborhoods would save 85 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2030. Those savings equate to a 28-percent increase in vehicle fuel efficiency standards (to 32 mpg).
To purchase a copy of Getting Density Right: Tools for Creating Vibrant Compact Development go the ULI bookstore.
Each order includes a DVD with a professionally produced PowerPoint presentation titled "A Plan for Tomorrow" that is designed to help local officials overcome opposition to more compact development.
Developed by NMHC, ULI, and the Sierra Club, the presentation uses compelling photos and visuals to illustrate how compact development can create vibrant neighborhoods without sacrificing anyone's quality of life. It also presents research that allays the traditional anxieties about density.
This post was written for The Ground Floor by Rob Goodspeed, an Information Intern at the Urban Land Institute.
With over 70 million people using the website Facebook and and over 110 million logging into MySpace, social networking has become a major phenomenon. Outside of the U.S., millions more log into dozens of other websites making social networking a worldwide phenomena.
One of the most popular social networking services specialized for business is LinkedIn, a site that describes itself as an "online network of more than 20 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries." Thousands of professionals from the urban development field have joined the site, where your profile looks like a resume, notes from friends take the form of "reccomendations," and no photos or videos can be found.
With a youthful membership and free-wheeling applications letting users do everything from share humorous videos to play Scrabble online, Facebook has a decidedly more casual tone. However with its flexible platform and millions of members, real estate professions have harnessed it to create dozens of groups to swap information, promote their businesses, and maybe make new contacts.
One member of ULI's own group recently asked group members for advice working in Seoul, South Korea, and another advertised land for sale in North Carolina. A quick search turned up active groups dedicated to real estate investors, young people in real estate, urban development entrepreneurs, and people in the industry in Montreal, Vancouver, and even Dubai. In addition to ULI, the National Associaiton of Realtors, American Society of Landscape Architects, and American Planning Association all maintain groups.
Still more use email groups and web-based discussion forums like Cyburbia to connect with colleagues. As part of the Virtual ULI initiative, ULI will expand the tools available to members, such as ULI's new LinkedIn group, through the My ULI section of the Web site into a more sophisticated tool to expand the interactions fostered through meetings and events online.
Which of these tools is the most useful to you? What would the ideal social networking site for real estate be like?
On Wednesday, ULI announced that real estate industry legend Daniel Rose has committed $5 million to the creation of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Daniel Rose Center for Public Leadership.
The mission of the ULI Daniel Rose Center for Public Leadership is to empower leaders in the public sector to envision, build and sustain successful 21st century communities by providing access to information, best practices, peer networks and other resources to foster creative, efficient and sustainable land use practices.
Rose’s gift is among the largest individual contributions ever made to the Institute. Rose is chairman of New York City-based Rose Associates, Inc., which operates throughout the East Coast as developer and manager of more than 30 million square feet of major office towers, commercial retail centers, mixed-use complexes, and high-rise residential buildings.
The guiding principles of the center will be 1) leadership in a regional context; 2) integrated problem solving; 3) public/private collaboration; and 4) experiential and peer-to-peer learning.
The ULI/Daniel Rose Center will initially undertake three programs: 1) the Daniel Rose Fellowship program; 2) workshops for public officials on sustainable development; and 3) public-private forums on key land use issues; with the fellowship serving as the flagship program of the center. The purpose of the fellowship will be to provide city leaders with the information, insights, peer-to-peer learning, best practices and experience they need to successfully build and sustain their cities. The fellowship will incorporate three over-arching themes: real estate finance and development; the interdependencies and respective roles of the public and private sectors; and the roles and importance of the public realm, its relationship to private property, and how the public sector can use the public realm as leverage to create viable communities.
The ULI Daniel Rose Fellowship will bring together high-level agency officials from a small group of select cities with top experts and development industry leaders to learn about real estate development and finance, land use concepts and best practices. These city leaders will be able to draw upon the knowledge and expertise of the experts and industry leaders to solve actual problems faced by their cities. Each fellowship, which will last one year, will be a prestigious honor, providing the highest quality learning experience for those who receive it.
The Georgetown office of ULI had 19 very special guests visit the office yesterday during Take Your Child to Work Day.
The visitors began their day by coloring pictures and designs for their parents’ work spaces. After everyone was finished, they were given a personal tour of ULI’s office with explanations of each department, its importance to the organization and why the LEED certification ULI recently obtained for its office renovation (link to press release or blog post about our LEED certification) is an important part of the Institute’s mission. 
