REAL ESTATE
Empty office space tends to concentrate in a small number of buildings — but that number is rising
The vacancy concentration, or the share of vacant office space contained within high-vacancy buildings, increased the most in tech-heavy San Francisco and Seattle, which had lower market-wide vacancy rates than other major cities before the beginning of 2020. In 2019, high-vacancy buildings contained a little over half of all vacant space in these cities, whereas they now account for nearly 90%.
https://www.costar.com/article/370523725/empty-office-space-tends-to-concentrate-in-a-small-number-of-buildings-but-that-number-is-rising
Opportunity Zones 2.0: The Permanent Tax Advantage That’s About to Get Much Better
The Opportunity Zone program was supposed to sunset after 2026. Instead, Congress just made it permanent and significantly more powerful. If you’ve been sitting on capital gains or looking for tax-advantaged real estate investments, what just happened changes everything. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” didn’t just extend Opportunity Zones—it transformed them into a permanent economic development tool with enhanced benefits. But there’s a twist: the best incentives don’t start until 2027.
https://realestate-business-broker-guru.beehiiv.com/p/opportunity-zones-2-0-the-permanent-tax-advantage-that-s-about-to-get-much-better-fa3fc47c?utm_source=realestate-business-broker-guru.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=opportunity-zones-2-0-the-permanent-tax-advantage-that-s-about-to-get-much-better&_bhlid=18926cf4c5ec45f65788599f58f6257d8eff6721
Real estate projects with big-name architects attached are transforming cities and neighborhoods across North America—despite the obstacles
Political and economic turmoil, sustainability issues, community input, a lack of affordable housing, high land valuations, walkability, and transit access all factor into the construction of new real estate projects. But transforming cities and neighborhoods also offers rewards, like the opportunity to innovate with materials and construction systems, put new ideas into action, or add density to provide housing for cities that will only get more populated in the future—not to mention the potential profit! The former obstacles aren’t preventing ambitious developers and forward-thinking architects from taking on the work of forward-thinking architects.
https://www.archpaper.com/2025/08/architect-real-estate-projects-transforming-north-american-cities/
Disgust: The Unexpected Psychological Reason Why Some People Dislike Density
The results show that, for the highest density images shown to participants, there was a statistically significant negative relationship with disgust. This means that people with higher disgust sensitivity found the highest density images significantly less appealing. These findings are important because they suggest that density preferences are complicated and likely depend on psychological and emotional factors, like disgust.
https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/disgust-the-unexpected-psychological-reason-why-some-people-dislike-density
Metropolitan Planning Organizations Make Decisions About Transportation Options Nationwide, but They Rarely Represent All Their Constituents
To understand if MPOs evenly represent the populations they serve, we analyzed the membership of MPO boards for the largest US metro areas. We find that though boards prioritize the inclusion of local government representatives, their voting structures often don’t represent local populations proportionally. In some metro areas, some residents’ votes can be worth 10 times as much as other residents’.
https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/metropolitan-planning-organizations-make-decisions-about-transportation-options
Xcel wants approval to keep operating in Denver. City Council just rejected the measure
Xcel Energy is seeking an extension of the franchise agreement that allows it to operate in Denver. The agreement, up for renewal after 20 years, requires the approval of Denver voters. But on Monday, the city council voted against placing the measure on the November election ballot. Council members raised a variety of concerns about Xcel’s service in the city, and said they wanted to take more time to talk with community members and negotiate the agreement. The city council may still have time to place a modified measure on this November’s ballot, or it could wait for an election next year, but city leaders hope to have it done before the current agreement expires at the end of 2026.
https://denverite.com/2025/08/12/denver-city-council-xcel-energy/
Data Centers May Cause 60% Jump In Electricity Prices On Largest U.S. Grid
At the heart of this looming energy affordability crisis is an imbalance between the limited supply of new power being added to the grid amid a flood of demand for electricity from data centers. With a transmission system spanning 13 states in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest that encompasses data center hubs like Northern Virginia and Chicago, PJM’s service area is already home to the country’s highest concentration of data centers, and many more are on their way.
