Join John McNellis, author of ULI's bestselling title Making It in Real Estate, as he candidly—and humorously—recounts the hard lessons he's learned from four decades of developing commercial real estate. Not only will John dissect his biggest disaster—the loss of a 300,000-foot shopping center to foreclosure—he'll explain why one should never buy real estate for the wrong reasons; why working on "Goldilocks" deals is critical; why one should be wary of partners, bankers, and investment advisors (basically, anyone with money); why only the track wins horse races; and why successful development is invariably based on taking risk . . . but only after accurately gauging it. John will leave plenty of time for an extended Q&A. Each attendee will receive a free eBook version of Making It in Real Estate.

Public Development and Infrastructure Council (PDIC) presents an overview of the challenges facing utility infrastructure in the United States. Issues include significant growth in industry and population base in the Southwest and the resulting steep demand curve from the additional residential customers, growth of electric vehicles, and industrial uses that draw on electric and water utilities or require transmission lines to deliver electricity to the grid; the maze of different agencies and regulatory requirements surrounding electric transmission infrastructure across the United States; vehicle electrification demands; increasing electrification of building energy uses as many regions shift away from natural gas, coal, and oil; water infrastructure challenged by changes in climate patterns; increased operational and asset risks to utilities due to climate change; heat and lack of water demanding wildfire management and constraining hydropower and reservoir water supplies; and too much water and sea-level rise affecting design and sustainable location of utility infrastructure, making flood control measures a necessity.

Innovation is the catalyst that propels societies forward. In this session, developers and investors will learn why they should pay close attention to the transformative potential of labs in shaping the future of innovation ecosystems. This session will explore the power of labs to attract cutting-edge startups, nurture talent, and create thriving ecosystems that support rapid iteration and commercialization of ideas. In addition, you will discover how labs are bridging the gap between entrepreneurs, researchers, and corporations, allowing for the seamless integration of diverse perspectives and expertise. Gain insights into successful lab models and strategies that have effectively transformed traditional real estate developments into vibrant innovation districts. As the global landscape becomes increasingly competitive, the ability to embrace and foster innovation within communities is a game-changer.

This session will delve deep into the complexities of managing costs within the high-stakes world of Las Vegas mega-projects. With a focus on the unique challenges posed by the city's rapid development, industry experts will share insights into cost escalation trends, labor shortages, and innovative strategies for delivering projects on time and within budget. From the unique perspectives of a leading general contractor and a seasoned developer, attendees will gain valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities presented by the city's ambitious building projects. From the complexities of mega-projects like the Sphere to the day-to-day struggles of securing labor and materials, this panel will provide actionable insights to help you navigate the current and future market landscape. Discover how to mitigate risks, optimize costs, and ensure project success in an increasingly volatile construction environment.

The ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development (www.uli.org/visionaries) is the most prestigious and respected award in the land use planning and development community. The $100,000 prize, which ULI awards annually, spotlights individuals and organizations that have been on the cutting edge, employing innovative processes, techniques, strategies, and insights to encourage and achieve the highest quality in development practices and policies at the global, national, or local levels. In this session, Robert D. Bullard, the 2024 ULI Prize Laureate will present his visionary work on environmental justice and participate in a fireside chat with Lynn King-Tolliver, Global Governing Trustee.

Recent economic and secular shifts have significantly impacted U.S. real estate, particularly the development of large-scale mixed-use districts. Rising interest rates and construction costs—coupled with the rise of hybrid work models, high office vacancies, and recent challenges with brick-and-mortar retail—have made mixed-use development projects particularly hard to capitalize and get off the ground. Despite these challenges, some mixed-use developers are thriving by adapting to the evolving preferences of residents and businesses alike. Example strategies include taking an innovation district approach, partnering with diverse anchors such as universities and sports stadiums, and continuously evolving the definition of mixed-use. This panel discussion will explore underlying elements for successful mixed-use developments in today's challenging times. The session will feature insights from developers and urban planners who are at the forefront of significant mixed-use projects across the United States.