The future architects and city planners, all between the ages of 5-12 years old, were enthusiastic about designing their own city using recycled items, such as paper towel rolls, frozen meal boxes, donated by the staff.
Bill Hudnut, ULI’s senior resident fellow for Public Policy, spoke with the children about the role of a mayor, the various types of buildings that make up a city and the necessary planning that goes into creating a great city.
After brainstorming building types, the visitors transformed empty boxes and containers into buildings, schools, stores and homes, with assistance from the Georgetown staff. Each child then explained what their structure was and how it fit into the overall city plan.
The day ended with a pizza lunch and a viewing of the movie "Over the Hedge," which addresses themes related to suburban sprawl.
This provides updates on some of the latest developments throughout the District Council (DC) community and ULI.
A Smashing Success
ULI L.A.’s eighth annual Urban Marketplace (UM) took place on March 19 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, where over 700 attendees convened. The topic this year was "Sustainable Development in the Urban Marketplace: How Green $$$ Is Green?"
After a welcome from ULI L.A. chair Wayne Ratkovich and UM 2008 chair Richard Gentilucci, L.A. City Councilwoman Jan Perry read the winning UrbanPlan poem, titled "The Environment." The poem, written by Ramon Rodriquez, a ULI L.A. UrbanPlan student, was also published in the March 17 issue of the California Real Estate Journal.
The keynote speaker was Lance Williams, PhD, executive director of the U.S. Green Building Council, L.A. Chapter. A LEED-accredited professional, Williams issued the following call to action: "Who will be the Martin Luther King of green?" Following his keynote address, a lively panel discussion ensued that was moderated by Eric Garcetti, the president of the L.A. City Council. The panel members -- an architect, a builder, and a developer -- discussed their projects in Culver City, Hollywood, and Santa Monica. These three case studies illuminated the pros and cons of going green.
Continue reading "ULI District Council -- News You Can Use" »
ULI's J. Ronald Terwilliger Center Workforce Housing is looking for exemplary developments meeting workforce housing needs in high-cost communities.
The Workforce Housing Models of Excellence Award will be selected on the following criteria:
The deadline to submit a project in the competition is June 15. Award winners will be honored at a ceremony during the 2008 ULI Fall Meeting in Miami Beach, Fla.
The Ground Floor will be taking a break next week to celebrate the holidays. We'll return rested and refreshed just before the New Year to bring you all the land use and development buzz you need in 2008.
It would appear that transit-oriented development (TOD) is going mainstream in ULI, if the group of 40 enthusiastic supporters that met in Las Vegas is an indication. The group, organized by Skip Roticci, of Costa Pacific Communities in Portland, Oregon, agreed to the creation of a TOD Council. Participants included the major constituencies needed to balance out a council, heavy on architects and planners, but including developers, financial institutions (one showed but more are on the prospect list), and a transit agency official. A background piece noted that the ULI Bookstore lists 751 publications with some reference to TOD, including a book, Developing Around Transit, and a "Ten Principles" brochure. In addition, for the past three years, ULI and PriceWaterhouseCoopers have listed TOD as one of the fastest growing investment sectors in their Emerging Trends report. While there are seven flights in the Urban Development Mixed Use Council and two more in the Public/Private Partnership Council that discuss certain topics related to TOD, many agree the time is overdue for the formation of a TOD council.
The discussion included the goals and purpose of the Council, as well as ideas for the first meeting. Interest ranged from enthusiasm to zealotry -- one excited participant mentioned "drinking the Kool Aid." Another, however, cautioned the importance of being rooted in reality, noting that "we don't want to be like Railvolution" (a popular conference that attracts largely transit, planning, and environmental advocates), suggesting a strong base among developers and practitioners. A California developer at another program discussed his reason for getting involved in TOD projects, a new type of development for his firm -- "we did not know anything about it, but figured no one else did either."
The plan is to be up and running in time for the ULI Spring Council Forum in Dallas. Interested participants should contact Skip Roticci.
This morning, leadership takes center stage at the fall meeting. From Bill George discussing what makes a great leader to Kofi Annan talking about global leadership, the focus today is on being at the head of the pack. Also on tap is a webcast of the session on Strategy Planning in an Era of Change, which will be shown live at 11:15 a.m., Pacific time.
Events may be wrapping up in Las Vegas today, but keep your eye on the blog throughout November for more news, commentary, and features from our time in Las Vegas.
