On May 21, eleven ULI New York Member volunteers with expertise in domains ranging from civil engineering to land use planning accompanied TAP sponsor NYC Department of City Planning and others on a walking tour of a subsection of the Cross Bronx Expressway and its surroundings. They aimed to learn about the many historical challenges the neighborhood has faced as a result of a 1950s slicing off of vibrant, green neighborhoods by the Robert Moses-designed Cross Bronx Expressway. Its most obvious impact is the thundering, smog spewing trucks that pass en route to/from the George Washington bridge (some 70% of traffic on the Expressway is through-passing trucks). With their observations, knowledge, subsequent designs, and discussion and interviews with public sector agencies, nonprofits and community boards, the team made recommendations for both low hanging fruit endeavors and more material heavy engineering changes that might correct decades of environmental injustices in the area, while fortifying local communities and culture.

“Think about a built community torn apart by this highway. Stakeholders told us about the lack of cohesion and the difficulties of getting around,” said Marquise Stillwell of Openbox. Among lower lift suggestions were rooftop greenery to absorb noise, city-funded local community cleanups, better lighting and sanitation, community art installations, and improved wayfinding between the Bronx’s celebrated but hard to reach parks.

“Connections between parks are a really important social infrastructure,” said Tyler Cukar of FXCollaborative. Long-term, they recommended capping a portion of the Expressway to infuse community and life into a corridor long dismissed as purely commercial—with federal, state and city funding from a variety of both environmental justice and sustainability agencies and initiatives, plus private sector contributions and involvement.

“There’s never been a better time to be doing this work. There’s ample funding,” said David Burgy of Stantec, citing funding opportunities from a range of sources for cloudburst alleviation and green infrastructure, among other areas. “Certain things like streetscape [improvements] could happen right away. Every dollar spent is an opportunity to advance equity.” Observations shared will flow into community engagements the agency plans this summer, and public hearings this fall before work begins in earnest on this ambitious, long-term project. “This seems daunting. But it is one of the greatest opportunities facing designers and planners in cities,” said TAP chair Regina Myer of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.

On May 21, about 100 land use professionals gathered at KPF’s Manhattan offices to hear where they might shave the most projected whole life carbon emissions from planned buildings’ facades, from the design to materials procurement to operations stages, based on granular research by the University of Washington’s Integrated Design Lab. While operational emissions can be reduced via HVAC and lighting efficiencies, and embodied emissions can be reduced through structural materials considerations, there’s a tradeoff between the two when it comes to whole life carbon emissions of the building envelope. The Lab’s study drew from a study of three different buildings’ total emissions in three different cities – in New York, London, and Singapore – with findings distilled in a new KPF-funded report entitled The Carbon Sweet Spot: Design Tradeoffs for Embodied and Operational Carbon in New Buildings.

Among surprising takeaways are that window-to-wall ratios have a significant impact on whole life emissions of facades; that triple-glazing can result in more embodied emissions than it saves in operational; and that increasing wall assembly insulation beyond code makes a slight difference on total carbon emissions—though much of this depends on the availability of green versus dirty grids and the climate zone of the region. “It is a question of context. In London the grid is largely decarbonized through a high ratio of renewable sources, so operational carbon is relatively less critical for design decisions,” said Carlos Cerezo Davila of KPF. In Singapore, it’s the opposite. New York City is in the middle of that transition.” Added fellow presenter Christopher Meek of the University of Washington’s Center for Integrated Design at its College of Built Environments, “As operational carbon will decrease over the next 30 years due to a decarbonizing electrical grid; embodied is growing as a percentage of lifecycle building emissions.”

Following this portion of the event, which was organized by ULI New York’s Program Steering Committee in partnership with ULI’s Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability, which commissioned the report, a panel comprising Jennifer Cass of NYC EDC; Michael Daschle, of Brookfield Properties; and Kai Starn of Steven Winter Associates explored these contrarian takeaways. “Who knew it would be about envelopes, not concrete?” asked Starn. The degree to which payback on investments in carbon-saving technologies at buildings will depend on the pace that the underlying grid is able to decarbonize, with faster decarbonizing grids actually lowering the overall payback of some of these projects in terms of carbon savings for the cost over time, surprised Daschle. Given new laws requiring lower emissions buildings, the flight to quality, potential materials, labor and energy cost savings from decarbonization actions, and growing stakeholder pressure to cut carbon from buildings (in New York City they emit far more carbon than do transportation or industry), the report can help guide developers, architects and financiers as they consider ways to shrink a planned building’s whole life carbon footprint.

New housing legislation from Albany was on the agenda at the May 7th live recording of The Housing Problem podcast, as well as what lured podcast co-hosts and housing experts (classmates and business partners) Rafael Cestero of the Community Preservation Corporation, and Kirk Goodrich of Monadnock Development, into tackling affordable housing as a career. The two began by recalling the very different paths that led them both to a housing policy focus at Cornell University. Kirk was the son of immigrant parents from Belize in the working-class neighborhood of East Flatbush.

