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Urban Initiatives
ULI is involved in a variety of initiatives focused on urban
redevelopment issues and partnerships with community development
organizations. Through forums, publications and outreach efforts, ULI
focuses on the inner city’s unique market and the barriers to its
development and redevelopment.
Urban Community Advisers
Preservation Compact
ULI/Local
Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
ULI/Charles H. Shaw Forum on Urban Community
Issues
Urban Marketplace
Preservation Compact
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Made possible
through a generous grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation, the Preservation Compact is a rental housing
strategy conceived by ULI and ULI Chicago. The Preservation Compact envisions
that, by 2020, Cook County will have an ample supply of affordable
rental housing for which individuals and families pay no more than 30
percent of their income. A substantial amount of this demand will be met
by preserving and improving existing units, which are affordable,
decent, well-located and appropriately sized.
To make this vision a reality, the Preservation Compact will propose
and implement an action plan to capitalize on the region’s
substantial investment in existing, affordable rental housing and
increase opportunities for public and private investment in this
market. The Preservation Compact Action Plan
was publicly launched and officially commenced on May 31, 2007. To
learn more about the exciting work already underway, please visit
ULI Chicago.
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ULI/Local
Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
| Development in urban markets presents a challenge and an
opportunity. In many communities, private developers are joining with
nonprofit community developers to create profitable ventures that
benefit under served populations. In recent years, a small but growing
group of for-profit and nonprofit developers has embarked upon
strategies to capture emerging markets in older urban communities. As
suburban development has become more difficult and expensive, previously
overlooked urban markets have given rise to a unique style of
entrepreneurial development that has proven both profitable and
enormously beneficial to low and moderate income urban communities. |
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They offer a model for achieving sufficient scale to justify
new investment in previously ignored communities. In Chicago,
private developers from the Urban Land Institute Chicago (ULI Chicago)
and nonprofit developers associated with the Local Initiatives Support
Corporation Chicago (LISC Chicago) have explored several notable
examples.
In 2003, ULI Chicago and the LISC Chicago, in cooperation with ULI
Boston and LISC Boston participated in a unique pilot program for real
estate and community development professionals in the
Chicago region. The goals of the program are to promote the
exchange of ideas and best practices among private sector and nonprofit
real estate development organizations. A report from this collaboration
is available, Leadership Strategies to Capture Emerging
Markets.
In 2004, ULI Richmond joined the project, conducting the
region’s first effort to bring together members of for-profit and
not-for-profit developers. With the cooperation of ULI/Richmond
and LISC/Richmond, the team interviewed developers in each city,
evaluated deal structures, and reviewed market conditions. They sought
to determine the factors that lead to successful projects and to look
for ways to develop scale to support and replicate business
opportunities for for-profit developers and community development
corporations (CDCs), to encourage more successful development that
benefits communities in urban markets. Making Deals in Urban Markets is the
report from this collaboration.
The 2005 ULI-LISC
information exchange brought together more than 50 developers and
community experts in a series of four meetings, including all-day visits
to downtown Palatine and Chicago’s “Quad Communities”
(North Kenwood, Oakland, Douglas and Grand
Boulevard). So Very Different? Maybe Not: Development Success in
Suburban Palatine has Parallels for Chicago's Quad
Communities summarizes the two tours that took place in
June and July of 2005.
For more information on the ULI/LISC Partnership, download
ULI's Case Study for Action.
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ULI/Charles H. Shaw Forum on Urban Community
Issues
The annual ULI/Charles H. Shaw Forum seeks to bring issues related to
the viability of urban neighborhoods to the forefront of ULI programs.
The forum has been endowed by Charles H. Shaw (former ULI chairman) of
the Shaw Company and developer of Homan Square, a mixed-income
neighborhood in west Chicago. The 2007 Charles H. Shaw
Forum, held in October, focused on green, affordable housing.
For more information, please click here.
Urban Marketplace
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Urban Marketplace is a one-day conference that has been organized by
several ULI District Councils to promote investment opportunities and
development strategies in urban neighborhoods. Urban Marketplace
promotes deal-making and investment in low-income urban neighborhoods
and offers access to experts in real estate development, community
development finance, conventional lending, mezzanine/private equity
capital, legal issues, real estate brokerage, urban planning,
architecture, community outreach and government/public affairs.
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Created by ULI Los
Angeles in 2000 to cultivate real estate investment and
development in LA’s lower income or distressed neighborhoods,
Urban Marketplace has attracted thousands of real estate developers,
investors, lenders, brokers, planners, reinvestment advocates,
architects, educators, elected officials, attorneys, accountants and
community leaders to its case studies, roundtable discussions, and
exhibits. Based upon the ULI LA model, District Councils in St. Louis, Houston and Atlanta have also successfully organized Urban
Marketplaces. Other District Councils are also planning similar
programs. ULI Los Angeles hosted its 6th annual Urban
Marketplace forum on March 15 with the theme "Cracking the Urban Code:
Housing and Jobs." ULI Houston held its second annual
UM on September 8, 2006 while ULI Atlanta held its third annual UM on October
24, 2006. The Hon. Wellington E. Webb, former Mayor of Denver, CO and
founder of Webb Group Intl., LLC, gave the keynote address for Houston
while Atanta's event focused on how to bridge the financial gap for
urban redevelopment.
For information on hosting an Urban Marketplace event, please
download ULI's Case Study for Action on the topic.
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