This year's winners of the ULI Global Awards for Excellence competition were announced at breakfast today at the fall meeting.
The competition is part of the Institute's Awards for Excellence program, established in 1979, which is based on ULI's guiding principle that the achievement of excellence in land use practice should be recognized and rewarded. The criteria for the awards include leadership, contribution to the community, innovations, public/private partnership, environmental protection and enhancement, response to societal needs, and financial success.
Jury membere were Jeremy Newsum, group chief executive, Grosvenor, London; Andrea Amadesi, managing director, IXIS AEW Italia SpA, Milan; Lee Hanley, chairman/CEO Vestar Development Co., Phoenix; Helen Hatch, principal, Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates, Inc., Atlanta; and Akio Makiyama, chairman, Forum for Urban Development, Tokyo.
The 2007 global winners were selected from 20 world-wide finalists, all of whom were winners in their region: The Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. The global awards jury evaluated these projects with additional criteria, including: innovative concepts that can be emulated around the world; strong urban design; response to the surrounding environment; and design that contributes to a livable, sustainable development that demonstrates relevance to the needs of the community.
The 2007 Global Awards for Excellence winners (developers in parentheses) are:
If it's Thursday, it must be a very full day at the ULI Fall Meeting. The morning starts off with Michael Boskin discussing global economic trends. We then have three webcasts on tap:
Also planned? A roundtable discussion with several industry CEOs and the roll out of the 2008 Emerging Trends in Real Estate report. It's a full day of activities, so keep your eye on the blog for reports of what's been going on.
Good morning! ULI's 2007 Fall Meeting kicks off in earnest today with the ULI/Stan Ross Real Estate Trends Conference, a full slate of council meetings, and the opening general session and welcome reception.
After a sobering assessment from capital markets experts at yesterday's trustees meeting, we get to hear from financial columnist Daniel Gross, the author of Pop! Why Bubbles are Good for the Economy. Also on tap is Architecture 2030 Challenge instigator Ed Mazria talking about carbon neutrality in the building industry. We have our first webcast at 2:15, Pacific Time, today, featuring the session "Public/Private Partnerships: The New Underwriting Formula." Then it's on to hear from the 2007 Laureate of the ULI J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development, Sir Stuart Lipton, and Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan.
Keep an eye here on the blog for full coverage of all today's activities!
You may have noticed that we've been a little quieter around here these past few weeks. It's not that we're losing interest, but rather because we are ramping up for blanket coverage of ULI's upcoming fall meeting in Las Vegas, which runs from October 23-26. We have a great schedule of blog postings, webcasts, and podcasts on tap, which we'll be previewing during the coming week.
However, for those of you who will be joining us in Las Vegas, I'd like to invite you to a special session on Wednesday, October 24, which features some interesting thought leaders that we've featured (and linked to) from the blog. City Vision assembles three people writing about and working in the urban development field to discuss where our cities are headed and how some emerging concepts have the potential to transform the way these urban areas are developed. Moderated by Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne, this session taps the expertise of Ted Bardacke, senior associate with Global Green USA; BLDGBLOG founder and Dwell magazine senior editor, Geoff Manaugh; and Neil Takemoto, founder of CoolTown Studios. In conjunction with the panel, we have created a Facebook group, ULI Urban Futures Visioning (it is a closed group, so you will need to request permission to join), that we hope will function as a place to begin and continue the conversation around the larger issues that come up on October 24. Also, we'll be podcasting highlights from the discussion for those of you unable to join us in Las Vegas. Bring your most innovative ideas for how to make our cities better to the discussion in Las Vegas, to the Facebook group, or leave them in the comments section of this post. We hope to see many of you on the 24th!
From London to Tokyo, Berlin to Sacramento, Kuala Lumpur to Des Moines, cities around the world are trying to find just the right combination of factors that will help them revitalize and reignite their growth. The July issue of Urban Land magazine looks at some of the projects rising in the aforementioned cities and others, and their role in urban regeneration strategies. Architects Jon Pickard and William Chilton take a look at revitalization efforts in four American cities and in Kuala Lumpur, while David Taylor discusses the role of new iconic architecture in London, Brian Baker uncovers the ripple effects of Berlin's Hauptbanhof, Bill Kistler examines the prospects for regeneration in India, and JoAnn Greco covers the recent building boom in Tokyo (where the Tokyo Midtown project we previously discussed plays a large role). Additional articles on the roles played by artists, water, affordable housing, and sustainability also flesh out the issue.