Many people think of Las Vegas and think solely of "the Strip," but that's just the beginning of what the region offers. Las Vegas is on an incredible trajectory of growth and industry success thanks to decades of expert master planning that has laid the groundwork for the city's emergence as one of today's most sought-after destinations. Las Vegas's local job market is growing 2.3 times faster than the national average, due to recent relocations and expansions by technology companies, sports teams, and entrepreneurs working across a variety of industries, where employees are demanding an affordable yet high-quality lifestyle. It is critical to look at how this change has happened and how thoughtful planning can continue to nurture such urban evolution to choreograph the future of our country's commercial and residential real estate landscape.

Led by Laura Krashakova, founder and CEO of Smart Capital Center, this session will provide insights into how Generative AI (GenAI) can transform the commercial real estate (CRE) industry by bringing speed, enhancing insight, and cutting costs in asset management and investment operations. The session will cover the role of GenAI in enhancing every step of the investment lifecycle; powerful GenAI applications in CRE finance that already work today and expected future applications and transformation of the industry with GenAI.

Join us for an exclusive ULI Trends Session hosted by the ULI Airport Development Council (ADC) that dives into real estate development opportunities on and around airports. From mixed-use developments to hospitality and logistics hubs, discover the latest trends, investment strategies, regulatory insights, and opportunities shaping this market. Gain insights from industry leaders, examine successful case studies, and discover how to capitalize on the unique advantages and unlock the sky-high potential of real estate on and around airports.

Our bet: In 2050, deconstruction rather than demolition will be the default. This session will examine deconstruction from the perspective of experts in circular economy, design and engineering, and tools needed to support it. Ramboll, Holmes, and Urban Machine will explore the trends and drivers for deconstruction and reuse, from the perspectives of policy, reporting, decarbonization, resource and real estate scarcity, and taxes. The session will introduce how the wrecking-ball approach to demolition has prohibited the circular use of materials and represents incredible value leakage, including sending valuable materials to landfills. The session will include case studies from municipalities requiring deconstruction to ambitious projects propelled by goals of embodied carbon reduction or material reuse. The panel will outline project planning, design, engineering, and detailing strategies that can be applied by the attendees. The discussion will include technologies supporting deconstruction, showcasing how technology can facilitate sustainable solutions and inspire the adoption of circular practices in the built environment, including material passports, digital twins, and Urban Machines robot.

Join the ULI Women's Leadership Initiative (WLI) Americas for its signature program where Emma West, WLI Americas chair and partner at Bousfields Inc., will moderate a fireside chat with Former Mayor Debra March, of Henderson, Nevada's second largest city. Debra held the mayor position from 2017–2023. During that time, she successfully expanded Henderson into a sports hub to include the Raiders, Aces, and Silver Knights, using public/private partnerships for all these projects. Debra also created the Women's Community Leadership Network (WCLN) to promote opportunities for women and girls in Henderson. Debra continues her work as a passionate champion for growing livable communities for all through her consulting company March Nawaday.

Mass timber continues to gain momentum in sustainable construction, with applications expanding far beyond the traditional office spaces. This session will explore how innovative wood products are reshaping a variety of property types, from multi-family housing to public projects, industrial developments, and beyond. Join industry leaders as they discuss the opportunities and challenges of incorporating mass timber into new spaces and the future of timber in redefining the built environment. Hear from a global mass timber developer, a leading U.S. builder, and a prominent tech company on how they are approaching mass timber in today's market environment.

For decades, real estate has viewed the energy system as another vendor and cost center to be managed. Increasingly, the utility industry has become much more than that. Energy providers are a key driver of real estate's ability to meet decarbonization targets and, in return, might be willing to compensate commercial real estate for the flexibility they offer to the power grid. Join senior executives from the utility industry in a real-life interchange with the built environment about how each of them are challenged by the energy transition and, perhaps, how closer collaboration can unlock new opportunities to accelerate the energy transition.

This session will showcase the journey of transforming a former Air Force Base into a national model for redevelopment. Brooks' transformation is not just a story of urban renewal; it's a testament to what's possible, turning a 1,308-acre shuttered military installation into a thriving mixed-use community with more than $2.2 billion in investment and counting. The session will unpack strategic insights and decisions that led to Brooks' success, highlighting how the team navigated complex challenges associated with maintaining the site's historical character while updating it with modern infrastructure and amenities suited for current community needs. A key aspect of Brooks' success story is its impact on employment and regional investment, creating more jobs than the Air Force Base previously supported and catalyzing economic growth in a previously overlooked region. The Brooks regional area (7,500-acres) has seen a 36 percent increase in household income, outpacing the City of San Antonio's 32 percent increase over the same period. Attendees will explore the economic strategies and community engagement practices that contributed to surpassing job creation goals while also developing a vibrant community. This session will provide a valuable blueprint for similar urban development projects, emphasizing how underutilized installations can be transformed.