Watching people heading to work early each morning, often standing in unsheltered bus stops in the dark, reminds Kirk of why he got involved in affordable housing.   – “I am working for those folks, no matter who signs my paychecks,” he said. Rafael hails from Rochester, New York. An internship with Enterprise Community Partners inspired him to pursue work in this area. “I went to the Lower East Side, the Bronx and Brooklyn, and met with leaders who wanted to revitalize these areas, amid the abandonment and disinvestment of the ‘70s and ‘80s,” he recalled. After helping 19 families move from shelter into homes, he was hooked. “Seeing and touching that has led to a 35-year career. I care deeply about solving the housing problem,” he said. Later, they both worked in East St. Louis, Illinois – “One of the most distressed places in the country,” said Goodrich.

From there the talk, organized by ULI New York’s Young Leaders Group, evolved into recent podcast episodes including one focused on California ‘YIMBY’ [Yes in My Backyard].  That organization successfully secured passage of a very impactful Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Law.  Next, the conversation segued into a discussion of the challenges that exist in New York State and New York City as far as creating more affordable housing. “Progressive cities have done the worst job at delivering housing supply in order to keep pace with housing demand in those places,” said Goodrich. “The Laws of Economics don’t end at the edge of our city. The fact that we have a 1.4% vacancy rate is the reason that rents are soaring.”  However, Goodrich was relatively upbeat about just-passed legislation from Albany believing that “something is better than nothing,” — and that compromise is necessary to bring about change.  “For too long, inertia, nimbyism and anti-development folks have gotten in the way.  When people are suffering, you have to be pragmatic,” he said.

Regionalism was the buzzword at the ULI Home Attainability Index: Putting the Numbers into Practice session, where speakers included Dara Goldberg, assistant director of Economic Development and Regional Planning at the NYC Department of City Planning, and Paul Bernard, president and CEO of Affordable Homes and Communities. There, panelists lamented the many post-pandemic challenges our inner cities face and proposed “a coalition of the willing” among the largest cities and counties to jointly tackle challenges like aging infrastructure and weak mass transit, with “a lot of people doing a little” to solve a “mismatch in planning”, said Jonathan Ling, vice president of Strategy and Research at Equity Residential.

Among priorities cited were reducing travel times from the exurbs to city centers, to ease the housing pressure on inner cities; more mixed-income, mixed-use housing—”that is a solution to drive both production and affordability,” said Bernard—and engaging employers to help solve the housing crisis, since much of the new home demand will be triggered by growing workforces in, say, retail or healthcare who may earn marginally more than the minimum wage. “We need to change the perception of who America’s workforce is,” said Jill Ferrari, cofounder and managing partner at Renovare development, noting that 20% of New York City’s workforce lives outside the city. “From healthcare to prisons, we need the rest of the region to do their share,” she said.

As real estate firms increasingly grapple with the twin challenges of high borrowing costs and sluggish office space demand, investing to curb carbon emissions often falls by the wayside. To shine a light on the imperative – and opportunities – to decarbonize our buildings, and to shore them up to withstand and recover from increasingly destructive storms and floods, ULI’s Lewis Center sandwiched two relevant events around Spring Meeting week, starting with its Sustainability Forum on Monday April 8 at Pier 57, a renovated pier housing facilities for the James Beard Foundation, Google, and Hudson River Park, among others—and ended with the Resilience Summit on Friday April 12 at NYU’s Kimmel Center.

At the Sustainability Forum, the importance of engaging with and lifting up local communities emerged as an important theme for successful neighborhood greening and improvement projects like those of Hudson River Park, Arverne East in the Rockaways, and Pier 57, an adaptive redevelopment site near the Meatpacking District. “Pier 57 is a love letter to New York City. We wanted to contribute to the larger community and knew that only New York could pull it off,” said Michael Phillips, principal, chairman and president of Jamestown, a Pier 57 project partner, referencing a partnership that has resulted in a vibrant marketplace of minority, first-time food vendors; The James Beard Foundation’s platform with a show kitchen; the Hudson River Discovery Tank and classrooms; Google client space; and a rooftop space and lounge for the public open from 6am to midnight, with Wi-Fi throughout. “New York City is an incredibly civic place. When we lean into something people show up. For me, the most important thing people see is the harbor and resilience,” he said. Added Kris Moon, president and COO of the James Beard Foundation: “I think of the pier as a Business Improvement District,” noting guidance from the Foundation for aggregate food and supply purchases. “We invest in [vendors’] staffs, in sustainability. We take a novel approach to problem solve as a group. We test and iterate,” he said. “They feel like family. Their success is our success”.

Read more about Spring Meeting sustainability and resilience events here.

Though the ideals of equity and inclusion came up often in Spring Meeting panel discussions, their significance took center stage at after-hours receptions.  Gatherings that celebrated the many backgrounds and lived experiences of ULI’s increasingly diverse leaders and members kicked off on Wednesday April 10 with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion reception at the Hilton.  Among those who were feted there were 25 Pathways to Inclusion Fellows.