Browse through the issue and then come back here to let us know what you thought. What do you think are the most important parts of the regeneration toolkit?
This month's issue of Urban Land magazine (now available online) focuses on housing trends across the globe. From affordability crises in the U.S. and Australia to mixed-use development in China and the United Arab Emirates, communities are grappling with the issues of price, design, density, and regeneration. This issue takes a look at the challenges, and the innovative solutions some communities are undertaking.
Also available online is the May/June issue of Multifamily Trends magazine, which examines questions of community. How does a community preserve its historic building assets through adaptive use? Is regional equity for underserved communities a realistic goal? Where are retiring baby boomers finding their community? And how can one create large-scale master-planned communities in urban settings?
ULI’s expansion into the Middle East underscores its worldwide focus and its mission to provide leadership in the responsible use of land. The new ULI Centre for Real Estate Education is a joint venture with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Development and Investment Company and will be based in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates.
"We talked about creating this [Centre] three years ago," Lee Tabler, chief executive officer of TDIC, told a group of ULI staffers recently. ULI study tours in the winter of 2005 and 2006 moved the process forward, and Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince "blessed it and provided a grant," said Tabler. A formal agreement was signed in Denver last fall.
"We are extremely pleased to be part of ULI’s global expansion," remarked Tabler. The Centre will be based in the TDIC headquarters building now under construction. The building will seek LEED Gold certification and will be completed in 2010.
The new Centre will focus on education, advisory services and leadership skills and will provide a variety of educational programs designed to promote and advance best practices in land use and development.
You may notice a few things changing around here as we tinker with the blog. We're changing our design to make it easier to read on mobile devices, as well as adding some new features to help you share our content on social bookmarking sites, such as Digg and del.icio.us. In the footer of each individual post page, you will see a button that says "BOOKMARK" -- you can use that button to bookmark a post for a wide range of sites, including Digg, del.icio.us, Technorati, Reddit, and Fark. Those of you who read this blog through a feed reader, such as Bloglines, Google Reader, or Netvibes, will see that we have added the ability to E-mail or bookmark each post, as well.
We'll be adding more features and will continue to tweak the design of the site over the next month. If you have any suggestions, requests, or comments, feel free to leave them in the Comments section of this post or email us at blog@uli.org. Thank you for your continued readership!
Grants totaling $120,000 were awarded to five district councils at the ULI Spring Council Forum in Chicago. Each year, up to $200,000 is available from the ULI Foundation Annual Fund as grants to district councils.
Since the program began three years ago, the ULI Foundation has awarded a total of $663,722 in grants to 29 District Councils in 18 states and two District Councils in England.
The grant winners are:
ULI Colorado: A grant of $20,000 to partner with the city and county of Denver and the University of Denver to expand the representation of women and minorities within the real estate development field. The program will provide academic training through the University of Denver Real Estate School in combination with year-long paid apprenticeships with private developers. A speakers series will bring nationally recognized developers to Denver to advance better understanding of land use, and support development of a professional network for women and minorities in the real estate field.
ULI Memphis and the University of Memphis: A grant of $25,000 to host four workshops to explore the role of urban design in creating quality of life and place around universities and other insitutions. Each two-day workshop will include a nationally known speaker and a mini-charette about a particular urban design issue and its impact on neighborhoods adjacent to the university.
ULI San Francisco: A grant of $25,000 to add new outreach fetures to its UrbanMap website to promote community dialogue about best practices in land use. ULI San Francisco will design, market, and introduce the new features, including a "public forum" where interested parties can exchange opinions on land use issues; "in the news," a repository of important news stories; and "shared insights," a real estate development blog. UrbanMap is a new website developed by ULI San Francisco that is the first online, comprehensive compilation of land-use maps and reports for the Bay Area.
ULI Seattle: A grant of $25,000 to fund the first year of a three-year initiative to develop a regional alliance of stakeholders to raise awareness of the workforce housing crisis in Seattle. ULI Seattle will create a model for increasing the production of workforce housing by partnering with local jurisdictions to identify policy changes needed to encourage the construction of more workforce housing. In addition, ULI Seattle will work with several employers to implement employer-assisted housing.
