REAL ESTATE
Office Landlords Consider Demolitions As Conversion Challenges Mount
Leasing volume has increased in recent months as tenants fall into their newfound office routines, bringing hope to landlords and brokers. But the data indicates tenants are leaving old offices for newer amenity-filled buildings: 42% of New York City leasing activity by square footage is concentrated in Class-A space, despite only representing 15% of the market, according to Avison Young. So far, few demolitions have taken place in New York City, with most owners attempting to hold on until they know more about future demand, as well as future conversion incentives.
https://www.bisnow.com/new-york/news/office/landlords-face-possibility-of-demolitions-as-debt-matures-conversion-challenges-mount-125557
The value of green and blue space: Walkability and house prices
Consequently, the purpose of this study is to examine the heterogeneity of green and blue spaces using 4985 sales transactions applying quantile regression to investigate the proximity effects of these urban amenities on property prices within the Belfast Metropolitan area, Northern Ireland. The findings show premiums for green features range between 3.0 % and 3.6 %, with blue space proximity to the coastline and lakes commanding premiums of 7.3 % and 5.3 %. Conversely, walking distance to large rivers shows a negative pricing effect of 3.8 %.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264275124005912
Chicago wants to open a city-run grocery store. It could be the solution to urban food deserts
In Chicago neighborhoods like West Englewood and East Garfield Park, which have median household incomes below $32,000, 63.5% and 52% of residents, respectively, currently live more than a half mile from a grocery store. The official USDA definition of a food desert is a significant population far from food resources: half a mile in urban areas, or 10 miles in a rural area. But the players in these largely consolidated industries aren’t looking at the health and wellness of underserved communities as part of their bottom line. A public option in this case, akin to publicly owned power utilities, makes sense, says Pawar, since it fills a gap the traditional market isn’t or can’t.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91179278/chicago-grocery-store-urban-food-desert
‘Child care is infrastructure’ – Why the national child-care crisis won’t be solved unless its real estate adapts
Converting a commercial space — whether office, retail or something else — into a day care is a complex proposition, though. While usually cheaper than ground-up construction, Chapey said it still would cost upwards of $1 million to convert a 10,000-square-foot existing retail space into a day care. And while filling some downtown vacant spaces with child-care centers seems a compelling strategy on its face — viewed as a way to bring revenue and workers back to office towers and to city centers — that real estate is likely too expensive for many day-care operators to lease and upfit, Chapey said. Child-care operators also tend to prefer to locate in suburban markets because they are close to where families live and to points of interest like an elementary school.
https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2024/08/21/child-care-crisis-real-estate-costs.html (paywall)
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Why States Should Preempt Local Zoning to Create Affordable Housing
State legislation designed to preempt or circumvent local exclusionary zoning rules and burdensome and costly permitting and variance processes is a promising, yet often improperly and underutilized, tool to expand the affordable housing supply. Zoning preemption is attractive because it comes at a lower cost to the taxpayer than solutions like government tax credits or housing vouchers, and it empowers private developers—in other words, folks in the business of actually building housing—to build. Done correctly, state preemption can marry democratic values with free-market capitalism to address a major societal need.
https://cre.org/real-estate-issues/why-states-should-preempt-local-zoning-to-create-affordable-housing/
The Future of Affordable Housing in the US: Global Solutions for a Local Problem
In sum, as institutional investors increasingly respond to both a fiduciary duty as well as a growing responsibility toward evolving ESG mandates and the stakeholder agreement, the ability to combine a bond-like return (or an ‘acceptable level’) with providing solutions to one of the most pressing social issues of our time presents an opportunity for truly sustainable investing. As this author and others have highlighted, stepping up allocation to affordable housing can also provide a ballast for a steady return amidst an economic downturn or a recession: for demand for affordable housing remains ever strong, in spite of fluctuations in the business cycle.