This program, tied to ULI’s Spring and Fall Meetings’ host cities, aims to increase the participation of groups who are historically underrepresented in the land use and real estate fields. Some 25 local Fellows from diverse backgrounds were selected to attend Spring Meeting and join ULI New York at no charge, followed by guided exploration of New York City’s many Councils and Committees, and mentorship by local industry leaders.  (A Spring Meeting perk included a guided tour of two projects of minority owned BRP Companies: of Archer Towers, a building several blocks from the bustling mass transit hub of Jamaica train station; and of Jamaica Crossing, a mixed-use development with affordable housing units, retail, community facilities, and an on-site co-generation plant).

After a reception honoring this year’s Fellows, the LGBTQ mixer at the famous Stonewall Inn finished the day’s festivities, where a packed room raised a glass to ULI’s efforts to grow the representative voices who help guide and better the industry. The evening kicked off with remarks by Stonewall CDC Executive Director Paul Nagle. He touched on the organization’s work to create safe and affordable housing for New York City’s LGBTQ+ Seniors and families, calling this work critical because The federal Fair Housing Act does not prohibit discrimination in the rental or sale of property based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

After New York City’s 421A affordable housing incentive sunset in 2022, home building stalled. High interest rates did not help. Nor did the space scarcity that has long challenged builders. But NYC officials are not idle while Albany explores pro-build legislation. To help materially grow New York City’s housing supply to 500,000 new units by 2034, the Adams Administration last year launched ‘The City of Yes’, a series of proposed innovative measures to accelerate home building amid a larger goal of a more inclusive and equitable NYC. “COVID showed us that we don’t need to be so constrained in how we use space,” said panelist Bonnie Campbell, a principal at Two Trees Management Company. Changes proposed by the initiative, in three major categories – carbon neutrality, economic opportunity and housing opportunity – range from adjusting zoning, height, and space per affordable housing unit caps, to legalizing accessory dwelling units (ADUs). All this applies citywide to minimize the ‘NIMBYism’ that has stymied affordable housing builds, particularly in wealthy neighborhoods.

To explore the fine print, potential impact, and timing of these measures while proposed legislative changes wind their ways past City Planning and City Council, our Women’s Leadership Initiative on March 12 brought together public and private sector leaders to make those in the industry aware of the new opportunities and challenges proposed legislation may bring, prior to its expected passage at year’s end, following public, Community Board, Borough President and City Planning and Council review. (The predevelopment period is now, with RFPs arriving assuming Universal Affordable Preference, or allowing for 20-30% more floor space if it is dedicated to affordable housing, panelists said). The panel comprised Annie White, director of Real Estate and Economic Development at Karp Strategies; Leila Bozorg, executive director of housing for the City of New York; Edith Hsu Chen, executive director of NYC’s Department of City Planning (and the leading ‘City of Yes’ advocate), and Bonnie Campbell, of Two Trees. Below follows an overview of the initiative’s key tenets and timing, based on a lively conversation moderated by Jodi Stein, a partner in Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP’s Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group. “The City of Yes is the most expansive zoning reform the city has undertaken since implementing zoning 60 years ago, tackling climate change, economic opportunity and the housing crisis,” said Chen, at the discussion’s start:

1. The initiative’s carbon neutrality component consists of rules, regulations and incentives favoring green building and energy combinations, including EV charging stations and solar panels. It was approved in 2023 by City Council. Its other measures include faster environmental reviews.

2. City of Yes for Economic Opportunity seeks to update zoning to help small businesses find space and grow. The proposal was approved by the City Planning Commission and is now under consideration by the City Council, with a vote expected later this Spring. Its 18 different proposals with subproposals include creating safe commercial corridors; allowing commercial activity on upper floors and above residential units; expanding the areas where Life Sciences buildings can operate; growing the range of occupations that can be legally carried out at home; and the establishment of

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From the start of our tour of Vital Brookdale on March 21 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, it was clear that the building stands apart from its peers. There, innovation in design, materials and energy choices adds up to a sleek, welcoming and healthy, affordable Passive House project built on an odd-shaped parcel of land that previously served as parking lot. Collectively these features helped the project earn an Excellence in Affordable Housing Development Award from ULI New York in 2023.

The two-building project debuted in Brooklyn in 2022, as the first of a number of ‘Vital Brooklyn’ projects. The $1.4 billion initiative, funded by the State of New York, aims to address chronic social, economic and health disparities in its affordable and supportive housing across the borough.

Among Vital Brookdale’s many differentiators are turquoise semicircular wall tiles reminiscent of Venetian paper adorning a welcoming light-filled lobby. A cozy library invites residents to explore the shelves. Outdoor eating, playground and dog run areas beckon one outside. A bike and scooter storage room encourages residents in its 160 units – some of whom are developmentally disabled and aging out of foster care — to opt for healthy car-free modes of transit. A gym brings opportunity to exercise at all times. A game room and co-working space draw young people in to play and work. Wi-fi is ubiquitous. But what one can’t see truly makes Vital Brookdale different: its energy and materials choices, which cut both energy use and utility bills, and achieves Passive House PHUIS certification. Energy recovery ventilators filter fresh air. Heating, cooking and cooling are all-electric, in a nod to looming city laws. A 100-KW solar panel array powers the building. Window shades in all units reduce the need for heating and cooling, offsetting the extra-large windows which provide lots of daylight. Aesthetically pleasing cork and a creative herringbone design cover the floors.