ULI South Carolina: A grant of $25,000 to create the ULI South Carolina Center for Sustainable Leadership in the fall of 2007. The Center will sponsor a class of 20 in three regions of the state with a nine-month educational program to build leadership in land-use issues. The curriculum will include an abbreviated version of Reality Check, an UrbanPlan workshop and leadership training. The "final exam" will rquire each student to participate in a ULI Technical Assistance Panel.
The winners were chosen from 21 applications representing 16 District Councils in 15 states.
For more information, www.actiongrants.uli.org.
Ten outstanding developments have been crowned with a ULI Award for Excellence at the Chicago Spring Council Forum today and one has been rewarded with a ULI Heritage Award.
The 2007 Awards for Excellence: The Americas winners (developers in parentheses) are:
* 2200, Seattle, Washington (Vulcan, Inc.) -- A mixed-use project on 2.5 infill acres in Seattle's fast-growing South Lake Union neighborhood. The developer has introduced an urban lifestyle center with a hotel, 261 condominiums, and diverse retail shops and restaurants anchored by a Whole Foods store.
* 1180 Peachtree, Atlanta, Georgia (Hines) -- This speculative 41-story office tower in the heart of downtown Atlanta is the nation's first to be pre-certified a Silver LEED-CS high-rise office building.
* THEARC (Town Hall Education Arts & Recreation Campus), Washington, D.C. (Building Bridges Across the River (BBAR) -- In the most underserved and impoverished of Washington, D.C.'s neighborhoods, a nonprofit has built a 110,000 square-foot, multi-use, youth-oriented community center on federally-owned parkland.
* The Gerding Theater at the Armory, Portland, Oregon (Gerding Edlen Development) -- The transformation of the derelict Portland Armory into a Platinum LEED theater -- the nation's first for a performing aarts center -- has preserved a historic structure and has enlivened the neighborhood with night-time activity.
* Daniel island, Charleston, South Caroline (The Daniel Island Company) -- In 10 years, the 4,000-acre Daniel Island has been transformed from a private hunting retreat to a community of 6,000 residences that has become a natural extension of the city of Charleston. Now at 50 percent build-out, Daniel Island has a diverse mixture of uses and incomes, giving the city an alternative residential submarket.
* Downtown San Diego Revitalization, San Diego, California (Centre City Development Corp.) -- The 60-block revitalization of San Diego's deteriorating East Village neighborhood began with a public investment in a major league ballpark and has continued with 7,400 residential units, 750 hotel rooms, and 1.2 million square feet of commercial space.
* High Point, Seattle, Washington (Seattle Housing Authority) -- High Point is a 120-acre, ecologically-conscious planned community with half of its 1,600 homes completed. Half of the homes are market rate and the other half are affordable rentals.
* Highland's Garden Village, Denver, Colorado (Perry Rose LLC; Jonathan Rose Companies) -- Located on the 27-acre site of Denver's first amusement park, this community preserves many of the original 1890s buildings and adds 306 residential units, many of which are affordable, along with retail and restaurant spaces, a school, a theater, and open space.
* The RAND Corporation Headquarters, Santa Monica, California (The RAND Corporation) -- By selling almost 12 acres of its 15 downtown acres to the city of Santa Monica, RAND was able to build a state-of-the-art, Gold LEED headquarters buiolding without diminishing its ability to attract world-class talent, while the city gained desirable land for expanding its civic and cultural center.
* Urban Outfitters Corporate Office Campus, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp.) -- Urban Outfitters consolidated its corporate and various brand headquarters in 250,000 square feet of renovated industrial buildings on 11 acres of the decommissioned Philadelphia Navy Yard. The corporate campus' success has contributed to the redevelopment being undertaken by the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation on more than 1,000 acres in a historic, brownfield site.
This year's Heritage Award winner is:
* King's Lynne, Lynn, Massachusetts (Corcoran Mullins Jennison, Inc.) -- King's Lynne is the nation's first public housing project to be converted into private housing; the first equal partnership between the residents and a developer; and the first housing redevelopment to strategically incorporate mixed-income housing.
Let's congratulate all of this year's winners, who were chosen from a field of 23 finalists among 170 entries.
The official program for ULI's Spring Council Forum will get underway this afternoon, starting with an opening address by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Earlier today, attendees had the chance to participate in a bonus program on "The City Redefined," featuring speakers such as radio host Ray Suarez and Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech Director Robert Lang (we will be providing reports on both of those sessions here on The Ground Floor later today and tomorrow).