Sponsored by WLI Americas Chinatowns across the country are facing gentrification and displacement. Preserving history and culture and a sense of belonging are critical to the identity of Chinatown. At the same time, it is important to strike a balance between preservation and change. Members of the Las Vegas Chinatown Redevelopment Master Plan team will guide you through the historical evolution of Las Vegas Chinatown, from its humble beginnings to its current status as a vibrant cultural and culinary destination. Topics include innovative urban planning approaches, transit-oriented community, equitable community engagement strategies, economic development and policy tools, and public/private AND community partnerships that can support the revitalization efforts while maintaining the authenticity and vibrancy of Chinatown neighborhoods.

The ULI C Change program is working on an industry initiative to accelerate the adoption of internal carbon pricing in the built environment in Europe. This session will provide an update on the strategy that will launch at the C Change Summit in Barcelona in October.

The Entertainment Development Council (EDC) will give an inside look at how some projects in the sports and entertainment sectors are leading the way to resilient sustainable development. With mega, high-profile sports events such as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, and music spectacles such as Coachella, the sports and entertainment sectors are uniquely positioned to lead the way to sustainable development but only a few have achieved resiliency. This session will present an inside look at how to be both green and entertaining rather than simply "greenwashing." Learn how this approach can translate to all building types.

As cities around the world struggle under the weight of distressed office buildings, it's imperative to distinguish the assets that will survive the tumultuous years ahead from the struggling properties that will be forced to restructure, convert, or be demolished outright. As office vacancy rates continue to rise, and with over $1.6 trillion of commercial real estate loans coming due by the end of 2026, many will default. In this session, a panel of experts with skin in the game look at distressed offices holistically to analyze the future of struggling or stranded assets and the alternative solutions designed to alleviate rising office vacancy rates. Topics include the looming threat of rising office vacancy rates; determining an office's potential for redevelopment, conversion, or demolition; assessing a property's viability for office-to-residential conversion; and the future of the office building and office conversions. The panel will include a leading architect in office-to-residential conversions, a CEO of a public office real estate investment trust, a high-profile investor, and a real estate leader who has navigated a successful office conversion.

This session will include a robust discussion between city staff, elected officials, developers, and local and national consultants working to deliver new and innovative infill development solutions essential to the long-term success of Las Vegas. The session will include brief presentations by each of our panelists, offering a diverse perspective of the history, context, current conditions, ambitions of the project, and work across public and private sectors to make this project successful. This project is the result of intentional and extensive bilingual community engagement, creative partnerships, and a commitment to resilient development that helps some of the city's most vulnerable populations. The city of Las Vegas is leveraging its control of the 100-acre Desert Pines Golf Course in East Las Vegas to drive several community-driven goals, providing opportunities to incentivize affordable infill housing, embracing Latino culture through placemaking and design, partnering with education, and focusing on workforce training, increasing accessible park space, and developing a transit-oriented and walkable project.

Because of the regional banking crisis and repricing of office and multifamily properties, regional and even larger banks have largely abandoned the real estate financing market generally and construction specifically. Developers have also seen an erosion in lenders willing to do large-scale residential projects. Debt funds, many of which are backed by global insurance companies, are filling the gap. The panel will discuss the current landscape of development, construction, and repositioning loans—who the players are, the products they are considering, and how they differ from traditional bank lenders.