Through creativity and efficiency the team was able to create a beautiful building that achieved a very high energy standard and is truly livable. In all its aspects, Vital Brookdale, a partnership between MDG Design + Construction and Smith & Henzy Advisory Group, designed by Dattner Architects, sets the bar high for future Vital Brooklyn projects.

In a packed room on March 28, executives working across the real estate industry gathered to hear both those designing and those using AI applications today posit on future use cases. At the Program Steering Committee‘s panel discussion, held in partnership with EY, all agreed that that generative AI (GenAI) is far more powerful in its capabilities, speed and sphere of influence than plain vanilla AI—and that, as a result, it is time to move from observation to implementation, while installing guardrails. “Before, we trained a machine to perform a task. GenAI takes on tasks or creates content. It is truly transformational,” explained moderator Umar Riaz, an executive director at EY, noting an industry-wide advised three-to-five-year planning horizon. Demonstrations by three experts in different fields followed. Microsoft Technology Strategist Ajoy Bhattacharya showed how AI can summarize emails, calls and the Terms & Conditions in a contract. Arwin Holmes, Principal and Daniel Nakhla, manager, both in EY’s technology consulting practice, demonstrated how GenAI can recommend ways to improve margins and reduce costs by querying against data sets. And Joe Brennan, senior computational designer at KPF demonstrated the technology’s use for wind simulation (with results from models in minutes if not seconds versus up to several hours before); for automating cores in buildings—though because results were not as accurate as required, KPF uses AI instead as a recommendation engine, with rankings—and for generative image making and instant renderings, replacing a tedious photoshop process.

“In 2013 we started experimenting with machine learning, feeding it tremendous amounts of data and models. Six months ago we explored how to responsibly fit generative AI into our work. Now we use it every day. But we are at the hybrid model stage–Augmented Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence,” Brennan recalled. In an animated discussion that followed, three luminaries in the area: Karen Hollinger, managing director at KKR Capstone; Patrick McGrath, president of the Western Region at Savills; and Michael O’Leary, chief financial officer at RXR, dug into how they use AI today and how it will transform work in the future. A few takeaways are below:

1. GenAI has profound implications for both our work and future real estate demand, based on tasks carried out by humans today that will be enhanced with GenAI. “From marketing, to operations, to R&D, technology, customer service, supply chains—a whole ecosystem of jobs and real estate will potentially be impacted. As far as office occupancy there’s no clear answer. We don’t know the extent to which the job market will change, with some existing jobs being impacted. But a new ecosystem of jobs will be created through GenAI,” said Riaz of EY. Added KKR’s Hollinger: “Industries and cities will win or lose,” based on the speed and manner in which industries employ AI.

2. The time to act is now. “Development cycles are long, and assets have long lives. You don’t want what happened to retail as a result of digital transformation to happen to you,” said Riaz. As low-hanging fruit, Hollinger recommended starting the research over

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On February 8, NEXT members gathered at the stately One Vanderbilt, catty-corner from Grand Central Terminal. Over a two-hour tour they learned about architect KPF’s granular decisions that resulted in a welcoming, light-filled LEED Platinum building referencing Grand Central’s grand design. The process, in partnership with Hines and SL Green, kicked off with 10 years of land acquisitions adding up to an entire city block. Subsequent actions included thoughtful materials selection such as lightly colored terra cotta tiles, road de-mapping, and setbacks to ease the flow and sense of space for pedestrians coming to and from the station, and smart energy choices to reduce energy use, including a chiller and CoGen plant. As for One Vanderbilt’s design, its massing comprises four interlocking and tapering volumes that spiral toward the sky, an elegant shape in sympathetic proportion to the nearby Chrysler Building. At the base, a series of angled cuts organizes a visual procession to Grand Central, revealing the Vanderbilt corner of the terminal’s magnificent cornice: a view that has been obstructed for nearly a century. Other standout features include a third-floor public outdoor terrace facing Grand Central, a light-filled entrance, and a new 14,000-square-foot pedestrian plaza on Vanderbilt Avenue. Also noteworthy, both as a way to ease congestion along the busy 42nd Street corridor, to please neighbors including the local community board, and as an enduring contribution to the neighborhood: a new Long Island Railroad entry point, which many commuters from points east welcomed.

The sustainability / pedestrian-friendly theme carried over on February 15 to the Program Steering Committee-organized tour of The Penn District, hosted by Vornado. The ambitious project tackled the newly redeveloped neighborhood which is criss-crossed by myriad subway and rail lines – the Long Island Railroad, Amtrak and New Jersey Transit – and Madison Square Garden’s monumental presence. Vornado and its partners have created space and eased flow in a tangled district of New York City. This is most evident within a widened section of Penn Station’s LIRR Concourse that now features raised ceilings, artwork and clear wayfinding signage, all reached through more accessible new entrances. This welcoming identity continues into the light-filled entrance of the revamped PENN 1 building, where a lounge with bleachers overlooks a street level lobby. Underway at grade is streetscaping across two acres of plazas and wider sidewalks; more greenery and programming is planned this Spring. Noteworthy design and decarbonization achievements in PENN 1 include the replacement of 8,500 windows to tighten the building envelope and to reduce the need for heating and cooling. The latter and contracting for renewable energy certificates from upstate New York sources means all the building’s electricity is zero emissions. This focus on sustainability has helped cut building energy use by 8% with increasing occupancy. Neighboring PENN 2 also boasts a triple-height lobby and a complete facade replacement with larger span windows, all of which contribute to a modeled 6% decrease in energy consumption.