https://cre.org/real-estate-issues/the-future-of-affordable-housing-in-the-us-global-solutions-for-a-local-problem/
First US City To Adopt Single-Family Zoning Set To Overturn It
Berkeley, California, grabbed national attention more than a century ago by becoming the first U.S. city to adopt single-family zoning. Now, the Bay Area municipality is in the housing spotlight again, joining other cities around the country overturning the regulations in a growing push to combat shortages and spur multifamily development. The local city council was on the cusp of approving plans last month to eliminate most of the city’s single-family zoning district, which covers a substantial part of the city and limits development to one house per lot, a city spokesperson told CoStar News, until a vote on the measure was delayed due to a procedural matter. But local officials expect the council to pass it in October.
https://product.costar.com/home/news/shared/317176662
I Was U.S. Treasury’s Chief Economist. Our Biggest Problem? It’s the Housing Crisis, Stupid.
Federal policymakers have several tools to boost supply, but none is a silver bullet. Boosting legal immigration could help add more construction workers, while pursuing trade deals could cut costs for construction materials such as lumber. Expanding public transit would make suburban and exurban residential areas more desirable for workers in cities. Policymakers could also make federal land available for housing development. These fixes would help, but they require bipartisan political will to get through Congress, which is lacking in Washington these days. In the absence of those measures, the most promising solution is to lower the cost of financing for developers and to offer sweeteners to local governments to change zoning laws.
https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2024-08-27/i-was-u-s-treasurys-chief-economist-our-biggest-problem-its-the-housing-crisis-stupid
UL10: Micro-Housing
Micro-housing can give people an affordable toehold in urban cores by squeezing into tight infill sites and maximizing density. Clever use of space—via built-ins that include Murphy beds that double as storage units while tucked away—and access to generous shared amenities, such as rooftop decks, co-working spaces, and communal dining areas, give residents extra room to breathe. The following 10 projects include shipping containers repurposed into apartments, tiny homes for at-risk youth, a multifamily residence for artists, modular units designed to give homeless individuals and couples respite and resources to find permanent housing, and a pink-balconied building with views of Cape Town’s Table Mountain.
https://urbanland.uli.org/design-planning/ul10-micro-housing
Everything you need to know about Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund—a $3.6 billion commitment to help people access affordable housing
The 21,000 homes that the Fund helped to create and preserve in its first three years will enable more than 46,000 residents to access affordable housing, and the majority of this housing will remain affordable for a century. With the additional $1.4 billion Amazon committed to extend the Fund, we expect to help more than 30,000 residents in need of affordable housing.
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/community/amazon-housing-equity-fund
Old motels find new life as affordable housing
According to RentCafe, based on Yardi data, hotel conversions created 4,556 new apartments in 2023, an all-time high. Most of those units are affordable housing, Ressler said. Hotels are typically located near major thoroughfares, connecting residents to transit and jobs, he said. “So, they’re excellently located,” he said. “Because they have existing plumbing, they have an existing structure, to be able to convert them takes less time than building from the ground up.”
https://www.marketplace.org/2024/08/22/old-motels-find-new-life-as-affordable-housing/
Denver affordable housing sales tax hike heads to November vote
The .5% sales tax increase, if approved by voters, will generate an estimated $100 million annually to create more housing opportunities and provide assistance to cost-burdened households, proponents said. Changes approved by the council Monday included sunset provision revoking the tax increase after 40 years — 30 years longer than the failed sunset provision amendment debated by the council earlier this month. “If we can’t solve this in a generation and a half and $4 billion, we can’t solve this. So, I think these are some good, healthy guardrails,” Councilmember Amanda Sawyer said.