Asia Pacific has defied economic slowdowns experienced in other parts of the world. Gross domestic product in the region is growing faster than anywhere else on the planet, and estimates suggest over 330 million people will migrate to the cities by 2030. With such expansion in the middle classes, urbanization, and consumer spending, unique real estate opportunities exist for patient and agile global capital. In a region so diverse, and as rate cuts loom, it is essential for investors to dig deeper into Asia's real estate landscape and consider how to capitalize on its potential. This session will explore three key trends shaping the future of this asset class: • Finding new sources of return: Consider key markets from India's rapid rise in the West to the pivot to Japan in the East and assess if China's allure is over. • Being selective over sectors: What do the 3 Ds (digitalization, decarbonization, and demographics) mean for logistics, retail, multifamily rentals, and data centers over the next 12 months, and the next 3 to 5 years? • Decoding Asia's resilience in offices: Why has work-from-home had little impact on the sector compared with the United States and Europe?

With both tenants and owners trending toward establishing net zero goals, collaborating isn't always as easy as it may seem. Namely, split incentives instill doubt in which party benefits from investments in sustainability and energy conservation measures. Add differing goals, barriers to communication, and ever-changing climate tech solutions, it can get tricky to find common ground much less work together to achieve whole building net zero. In this session, we will uncover the strong business for tenant and owner alignment on net zero goals. Panelists will cover topics including increasing data completeness, driving property value, meeting tenant demand, and addressing the "social" in ESG. Join industry leaders, sustainability experts, and forward-thinking companies to explore practical approaches for collaboration techniques between owners and landlords. Discover the benefits of green leases, shared sustainability goals, and integrated management practices that enhance environmental performance. Whether you're a building owner, a corporate tenant, or a sustainability professional, this session will provide valuable insights and actionable strategies to help you play a pivotal role in the global decarbonization movement.

The demand for creative placemaking in real estate development has grown rapidly since ULI's launch of its Creative Placemaking (CPM) project in 2016. ULI's 2020 publication, which inspired this session title, is the second most downloaded publication in ULI's history. ULI has built a body of CPM knowledge from studying real projects supplemented by site visits, interviews, surveys, and more. Art in Place, ULI's recent CPM initiative, involves nine global cohorts aimed at facilitating artist-developer connections. The initiative provides fresh insights and reinforces findings that CPM promotes thriving, equitable, and resilient cities and places. This session brings together a panel of internationally recognized leaders and CPM experts who corroborate ULI research with recent studies, including a 2023 study by the Toronto Metropolitan University and the recently released Volume 3 of The Place Economy containing hundreds of essays by real estate professionals spanning the globe. Panelists will discuss CPM best practices and how to apply them successfully. They will postulate on why to focus on creative placemaking in real estate development, and why now.

The lack of housing affordable and attainable to American families has spread from coastal cities into communities across the country. It seems nowhere is immune to the pressures of providing adequate housing, causing challenges to families, employers, and the economic well-being of communities. Innovative solutions across the public and private sector have emerged to address these challenges: design and construction techniques that lower the cost of housing; financing tools to leverage funding sources; policy changes that unlock land, zoning, and public resources; and private sector involvement in building and preserving affordable housing. This panel will include diverse stakeholders in the affordable housing industry, sharing their insights and solutions for meeting housing needs.

The renewed focus on office-to-residential conversion projects indicates that the majority of the buildings do not have long-term capacity to accommodate different occupancy types. The "open building" concept as advocated by the Council on Open Building (https://councilonopenbuilding.org/) demonstrates a better way to design, finance, and approve buildings for continuous change. This session will provide an overview of the open building concept; share case studies from residential, health care, and mixed-use markets; and offer insights from open building practitioners on how this approach works. The overarching goal is to introduce the ULI community to a new way of thinking.

The panelists for this session—a diverse mix of development, financing, and sustainability experts—will delve into the exciting realm of alternative financing, an emerging strategy that champions sustainable and financially accretive development. The discussion will provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of this innovative approach, covering key aspects such as capital stack diversification, alignment with financial intermediaries, and maximizing opportunities for green structured finance solutions.

This session will cover trends in the data center industry, including building design, demand drivers, and challenges. Building design will focus on what makes a data center unique compared to an industrial building. Demand drivers will cover hyperscaler demand for both cloud and artificial intelligence/machine learning needs and investor capital inflow. Challenges will focus on power constraints, capital limitations in the debt market, and monetization plans for built campuses.