On March 6, at a sold out YLG event, members gathered to hear from two highly knowledgeable lawyers about Local Law 97 (LL97). NYC’s signature sustainability legislation adopted five years ago aims to help curb carbon emissions from buildings, which contribute a hefty 66% of the metropolis’ emissions. In a packed room, YuhTyng “Tyng” Patka of Adler & Stachenfeld and Brendan Schmitt, of Herrick’s Real Estate Department (both Partners at their firms) shed light on the law that has garnered more attention prior to phase 1 of its implementation in May 2025, when reporting begins. (New rental legislation, pandemic era measures, and a year’s postponement on enforcement has pushed LL97 into the background since 2019.)

Briefly, LL97 requires all covered buildings of greater than 25,000 square feet to report their carbon emissions and to show—if these exceed the cap—plans to cut emissions to the legal limit by 2030, “with fines to follow thereafter.” Simple math with the type of building, heat or energy source, and gross square footage determines said cap. Some 57,000 buildings across the five boroughs fall into this first 2025 category, but the ceiling will fall every five years while penalties stiffen. “The initial shock has probably woken up people,” said Patka. “The law now reflects significantly less generous tolerance of emissions.” Exempt are religious institutions, ConEd, city-owned and small residential buildings and those with 35% of units officially affordable.

To prepare, engineers and architects at buildings that fall in this first category are now beginning to calculate costs in terms of non-compliance penalties versus the capital investments needed for emissions to fall below the threshold. On their radar are lower hanging fruit that can sizably dent emissions such as roof and boiler replacements and solar panels; modifying facades and windows is more costly and complicated. “Owners who are now good for 2024 are looking ahead to 2030. It takes that long for consultants, financing and board approval of capital improvements to comply,” explained Schmitt. Many developers unsurprisingly are considering LL97 requirements for planned buildings.

As for laggards, though many leases now factor in the cost of compliance (and often pass this onto tenants), broadly, buyers and sellers are not, suggesting that they may miss a potential liability that could require a costly fix. (The current penalty for exceeding emissions thresholds is $268 per metric ton, though the tiered system of emissions caps suggests that fines will rise over time.) Also, because penalties appear as a Department of Buildings violation, they prevent a noncompliant building’s sale. “I would want to know if I am buying a liability,” cautioned Patka. “In 2030 deeper LL97 restrictions could hamper salability, if a buyer does appropriate due diligence. This applies up and down the capital stack. Lenders/partners haven’t budgeted over a possible hit come 2030.”

As always, this year’s sellout event explored findings from our Emerging Trends in Real Estate report, produced in partnership with, and presented by Partners Bill Staffieri and Ricardo Ruiz of PwC, based on more than 1,200 polled in the industry and over 600 interviews. After the presentation, David Dishy, CEO of LMXD; Sonny Kalsi, co-CEO of BentallGreenOak (BGO); and Heather McGeory, head of Sustainability at Fifth Wall reacted to their observations and forecasts.

A few takeaways are below:

1. The industry is adjusting to the new normal. “It’s been painful, but we’ll get through it and likely emerge stronger. The current market dynamics have given rise to the adage ‘Survive until 2025,’” said PwC’s Bill Staffieri. “There’s no fast fix, there’s going to be pain. I don’t want to sugar coat things. But over time, things will shake out,” added Jessica Lappin of the Downtown Alliance for New York. “We have to take the long game, work together and push through.”

2. We’re past the initial flight to quality, which shone a light on a bifurcated office sector, with Class A clean, green, ‘hotelified’ office buildings commanding premium rents. “There’s a dilemma. If you have a Class B office [building], what do you do?” asked Staffieri. “Class B office owners are facing a decision dilemma: should they invest in upgrades with uncertain returns, consider limited conversion opportunities, or face potential loan defaults? We hear a lot about landlords considering returning keys to the bank.” Asked Sonny Kalsi of BGO, whose firm has selectively done just that: “Let’s just say office demand is down 20 to 25%. That means 75 to 80% of the demand is still there. Where’s that going to go? More likely to assets which are sustainably focused and…

See the ULI – PwC Emerging Trends in Real Estate Report

See PwC’s presentation

Read more takeaways here

In the session that followed, four veterans of prior downtown New York City bounce-backs dug into a top trend across the world: revitalizing downtowns. In animated discussion moderated by Vishaan Chakrabarti, founder and creative director of Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), panelists Jessica Lappin, president of the Downtown Alliance for New York; EB Kelly, senior managing director, head of Rockefeller Center, Global Customer Partnerships, ZO New York at Tishman Speyer; and Dara McQuillan, chief marketing officer at Silverstein Properties, recalled what had fueled the recovery of downtown Manhattan, to identify lessons and levers that could be applied to midtown Manhattan.