Tomorrow morning, conference attendees will learn who the winners are of the 2007 ULI Awards for Excellence: The Americas (check back here tomorrow to find out who won) and hear from former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, in addition to participating in the many interesting concurrent workshops taking place.
For those of you who weren't able to make it out to the meeting in Chicago, we are bringing the meeting to you. Tomorrow morning, we will be offering live webcasts of two workshops, “The Business of REdeveloping Green,” from 9:45–11:00 a.m. CDT and “Now that the Roof Has Blown Off of the Housing Market…,” from 11:15 a.m.–12:30 p.m. CDT. Viewers of the live webcasts will have the ability to submit questions to the moderator of each session, some of which will be answered by the panel during the webcast. Both webcasts will be available here and archived for later viewing. Be sure to register early and logon a few minutes before the presentation to ensure you don't miss a minute.
There's a lot of interesting stuff to come, so stay tuned to The Ground Floor!
ULI's Spring Council Forum in Chicago got underway today, and we will be bringing you reports of mobile workshops, education sessions, keynote speakers, hallway buzz and other special features from our contributors on the ground at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. We are particularly happy to be able to bring you two webcasts of panel discussions on Friday, along with the ability for viewers of the live webcasts to pose questions to the panelists. So keep your eye on The Ground Floor beginning tomorrow morning for our Chicago blogging.
"What Makes Great Cities?" asks freelance writer Jim Miara in the April issue of Urban Land, currently available online. A survey sent to ULI members across North America provides some answers to the question, with respondents citing distinctive qualities of successful cities around the world. Other articles in the issue examine the current state of some distinctive cities, such as much-lauded Curitiba, Brazil; the revitalized Manchester, U.K.; a rebuilding Beirut; and a renewed Cincinnati. In addition, the magazine looks at ten examples of downtown turnarounds, how to maximize the creative sector in cities, and talks with Charles Landry about creative cities.
Also available online is the March/April issue of Multifamily Trends magazine, which covers the state of affordable housing in the wake of HOPE VI. Creativity is the buzzword, with articles covering creative finance for affordable housing development, innovative modern designs for low-income residences, and the linkages between compact development and affordability.
The March issue of Urban Land magazine, now available online, takes an in-depth look at the city of Chicago, site of ULI's 2007 Spring Council Forum. Thanks in large part to strong leadership (particularly that of mayor-for-life Richard M. Daley), the city has undergone a stunning transformation from a midwestern manufacturing center to a global 21st century city. Inside the magazine, we examine the many elements that have contributed to this evolution -- from Chicago's leadership in the area of green development (also discussed in a recent Chicago Tribune article) to the transformation of its housing authority to the groundbreaking sale of the Chicago Skyway and even to its strong bid for the 2016 Olympic Games. Plus, exclusive Web content covers the role of cultural institutions in the revitalization of downtown Chicago and how sustainable multifamily development in Chicago and New York is leading other large cities, such as Miami and Vancouver, to begin thinking about the importance of green apartments and condos.
As much of the country finally gets some relief from a month-long deep freeze, Urban Land readers can warm up with an in-depth look at resort development the February issue of the magazine, now posted online. Jim Miara examines megaresorts in Spain, Japan, Vietnam, and Brazil, contrasting two up-and-coming resorts in emerging regions with two resorts finding their niche in well-established markets, while Richard Huffman of Wallace Roberts and Todd explains the transformation of once-moribund Atlantic City into a year-round resort. Also available to ULI members are articles on new trends in luxury resort development, capturing the value of excess land around golf course developments, the redevelopment of Denver's Union Station, and generating revenue from a density recapture program. It may still be a bit chilly outside, so isn't it the time to start thinking about your dream resort?
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| J. Ronald Terwilliger at Thursday's press conference. |
At a press conference earlier today (the webcast is available on ULI's Web site), ULI Chairman Marilyn Taylor summed up the reason Trammell Crow Residential Chairman and CEO Ron Terwilliger is writing a $5 million check to the Institute: "The challenges for workforce housing are getting steeper, harder, and more difficult."
The extraordinary sum -- the largest individual contribution ever made to ULI -- will fund the creation of the ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing. Saying that ULI is uniquely qualified to lead this effort, due to the Institute's strong national and global presence and its private sector orientation, Terwilliger said that he hopes to get more states to pay attention to the problems faced by moderate-income families in the face of rising housing costs. He cited long commutes, isolation, disruption to family life, links between sprawl and obesity, environmental and health problems, and a disproportionate share of moderate-income families' budgets being spent on transportation costs.
