The Urban Land Institute offers formulated leads, tips and ideas related to various and sundry land-use issues
Reviving Iconic Public Space Through Restructured Management. Recently, a ULI advisory services panel evaluated the Rose Bowl and Central Arroyo sites in Pasadena, Calif. to provide recommendations on boosting use of the public space and attracting new investment. The ULI representatives concluded that the site’s development could be greatly enhanced with the creation of a conservancy to manage the site, similar to the Central Park Conservancy in New York City, in order to better coordinate activities and financial resources. It’s a solution that could be applicable to similar areas throughout the country.
Shuttering Historic Houston Post Office Site for Student Urban Design Competition. Downtown Houston’s historic post office property has been selected as the site for the 10th annual Urban Land Institute (ULI) Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition. The ideas competition, open to graduate-level students, will provide multidisciplinary teams the opportunity to propose a long-term vision for creating a distinct identity for a new downtown Houston district. Now underway, the 2012 competition challenges teams to create a practical and workable scheme for the best use of approximately 16.3 acres owned by the United States Postal Service. The competition is based on a hypothetical proposal in which a fictional entity, the Central Houston Foundation (CHF), has acquired the option to purchase the site and determine its redevelopment goals and connections to the surrounding areas.
European Real Estate Investment, Development To Be Defined By Negatives in 2012. An economic crisis has left the European real estate industry in limbo, with preferred markets chosen more on their potential as safe havens than high-growth hubs, and with highly specialized non-core investments gaining attention as alternatives to traditional property types, according to Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Europe 2012, the annual industry forecast published by PwC and the Urban Land Institute (ULI). The report says that the prospects for any turnaround this year hinge on how recent regulatory measures will affect banks’ willingness to make commercial loans, and whether another financial industry collapse caused by sovereign debt issues ultimately triggers a widespread release of assets by banks to investors.
New ULI Greenprint Center Shows Energy Efficiency, Carbon Emissions as Measure of Building Performance. ULI recently announced that transfer of the activities and assets of the Greenprint Foundation into the newly formed ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance. Greenprint is a company-to-company information exchange, through which leading real estate firms from around the world share information and measure individual building and portfolio performance on the basis of energy use and carbon emissions. The international scope and size of the report makes it one of the real estate industry’s largest, most verifiable, transparent and comprehensive energy benchmarking tools.
Green Building, Sustainable Development Here to Stay. The current political debate over climate change and U.S. energy policy illustrates the growing disconnect between politicians and the marketplace, contends ULI Senior Resident Fellow Ed McMahon. In a recent column in Urban Land magazine, McMahon, who specializes in environmental issues, says that “despite the recession, inaction by Congress, and the anti-environmental actions of some elected officials, there is ample evidence to support the conclusion that the transition to green buildings and sustainable development is here to stay.”
ULI’s 2012 Spring Meeting May 8 to 10 at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, N.C. Be privy to the latest updates and expert insights on a wide variety of issues and trends affecting commercial real estate and land use. With the theme “The Power to Lead, Energy to Thrive,” the event will focus on building sustainable communities through development that conserves land and energy.