1. New York City will always bounce back. History and current fundamentals show that it is so. “Restaurants and stores are packed. I’m super bullish on NYC. Every other time people try to badmouth the city, they lost that short,” said BGO’s Kalsi. Joked Vishaan Chakrabarti of PAU and former Manhattan Planning Director, under Bloomberg: “Sonny Kalsi lives in Miami and his kids want to live in NYC. Mine do too. The difference is his kids can afford it.” Added Gilmartin over her chat: “The New York obit has been written many times. But we always bounce back because we have the secret sauce and people want to be here. Today, a large portion of our Ruby apartments are being rented to people moving to NYC.”

2. Unless government programs step up with incentives to help projects pencil, real estate investors in the city will park their money elsewhere. “Given uncertainties in Albany, it is really hard right now to find opportunities in NYC. We’re active in Philadelphia, New

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The day closed with a lively exchange between Bethany Logan Ropa, managing director in Real Estate, Lodging & Leisure at UBS Investment Bank, and MaryAnne Gilmartin, founder and CEO of MAG Partners, our featured Fireside Chat speaker. Talk touched on the imperative of diversifying our industry’s leadership, particularly in today’s volatile market; starting small but going big; and the relative ease of development work in Baltimore evident in MAG Partners’ expansive mixed-use development there. Below are key takeaways from that chat:

1.    For ESG and other governance areas, diversity in leadership is not a nice-to- have, but rather a business imperative. That applies to female representation at the top, and a way for younger voices to be heard. “With more diverse views we have better decisions,” said Gilmartin of MAG Partners. “Women create and see value in communities. We invest in people to invest in projects. Women are also excellent at juggling and collaborating. Putting women into board rooms is good governance but we need to see women advancing or it is a hopeless endeavor. I am a squeaky wheel in the boardroom. But it takes time. As for the next generation, I always say – bet on the rookies.”

2.    Smaller developments are easier to get done. In New York City, we will need more incentives to get to scale. “Being under 300 units allowed us to convince lenders we had the runway to complete before the 421-A deadline, but that wasn’t the challenge,” explained Gilmartin. “It was in the way the capital stack was put together. Our buildings are now fully capitalized, and we will finish them well within the timeline. These will be

On December 5 and 6, 2023, ULI New York held its second Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) of the year. This one focused on Morris Park, a leafy area in the Bronx set to benefit from better city and Westchester connectivity by way of the new Morris Park Metro-North stop slated to open in 2027. The TAP was sponsored by Montefiore Health System, a major local employer which plans to frame a new area masterplan for further development and connectivity in and around the stop, which is steps away from its flagship Price Center for Genetic and Translational Medicine building. In brief, the TAP explored ways to expand development and connect, by walkways and other means, a 4.5 million square-foot area with eight scattered hospital, research, medical school and office centers. Many of these have multiple buildings added piecemeal after purchase over many years. By more tightly tying together its current and planned facilities practically and metaphorically through a masterplan, and by growing the area’s retail, commercial and residential offerings, Montefiore hopes to, among other goals, attract more patients from Manhattan and Westchester and to, in turn, improve services, experiences, innovation and equipment, while increasing resources for Medicaid patients. This is the vast majority of patients it serves today. For two days through tours, briefings and interviews with local stakeholders, including government, neighborhood and business leaders, six volunteer ULI New York members—with expertise ranging from land use and zoning to infrastructure and urban design—visited priority sites across the campus. They deliberated for more cohesive, readily identifiable, demarcated and appealing streetscapes, with drawings and discussion about road, bike and pedestrian corridors, axes through and access points to campus, parking, branding, landscaping, rezoning and community engagement measures. Recommendations included assisting with the development and management of a proposed plaza outside the planned train station, and more wayfinding, community programming, small businesses, amenities, quad-like areas and partnerships aimed at better connectivity and placemaking. Findings were presented to Montefiore representatives and city officials in the Bronx on December 6. Stay tuned for their 2024 report.

On December 2, members of our Young Leaders Group’s Out & About sub-committee gathered in Brooklyn to volunteer for City Harvest at the Bed-Stuy Mobile Market. There they worked to unpack and distribute thousands of pounds of fresh produce and food to over 450 people facing food insecurity around Brooklyn. The Out & About sub-committee leads opportunities for the YLG leadership and committee members to get together, volunteer in the community, and get to know each other better.

December was a packed month for ULI New York Urban Plan workshops. In quick succession five were held at companies and schools, with as many as six teams competing on a given day. Key themes that emerged in high school classrooms included the crucial importance of safety, economic opportunity, smooth traffic flow, and of places to gather and exercise and to care for both those young and old. Discussion that followed six weeks of work on project resource allocation—based on a computerized spreadsheet that forces students to make tough choices so projects pencil—showed that such ambitious goals are often challenging to meet and turn a profit. On December 20, for example, at the Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction in Hell’s Kitchen, common elements in urban plans and Duplo lego brick simulated construction sites presented to a mock ‘City Council’ included skate parks, green space, day care centers and teen gathering zones–perhaps providing as much of an education on what matters most to today’s youth, to the jurors who ranged from finance professionals to architects. Of note were a range of ideas as to where to place homeless shelters and affordable housing. These workshops, guided by ULI New York’s 130 trained volunteer experts are invaluable for those considering futures in urban planning as well as for those who work in the industry today. In fact, on the docket for 2024 are a number of shorter, customized UrbanPlan workshops, beginning with a just-held UP4PO (Urban Plan for Public Officials) one for five Brooklyn Community Board where one member said lessons learned there could lead to changes in her career trajectory, plus many firmwide volunteer trainings. More to come.