Continue reading "New Center Will Address Workforce Housing Problems" »
ULI members in Europe are getting ready to gather for the 11th Annual ULI Europe Conference to be held on 7th February at the Westin, Paris.
This year's theme, "Unlocking Europe for Growth," will question how Europe can remain competitive as the global spotlight shines on China and India. Will the old world have to be more resourceful to compete for growth? What does this mean for the property industry -- connecting with new clients such as major private corporations, unlocking product and income held in public hands and looking for inspiration from European mayors and leaders to ensure our cities remain competitive?
Keynote speakers joining the conference include former Irish prime minister John Bruton and noted author Will Hutton. Greg Clark, chairman of OECD Forum of Cities and Regions and adviser on city and regional development, U.K. Government, will guide conference participants through the one-day programme with politicians, industry leaders, and the audience alike being targeted to share in the debate.
Learn more about the conference at www.europe.uli.org.
Every quarter, ULI posts a new batch of case studies on its Development Case Studies (DCS) Web site. We strive to find projects from all over the country and around the world that represent best practices in real estate development.
The six projects for this quarter include:
Only subscribers can see the complete case studies, but the short descriptions are available to all on the DCS home page. Simply point your browser to casestudies.uli.org
Retail development is the theme of the January issue of Urban Land magazine, now posted online for your viewing pleasure. Available to all is an article about the global expansion of retail investors, while subscribers can access stories about the de-malling of malls, malls in China and the United Kingdom, inner city retail, and how U.S. retail developers are looking to European models for large-scale retail development. Browse through the issue and let us know what you think.
It will be rather quiet here on The Ground Floor next week, as our roster of contributors scatter across the globe for some well-deserved breaks. In the meantime, feel free to peruse our archives, comment on our posts, and check back with our rested and refreshed crew on January 2.
Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and have a great New Year!
So many issues, so little time. What are your priority issues? Where do you think ULI can make a difference? Next month, a select group of ULI members are meeting in Washington to make recommendations on the land use policy and real estate development practice agenda for the consideration of the Board of Trustees at the Mid-Winter Meeting in February.
All members are invited to help shape that agenda by responding to an online survey by December 15, 2006. A third reminder will be emailed today with a unique link to the survey. If you have not yet responded, and can't find the link, E-Mail:ulisurvey@uli.org.
The November/December issue of Urban Land magazine, now available online, turns the spotlight on architecture and society. Authors in this double issue look at how design affects the future of cities, the role of foreign architectural firms in the changing face of China, design for sustainability, and projects designed to fit within Europe's existing urban fabric. (An article on the Venice Architecture Biennale is available to all readers; other stories are restricted to ULI members. Not a member? With membership levels to fit all budgets, you should consider joining today.)
Also of interest is an examination of the rising popularity of "parabuildings", the impact of wireless technology on European office design, and a provocative interview with author James Howard Kunstler. Plus, take an inside look at the transformation of ULI's headquarters into a sustainable workplace and the Institute's pursuit of LEED certification.
Grab a cup of coffee, put up your feet, and start exploring the new issue of Urban Land before it hits your mailbox.
The booths have been torn down and packed up, meeting attendees have bidden farewell to each other and to the somewhat unnerving laughing escalator, and the bars and restaurants of LoDo have emptied of suit-clad people with badges hanging from their necks. Yep, this year's fall meeting is over, but the people who joined us in Denver left with greater knowledge, more contacts, and several pounds of swag from the Expo floor (and, hopefully, a little less tension thanks to the skilled massage therapist at Centerpoint's Asian-themed hospitality booth). Hopefully, if you weren't able to make it to the meeting, you got a taste of what went on from reading this blog.
The 2007 appointment calendars are out now, so buy yours today, open it to the week of October 23-26, and block it off to join your ULI friends and colleagues at The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas. In the meantime, keep The Ground Floor bookmarked, because we'll continue to bring you wrap up coverage of this year's meeting, more podcasts, and additional news, information, and commentary about hot land use and development topics. And, if you like what we've done, or think we can do something better, leave us a note in the comments, because we want to hear from you.
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Blogs of Note
At the ULI Bookstore
Getting Density Right
Strategy for Real Estate Companies
Growing Cooler
Retail Development ULI Development Handbook Series
Creating Great Town Centers and Urban Villages
Dollars and Cents of Shopping Centers/The SCORE 2008