https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2024/08/20/affordable-housing-sales-tax-increase-denver.html (paywall)
‘Sitting empty’: Vast expanse of federal land eyed for new housing
The emergence of bipartisan support for the idea is evidence that policymakers are getting increasingly desperate to resolve a housing affordability crisis that is largely the result of restrictive local zoning laws over which Washington has little control. But there are numerous hurdles to developing housing on federal land, including clashing visions between the two parties over how the program would work and concern among environmentalists about a potential giveaway to developers.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/09/white-house-gop-housing-federal-land-00170616
MOBILITY
Plugging Away: [New York] City Gets Big Biden Bucks for More EV Fueling Stations at the Curb
The city has won a $15-million federal grant to install another 600 electric car charging posts along the curbside lane — part of a massive investment in new auto infrastructure that pedestrian advocates say will lock in the roadside for car re-fueling for generations. The money will bring the city much closer to meeting its stated goal of “creating a network of 1,000 curbside charge points across the five boroughs by 2025,” up from the current 100 electric-car filling stations on city sidewalks. Half of the new charging stations will be in “disadvantaged and low-income neighborhoods,” a nod to the areas where many taxi drivers live — and the fact that Uber and Lyft drivers must transition to 100-percent electric (or wheelchair-accessible) vehicles by 2030.
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2024/08/29/plugging-away-city-gets-big-biden-bucks-for-more-ev-fueling-stations-at-the-curb
The dark side of the EV revolution: Road taxes
Most states are still trying to raise gas taxes more or raise fees on EV owners. Nearly three dozen states have approved gas tax increases and additional fees specifically for EV owners over the last decade to offset revenue shortfalls — but not at high enough levels to reverse long-term declines as more drivers skip the pump. Those that have tried to transition are mostly in the voluntary stage. Utah, Oregon and Virginia’s programs have gotten good feedback from participants. But questions remain about how a much larger group of non self-selecting drivers will respond to statewide mandates, as well as how state transportation agencies can handle the administrative logistics.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/14/ev-gas-tax-drivers-california-00173619
RTD and Denver receive $150 million funding allocation for E. Colfax BRT
RTD, as the direct recipient of federal funds, is working in coordination with Denver and Aurora to implement the East Colfax BRT [bus rapid transit] project and deliver BRT service along the 9.9-mile Colfax Avenue corridor that extends from Denver Union Station to Colfax Station near I-225 in Aurora, where the BRT service would connect to the R Line light rail corridor.
https://www.rtd-denver.com/community/news/rtd-and-denver-receive-usd150-million-funding-allocation-for-e-colfax-brt
Ford Pulls Back Its Electric Vehicle Push
Mr. Lawler said investments in electric vehicles would now account for about 30 percent of the company’s capital budget, down from 40 percent. The company will take a charge of $400 million to account for the cost of manufacturing equipment it purchased for the production of the canceled electric S.U.V., and it may have up to $1.5 billion in additional expenses related to the project.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/21/business/economy/ford-ev-plant-delay.html#:~:text=The%20automaker%20said%20it%20would,three%2Drow%20sport%20utility%20vehicle.&text=Ford%20Motor%2C%20which%20had%20once,and%20new%20battery%2Dpowered%20models
REAL ESTATE AND MOBILITY
UL10: Urban Parking Solutions
Inventively designed parking structures and strategies, however, can contain vehicles while harmonizing with their surroundings, deploying sustainable elements, incorporating artwork or complementary uses, and adding vibrancy to the street. The following projects include an underwater bicycle garage; a university parking structure that includes a gaming lounge and food hall; a surface lot reimagined as open space with parklike amenities; an underground cafeteria repurposed for cars; and parking decks wrapped in artistic, semitransparent enclosures that reflect local culture.
https://urbanland.uli.org/ul10-parking-solutions-10-adventurous-designs-for-vehicle-storage
Opinion – How to transform city streets — without losing your parking spot
Studies already show the superblocks are a success: “There’s a positive effect on health and well-being,” says Nieuwenhuijsen. “There’s more green, less air pollution, less noise. And we know it has a better impact on physical activity levels, and better mental health. And of course it’s also good for C02 emissions. They’re being reduced.” The areas are safer, and residents report more interactions with their neighbors. Local business hasn’t taken a hit. Traffic has dropped and, crucially, didn’t increase on external streets.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2024/superblocks-barcelona-cities-congestion/