November’s star billing went to Rebecca Rockey of Cushman & Wakefield and Marc Norman of NYU Schack. Rebecca, deputy chief economist and global head of forecasting at the global real estate firm, went beyond the macro to push back on omnipresent headlines while pointing to a few opportunities in one of the world’s most gloomy markets. (See Rebecca’s presentation here). Sure, a recession is on the horizon, she said. Leading indicators such as a softening economy, credit access and the cost of capital show the way. “Demand is still too strong, and the labor market is too hot,” she cautioned. But by slicing and dicing the data, pockets of value emerge, namely in the industrials segment like logistics and data centers, and select retail. Marc, associate dean of NYU’s Schack Institute of Real Estate, underscored the importance of policy levers and people movements that will push urban real estate beyond its post-pandemic malaise, as unprecedented work and lifestyle changes settle. Below follow a few of their takeaways:

1. Things in Manhattan are not as bad as people think

Market watchers are wrongly painting a broad strokes doom picture over all of New York City real estate. This does apply to a small, concentrated portion of the market, namely class B and C buildings that cannot easily or affordably be converted to residential, Rebecca noted. But, elsewhere, signs of revival include the lowest levels of retail vacancies ever recorded on Third

Read more takeaways here.

On November 16, The Program Development Committee of ULI New York’s Young Leaders Group relaunched its valued Cohort program following a one-year hiatus. Some 132 under-35-year-olds who work in commercial real estate were accepted into 22 new cohorts. The two-year-old program matches groups of 4-6 members to help them network, build relationships, grow professionally and engage with the broader ULI New York community. These goals dovetail with ULI’s commitment to building the next generation of diverse leaders. Grouped by profession, career stages and geography, cohorts regularly meet with the aid of a ‘team captain’ offline and in-person at relaxed, informal gatherings such as dinners, volunteering, and at industry and ULI events. ULI New York wishes all the best to the new cohorts ahead of what will undoubtedly be an exciting year!

Julia Butler’s professional path includes Disney, iStar, and KKR. Today, she is Chief Investment Officer at KKR’s non-traded REIT, KREST, so she has much career wisdom to share. On November 30, Julia did just that from KKR, for those starting their careers and those navigating today’s challenging market. The ‘Secrets to Success’ from her Young Leaders’ Group-backed Fireside Chat follow:

1. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable When mulling her post-Harvard choices, Julia had ‘no clue’ about where to go and what to do. “I wanted to learn. I was interested in finance,” she remembered. So when Disney was recruiting on campus, she jumped. It was all new – Los Angeles, the driving culture, the 9-5 hours which allowed for post-work hiking. The experience opened up her world. “Always put yourself in uncomfortable situations,” Julia advised, to learn new things. “Do not be afraid of failure when you see opportunity. Say yes and work hard.” Work at Disney led to one project focused on Time Share financing. “It clicked. I liked how tangible it was,” she said.

2. Foster and act on your work relationships But theme parks were not ultimately Julia’s thing. Over a Thanksgiving trip home, meeting someone in iStar’s structured finance group who worked on mortgages and REITs led to a job offer. Julia accepted the job, thinking it would be a good step for a few years prior to business school, though stayed on for 13 years. The 2008 financial crisis had offered a best-in-class education in investing. “I earned the equivalent of a PhD.” Now she’s seven years into KKR. “It’s not often you get the call to join an esteemed group to help grow

Read more Secrets to Success here.

For the second year running on a sunny autumn evening, ULI New York on October 18 hosted its annual Awards for Excellence in Development Gala at Cipriani South Street. The repurposed ferry building provided an apt backdrop, with its Beaux Arts features and placid Hudson River views. Some 600 people there honored 15 finalist projects and their creators over dinner and an awards presentation with commentary and videos. Among the seven winners were the Bronx Children’s Museum, an adaptive reuse building within the 1925 shell of the Bronx Terminal Market’s powerhouse, and Wireworks – a mixed-use development in Newburgh, inside a long-abandoned former 19th century spring factory. Other honorees with healthy, low-carbon living and equity as top priorities were Vital Brookdale and One Clinton, a sleek mixed-use tower in downtown Brooklyn, encompassing residential and retail space and a new library. A sale of the library’s prior land helped fund the celebrated project. ULI New York salutes the 2023 finalists in seven categories for their creativity and imagination in conceptualizing and delivering these exemplary projects.

