Real Estate Pros Will Find Future Opportunities in Private/Public Projects

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By John Voket

RISMEDIA, Nov. 24, 2008-Richard Rosan President of ULI, the Urban Land Institute, thinks tomorrow’s home buyers may be looking to migrate to communities that embody a smart balance of urban/suburban elements. He pointed to cities like Houston, which already enjoys a relatively good pattern of growth, integrating urban and suburban zones, with virtually no formal land management practices.

“I’m intrigued with Houston. They put some light rail in the downtown area which has encouraged a lot of people to move to a more dense area. Now there’s retail starting there, they are building parks, and you’re starting to see a lot of high density condominiums,” he said.

Rosan suggested that other cities like Atlanta, Phoenix and even Dallas, however, have sprawled too far, too fast, and municipal planners are just starting to react.

Founded in 1936, the nonprofit Institute has more than 40,000 members worldwide representing the entire spectrum of land use and real estate development disciplines, working in private enterprise and public service.

ULI is committed to bringing together leaders from across the fields of real estate and land use policy to exchange best practices and serve community needs; fostering collaboration through mentoring, dialogue, and problem-solving; exploring issues of urbanization, conservation, regeneration, land use, capital formation, and sustainable development; advancing land use policies and design practices; and sustaining a diverse global network of local practice and advisory efforts.

According to ULI, in the U.S. alone, at least two-thirds of the buildings that will be needed by 2050 are not yet built, and as much as 80 percent of urban development is projected to be located at the “edge” of metropolitan areas. The linkage between land use patterns and climate change strategies makes the strongest case ever for building more efficiently throughout urban regions, particularly in newly developing communities.

Well-planned communities - those that give residents the option to drive only a short distance, walk, bike, or take transit - have a central role to play in mitigating climate change.

“We’re taking a longer view than what’s happening today and tomorrow. There’s going to be huge amount of population growth,” Rosan said, adding that the shifting growth in urban populations can accomplish much - even electing a new president?

“What we saw in the past election is the impact of the urbanization of the suburbs, and the people moving into these areas are likely to press for changes,” Rosan said.

While population shifts to many parts of the country may occur subtly over the next 30 years, Rosan says the northeastern cluster of communities, especially former industrial towns and cities, will make room for significant populations who will occupy former commercial and industrial conversion properties.

“The northeast has such an amazing infrastructure that draws young people, it will not only sustain the population but will draw substantial growth,” he said. “Between New York and Boston alone there are well over a million college students alone.”

He advises real estate professional of today to become savvy about development projects that combine public/private initiatives in urban and suburban regions.

“Real estate professionals will need to understand the public side of smart growth,” he said. “I think there will be a tremendous amount of job growth in public/private cooperatives. Public agencies are going to be doing a lot more deals with private developers, and leaning a lot more on the private sector to provide the services to get these projects done.”

Rosan said the next 30 years will see many opportunities for public/private initiatives in America’s communities. And he strongly supports these “towns on the edge” adapt the kinds of philosophies that mandate smart land use.

“Some people don’t want to be in as densely an urban area, they want to be nearer where they can get out into the green,” he said. “You need to protect those natural features, protect some agriculture so you can have some food grown near the place where they live.”

Ultimately, Rosan says that the 25-year-olds of today are going to become real estate consumers in places where they not only want to live, but where they perceive others are going to want to live, as well.

For more information about the Urban Land Institute, visit www.uli.org.

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