2024 Winter Issue of Urban Land - 12

developments
developments
Early days
March often shares with the
other attendees at the symposium
a story from the
beginning of his career in the
capital markets. In March 1980,
he stood in a payphone in
Boulder, Colorado, with a roll
of dimes, calling the head of
a major insurance company
about joint venture financing to
redevelop a hotel on the beach
in Waikiki.
But the Federal Reserve
had just hiked its benchmark
interest rate up to 20 percent.
The funder did not approve
March's financing. " Here I was,
20-odd months in, feeling like
my fledgling career in real
estate finance was over, " March
recalls. " But we pivoted. " Soon
afterward, March found equity
partners from Japan to redevelop
the hotel. As he says,
year after year, to symposium
participants, " It's now one of
the most valuable pieces of
real estate in the world. "
The story has had broad
applicability over the years. It's
especially useful today, as high
interest rates are once again
causing chaos for real estate
transactions.
" Bottom line is: the world
has never ended as relates to
commercial real estate, " says
March.
BENDIX ANDERSON is a New Yorkbased
freelance commercial real estate journalist.
2024 Global
Sustainability
Outlook: Top Five
Themes in Real Estate
As extreme
weather events
increase in
frequency and
severity, real
estate leaders
across the globe
are ramping up
efforts to better
understand and
mitigate the
impact of climaterelated
hazards
on assets.
Companies prioritize
sustainability like never
before.
Real estate leaders expect
2024 to be characterized by
widespread industry action
on sustainability, according to
the newly released ULI Global
Sustainability Outlook 2024
report. Despite economic and
political uncertainties, a host
of market pressures-such as
growing connections between
sustainability and financial
performance, increasing
regulations, extreme weather
events, and the importance of
health and social equity-are
driving real estate companies
to prioritize sustainability like
never before.
ULI Global Sustainability
Outlook 2024 highlights five
themes that are affecting
12
URBAN LAND
WINTER 202 4
real estate decision-making
around sustainability in the
coming year. This annual
publication, launched in
2021, offers insights from ULI
member experts on the key
environmental, social, and
governance (ESG) issues that
will be influencing the real
estate industry in the next 12
months.
The ULI Randall Lewis
Center for Sustainability in
Real Estate, in partnership
with sponsor Ferguson
Partners, convened a series of
roundtables to source member
input, engaging leaders from
sustainability-focused product
councils in the Institute's three
regions-the Americas, the
Asia Pacific, and Europe. The
insights from the roundtables
informed this year's
publication, revealing five key
priority areas that will affect
real estate decision-making in
the coming year.
1. Linking sustainability
performance and financial
performance. As industry
stakeholders-especially
lenders, investors, and
tenants-become increasingly
sophisticated around ESG
topics, real estate companies
can expect to see material
connections between their
sustainability efforts and
financial performance.
Accessing capital in 2024 and
beyond will require real estate
companies to demonstrate
how far along they are on the
path to decarbonization, and
how they will achieve their
ESG goals in the future.
2. Going back to basics to
advance decarbonization.
Broad interpretations of
common sustainability terms
(e.g., what does it actually
mean for a building to be " net
zero " ?) and the sheer volume
of topics under the ESG
umbrella have left companies
feeling overwhelmed and
unclear on what to prioritize.
Real estate leaders can get in
front of this by doubling down
on fundamental sustainability
practices, like improving
operational efficiency and
taking advantage of the
2024 Winter Issue of Urban Land

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2024 Winter Issue of Urban Land