On a crisp, clear October evening, some 80 participants pushed off from the Battery Park City ferry stop to learn of planned projects for Staten Island’s North Shore prior to the release of several RFPs by NYC EDC in the coming months as part of its Action Plan for the area. Those aboard hailed from the worlds of finance, construction, engineering, academia, city government, real estate, consulting, law, and architecture to learn about the new initiative. The plan seeks to leverage a $400 million public investment on the North Shore waterfront to create a vibrant, mixed-use community. With a range of resiliency strategies, the plan promises up to 2,400 housing units, expanded waterfront access with 20 acres of continuous public open waterfront space, and over 7,500 jobs for North Shore residents and the broader Staten Island community, for an estimated economic impact of $3.8 billion. This strategic investment also targets 1.3 million square feet of new commercial space, a fully renovated Pier 1, and the redevelopment of a 35-acre stretch of waterfront (formerly the Homeport Navy base) and the Bank Street Site (the former New York Wheel site).

Over the 2-hour tour, participants heard NYC Economic Development Corporation President & CEO Andrew Kimball describe public investment and ongoing private developments over swathes of land between Stapleton and St. George. Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks lauded the visionary coastal plans including those for a greenway and upgraded pier on areas she frequented as a child. And EDC COO Melissa Roman Burch pointed out how the prior naval homeport will be repurposed into affordable housing. Over the subsequent walk through the former ‘Wheel’ site, attendees brainstormed about possible uses for a large, mothballed building with stunning views of Manhattan’s skyline. Ideas ranged from an open marketplace to a life-sciences center with connectivity over a planned greenway for walkers and bikers to new homes and other Staten Island developments. The conversation continued over a return at sunset and at a social hour at a local watering hole, as to what’s possible on one of the City’s largest parcels of underdeveloped waterfront land, minutes by ferry from downtown Manhattan.

In late October over 5,000 attendees descended on downtown Los Angeles for ULI’s annual Fall Meeting. Over four packed days they listened in on 70 panel discussions, took part in more than 20 building and neighborhood tours and participated in countless Council and Committee lunches and evening receptions. Topics that frequently surfaced ranged from ways to breathe new life into empty downtowns, to making our living spaces more equitable and inclusive, to repurposing space and materials from building demolitions to preserve artifacts and cut waste and carbon. Featured speakers included Clarence Anthony, CEO of the National League of Cities; Vincent Reina, Senior Advisor for Housing and Urban Policy at the White House Domestic Policy Council; and Maurice Conti, a futurist and AI expert who has worked with Tesla, Nike, Airbus and Disney. Next stop: April 9 to 11, 2024 in New York City, when our district council hosts ULI’s Spring Meeting for the first time in 10 years. Big things are planned!

Kicking off ULI New York’s Climate Week programming, the Women’s Leadership Initiative dug into ways that designers, builders—even contractors—are changing the materials, processes and services used in construction by taking into account their ‘embodied carbon’ – or the cradle-to-grave carbon dioxide they emit. Featured speakers at the sold-out panel discussion, hosted by Buro Happold, included Kate Ascher, professor, Columbia’s School of Architecture; Billie Faircloth, research director and partner at Kieran Timberlake; Julia Gisewite, chief sustainability officer at Turner Construction; and Sonam Velani founder, Streetlife Ventures, a firm that invests in sustainable cities. The first of 8 takeaways from the discussion follows:

1. Early design phase embodied carbon measurements are the pathway to reducing embodied carbon through the design process: Use whole building life cycle assessments in early design phases to understand where impacts are the greatest, said Billie Faircloth, FAIA, research director and partner at KieranTimberlake. Find embodied carbon ‘hot spots’…

         Read more takeaways here

In quick succession our Program Steering Committee in partnership with ULI Greenprint explored ways that developers, designers and financiers are tapping a range of traditional and emerging incentives to materially cut the amount of carbon in their buildings in ways that often benefit the bottom line. Featured speakers in a packed breakfast panel hosted by K&L Gates included Marta Schantz, co-executive director, ULI’s Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate; Lauren Brust Moss, senior vice president and chief sustainability officer at Vornado; Christopher Cayten, principal at CodeGreen and Shanta Tucker, director of New York’s Atelier Ten office. Below follows the first of 20 key takeaways from lively discussion: ]

1. Even if payback for energy consumption reduction in a building is years away, a green revamp can boost the perceived value among tenants for a faster ROI from rent hikes: For example, after Vornado reclad its PENN 2 building and added triple pane windows at considerable cost (for a more distant ROI), the larger windows it installed and lower heating and cooling costs that resulted favored rent increases since…

      Read more takeaways here

On a drizzly September evening, in a triangular-shaped downtown Brooklyn block between the Barclay’s Center, the Apple store and Atlantic Center, 25 members of ULI New York’s Young Leaders Group and their guests explored 100 Flatbush and 489 State Street with developer Alloy as their host.

The ‘Alloy block’ which will ultimately become a 5-building mixed use area boasts two firsts for New York City. In process are two passive schools and an all-electric skyscraper; a second mixed-use tower with retail and cultural space will follow. On the docket: space for 500 bikes but no cars to encourage human powered mobility.

Best of all, the 44-story tower that is nearing completion looks down on the iconic Williamsburg Savings Bank clock. Slated for completion in 2024, the rich blend of retail, residential and educational space with sleek designs shows what’s possible with creativity, verve and local community input.