2023 Summer Issue of Urban Land - 55

Peter Ballon, Diane Hoskins, Ron Pressman
ULI's Global Leaders Welcome Industry to Spring
Meeting in Toronto
To open the 2023 ULI Spring Meeting
in Toronto, members of the Institute's
global leadership gathered for a fireside
chat. ULI global CEO Ron Pressman,
global chair-elect Diane Hoskins,
and outgoing global chair Peter Ballon
discussed the future of ULI and the
broader industry as they see the next
two years. Hoskins begins her two-year
term as global chair in July.
The co-CEO of global architecture
and design firm Gensler, Hoskins said
that growing up in Chicago-a city
known for its architecture and placemaking-inspired
her to get into the
architecture industry. " I wanted to be
part of creating places that shaped
people's lives, " she said.
" Eighteen years ago, the founder of
Gensler asked myself and Andy Cohen
to lead the firm, which has grown to
do more than $1.5 billion in revenue
each year.
" This is a big tent, " said Hoskins,
pointing out that ULI represents designers,
financiers, and owners. " No other
organization is equipped to do that. "
Pressman agreed. " That big tent is full
of knowledge and content and expertise, "
he said. He listed ULI's three global
mission priorities: the transition to net
zero energy, increased access to attainable
housing, and educating a diverse
workforce.
Created in 2021, the priorities were
chosen to address issues on which ULI
can have an impact-leveraging where
the Institute is strongest, Ballon said.
" That was absolutely critical in choosing
these priorities, " he said, citing
in particular climate change and decarbonization.
" From
a capital markets perspective,
this freight train is coming. There
are enough players-whether it's government,
investors, or tenants-it will
Peter Ballon, Dennis Lopez, Lars Huber, Nathalie Palladitcheff, Amy Price, Gary Berman
Assessing the Risks and Opportunities That Lie
Ahead for Global Real Estate
AT A generAl session titled " A
Conversation with Industry Leaders on
Global Real Estate Markets " at the 2023
ULI Spring Meeting in Toronto, moderator
Peter Ballon, global head of real
estate for the CPP Investment Board in
Toronto, summed up the turbulence of
the current real estate environment this
way: " We have a situation of persistent
inflation, rising interest rates, rising cap
rates, bank failures, and a recession
that's perhaps looming. Other than that,
it's a perfect environment to be investing
in real estate. "
Global gateway cities in the United
States are still struggling from the fallout
of the pandemic and the rise of remote
work, said the panelists, who added
they do not expect recovery to come
anytime soon.
" You don't want to count these cities
out-particularly places like New York
and San Francisco, " said Dennis Lopez,
chief executive officer of QuadReal
Property Group in Vancouver. " They're
great cities, but in jurisdictions with
higher taxes, the departure of people to
places with lower taxes has had huge
impacts. "
Everything depends on the sector,
however. " Obviously, office will take
longer to recover than logistics, " Lopez
said. " We're trying to go beyond just
thinking about cities and instead
consider micro-locations. Data analy
tics allows you to go through vast
amounts of data and pick out spots
that might be a great investment,
whether it's in a moderate-growth or
high-growth city. "
Europe, however, is not experiencing
a shift away from gateway cities, said
Lars Huber, chief executive officer of the
European region for Hines Europe in
London.
" Quite the contrary, " he said. " A broad
range of cities are attractive beyond just
Paris and London, like Copenhagen and
Amsterdam, which have transformed
over the last 10 years. That's where
people still want to live. That's where
they want to work. That's where talent
can be found, and educational offerings.
I think European cities in particular
have done more to make inner cities
attractive over the last decade than their
stateside counterparts. "
Europe and Asia are ahead of the
United States in terms of incorporating
environmental, social, and governance
SUMMER 2023
URBAN LAND
55
impact you whether you think the issue
is imminent. Most of the large investors
are paying attention to this and have the
resources to tackle the issue. "
Climate change will also result in
smaller players being left behind, Ballon
said, adding that this is also where
ULI can play a role, approaching it as
a competitive issue where everyone
will win.
" This is a massive time of transformation, "
said Hoskins. She noted that
the under-age-35 segment is the fastest
growing among ULI's membership,
which bodes well for the future of the
Institute and the industry. The challenge
will be how to finance and design to
transform oversupplied property types
for the next 100 years.
BRETT WIDNESS is the online editor of Urban Land.
ULI MEETING COVERAGE
2023 Summer Issue of Urban Land

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2023 Summer Issue of Urban Land