The ULI Real Estate Economic Forecast is a semiannual survey of leading industry experts. The latest edition was released in mid-October 2024. How do the experts see 33 key economic and real estate indicators, now including alternative property types, moving by the end of 2024, 2025, 2026? How have forecasts changed from six months earlier? And why? What signals are the experts watching for in real estate as they look ahead? Where do the experts agree and disagree? Hear a lively debate among leading economists and analysts who participated in the Real Estate Economic Forecast survey as they explain or defend their opinions. Ask questions or challenge their views about what's ahead for the real estate industry through 2026.

Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world, has long been the spiritual home of immersive experiences. With the success of the Sphere, it has also become the literal epicenter of this trend. While Vegas offers endless hospitality and entertainment opportunities, its real value lies in the lessons it can teach the real estate industry about placemaking, blending physical and digital spaces, and creating shared experiences that foster a sense of community. Immersive experiences can transform mixed-use developments and urban centers, but without careful planning and foresight, they risk falling flat and missing the mark with diverse audiences. Join this panel of experts, moderated by Gensler's co-ceo Elizabeth Brink, as they explore the future of location-based and retail-immersive entertainment. This discussion will dive into the growing convergence of dining, hospitality, nightlife, entertainment, and urban public spaces, using insights from Las Vegas's unique position in experiential entertainment development. The panel will highlight the success stories of AREA15 and the Sphere and draw on global examples from intimate dining establishments to large-scale planned districts. Attendees will learn how to blend themed entertainment design with commercial strategies to transform ordinary spaces into extraordinary experiences. Discover how these insights can shape the future of urban development, making cities more engaging and community-focused.

State and local governments have been making the news in recent years pushing legislation, new funding, and other proposals to advance housing production. But how are they performing? And which policies should be replicated in other communities? This panel will discuss these innovative state and local housing policies and draw from the findings of the 2024 ULI Shaw Forum where developers, policymakers, economists, and researchers will deliberate on the policies they believe will prove most successful in producing quality housing in their communities.

2023 was the hottest year on record and transportation and the building sector are some of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions in North America. But transportation and real estate are also sectors where the power of choice and thoughtful investment will create positive generational social value and long-lasting collective climate risk management. Join this dynamic discussion about the intersection of industrial real estate development, building electrification, low-carbon materials and construction, climate risk management, and the critical need for domestic electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing and charging infrastructure. We will dive into cutting-edge strategies in climate risk management, low-carbon and resilient building design, and practical, real-world examples from across North America where cities, manufacturers, and the building industry are already decarbonizing the whole-building lifecycle and adapting to extreme weather. Innovative solutions to the growing demand for EV charging infrastructure will also be shared, especially in urban areas where equitable access is crucial. The session will also focus on specific government incentives and policies that are driving the shift to a sustainable future by supporting industrial development, EV infrastructure, and building decarbonization.

Understanding the value of an asset's building systems is critical for financiers and developers in managing project risks and setting expectations for conversion projects. With an increase in 'quick' assessment tools that qualify buildings at a high level (floor plates, amenities, aesthetics, etc.), owners don't really get the full picture unless they analyze the building systems that could comprise a significant percentage of the cost of the project. The panel will highlight experts in structural and MEP engineering to discuss unforeseen conditions hidden within existing building systems that limit the opportunity for conversion, or far worse – becoming money pits. Panelist will discuss the advantages of using building information models to help develop potential costs of building maintenance and future retrofits as well as carbon tracking. The team of experts will share past project information and how initial assessments of building systems would have aided in the success of recent conversions projects.

Over the past year, ULI district councils in five communities launched projects to catalyze the production and preservation of deeply affordable housing for individuals experiencing homelessness. Each team will share insights and replicable lessons learned through a series of rapid-fire presentations, followed by an interactive open house for casual discussions and deeper engagement.

A decade ago, Calgary, Alberta, home of Canada's energy sector, battled through the latest oil price crash. As office vacancies loomed large, the city of Calgary embarked on an ambitious journey to transform aging office buildings into vibrant residential hubs, and identify underused but coveted residential and mixed-use hubs in the city's historic east end. By the time the pandemic hit office vacancies, Calgary's foresight was being lauded by media and urbanists globally, with The Washington Post editorial board declaring that "Calgary offers a road map—and a tool kit—for D.C. and other beleaguered cities on how to make the switch rapidly and efficiently." Today, the green shoots of that visionary planning are sprouting across the city, from the largest arts infrastructure investment in Canada to an emerging Culture + Entertainment District packed with mixed-use community that's home to a new convention center and ascendant cultural beacons, room for 8,000 additional residents and 4 million square feet of new development to active transportation links that connect downtown's new residential reuse with the rest of the city.

From fashion to education to finance to health care, nearly every industry has been revolutionized by the recent advances and accessibility of artificial intelligence (AI). In fact, 79 percent of global companies expect Generative AI (GenAI)—models that can create unique content such as text, images, audio, video, and 3D models by learning patterns from existing data—to substantially transform their industry in the next three to five years. The GenAI market size is projected to reach $207 billion by 2030. So how can architect and designers tap into that flourishing market? In this session, explore how AI has impacted the design industry, what's next for these new and rapidly evolving technologies, and how to harness the power of AI to better understand and appeal to the interests and psychographics of the new consumer.

With falling office property values, soaring housing costs, and the ever-growing climate crisis, repurposing vacant office buildings in central business districts into vital residential units seems like the solution everyone is seeking. However, not all office buildings are ripe for conversion into residential units. Recent studies have found that roughly 10 to 25 percent of office assets prove physically feasible for residential conversion. In the face of this challenge, how might we envision alternative uses for these properties? How can we not only breathe new life into underutilized buildings, to ensure the vibrancy of our central business districts, but seize this as an opportunity to support equity and resiliency of our urban landscapes, all while aligning with the financial imperatives of lenders, developers, and landlords? This is not just a question of innovation—it's a policy and design challenge to reimagine our cities for a sustainable future.

Navy Pier, envisioned in Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago and designed by architect Charles Sumner Frost, was built in 1916 to meet demand for commercial shipping and leisure on the lakefront. Called "The People's Pier," it juxtaposed double-decker freight sheds with grand public spaces, evolving through its first century to meet the needs of Chicagoans. Since 2011, Navy Pier has been reimagined to provide its 8M+ annual guests with unique experiences and a built environment connecting the cityscape to the lakefront. A 2010 ULI report spurred the most recent improvements, including Polk Bros Park, a 13-acre green entrance to the Pier, as well as a JCFO-designed waterfront promenade, the Pier's "green spine." Further enhancing the guest experience are the state-of-the-art Yard theater, the iconic Centennial Ferris wheel, the KOO-designed Sable Hotel and Offshore, the world's largest rooftop bar (Guinness World Records). Together, these projects enhance the guest experience, answering the ULI panel's call that the Pier be a "public place to serve the people of Chicago and present its cultural fabric to the world." Drawing from its maritime past and unique location, more changes are envisioned with renewed focus on not only serving millions of annual guests, but also the thousands of employees, artists, and entrepreneurs that call Navy Pier home, supporting the cultural, tourism, and business economies while creating social impacts that reverberate throughout the community.

According to the World Economic Forum, "Infrastructure is a system of systems that links the built environment, the natural world, and the human experience." Cities and towns are archetypal "system of systems" where everything connects to and impacts everything else. Infrastructure, services, open spaces, community activities, and more cannot and should not be addressed in isolation. Recognizing, devising, instituting, and operationalizing a comprehensive, integrated systems-based approach to delivering multifunctional and next-generation infrastructure is essential to the future of all communities. Given the scale of the anticipated global infrastructure spend of $97 trillion dollars through 2040, including a $15-trillion-dollar funding gap, now is the time to pivot to new delivery models that comprehensively address equitable, sustainable, and economically viable alternatives to conventional infrastructure solutions. This panel will explore blurring the distinction between infrastructure, community regeneration, commercial development, sustainability, and social equity via a differentiated approach to project initiation and delivery.

In fast-growing areas where job opportunities are booming, there is a critical shortage of affordable middle-income housing. This shortage poses a significant challenge for essential workers such as nurses, teachers, and firefighters, who earn too much to qualify for government housing subsidies but struggle to afford market-rate housing. To address this issue, the concept of attainable housing or "missing-middle" housing has emerged, aiming to provide housing options for middle-income households without relying on subsidies. Public/private partnerships hold the potential to play a crucial role in tackling this pressing housing challenge and ensuring that essential workers have access to affordable housing options.