https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/data-center/data-centers-may-cause-60-jump-in-electricity-prices-on-largest-us-grid-130504
Angry Denver International Airport neighbors quash nuclear power idea in 48 hours flat
Denver’s mayor and airport chief touted a whiz-bang, $1.5 million exploratory study of small, “modular” nuclear power plants buried underground somewhere on DIA property to fuel decades of economic and passenger growth. The rah-rah news conference happened to be on a Wednesday that was also the 80th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. By that Friday, the study was back on the shelf, not to be revisited until city and airport officials completed some of the explaining they needed to do for local city council members and residents, who said they’d never been consulted on the (big) (radioactive) idea.
https://coloradosun.com/2025/08/20/dia-nuclear-power-study-shelved/
MOBILITY
AI bus cameras will drive a transit revolution
Cities have long grappled with an infuriating dilemma: illegally parked cars that choke bus lanes, inflate commutes, and discourage potential riders away from public transit. Recent studies show that lane obstructions increase bus delays 20% to 30% during peak hours. But now cameras mounted directly on buses provide real-time solutions by using sophisticated computer vision and machine learning, instantly identifying offenders and automating ticketing. It bypasses the heavy costs (and limited reliability) of human enforcement.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91386390/ai-bus-cameras-transit-revolution
Parking: The Dark Matter of the Urban Universe
This research indicates that efficient parking management provides significantly larger savings and benefits than previously recognized. The Parking Reform Network is leading efforts to make parking planning more efficient and equitable. Cost-effective transportation and parking management strategies can typically halve the number of spaces needed to serve motorists’ demands. The first step is to eliminate parking minimums so that property owners save money when they reduce parking supply.
https://www.planetizen.com/blogs/135767-parking-dark-matter-urban-universe
RTD pilot program covers first mile of scooter costs to boost transit use
The program is the work of a University of Denver graduate school student that aims to address a key barrier to public transit. The First Mile Free pilot program will subsidize the first mile of rides to and from the University of Denver and Decatur-Federal light rail stations through 2026 and 2027, with RTD investing more than $60,000 annually through its partnership program. The West Corridor Transportation Management Association received $61,277 from RTD annually for the two-year initiative.
https://www.9news.com/article/traffic/rtd-scooter-rides/73-a1946600-2de2-475e-a67c-b333cce6e834
States Move Swiftly to Regulate Self-Driving Cars as Technology Advances
This year, lawmakers in Arizona, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada and the District of Columbia enacted legislation to regulate driverless vehicles, according to a database from the National Conference of State Legislatures. While much of the legislation aims to update existing law to include new definitions for autonomous vehicles, other measures put rules in place regarding insurance, permitting, licensing and road testing.
https://www.governing.com/policy/states-move-swiftly-to-regulate-self-driving-cars-as-technology-advances
Report: Bike and Scooter Shares are up Again, This Time by 31%. Has the Future Arrived?
Unlike docked bikeshare systems, shared scooter networks have still not recovered their pre-pandemic ridership numbers. Many companies have folded or consolidated their operations. (2024 saw a slight decrease in the total number of bikeshare and scootershare systems in North America, according to the report.) Nonetheless, scooter ridership increased significantly between 2023 and 2024, going from about 70 million to 85 million trips.
https://www.planetizen.com/features/135763-report-bike-and-scooter-shares-are-again-time-31-has-future-arrived
Record Growth for Shared Micromobility in North America
North American ridership on shared micromobility devices in 2024 was up 31 percent — 32 percent in the United States — above 2023 levels, according to the sixth annual Shared Micromobility State of the Industry Report by the North American Bikeshare and Scootershare Association (NABSA). ~ Micromobility systems can be found in 415 cities in North America, most in the U.S., with 354 of those hosting a shared bike-share or scooter-share system and many cities offering both. These systems provided some 171 million trips in the U.S. in 2024, on 285,000 vehicles. This is up from 2023, when operators had 241,000 such devices deployed in the U.S.
https://www.govtech.com/transportation/record-growth-for-shared-micromobility-in-north-america
Amazon brings same-day perishable food delivery to 1K cities and towns
For Amazon Prime members, the service is free on orders of more than $25 and costs $2.99 for orders below that amount. Other shoppers can place an order for a $12.99 fee, with no order minimum. The service, which Amazon intends to make available in over 2,300 municipalities by the end of the year and expand to more areas in 2026, builds on the grocery e-commerce options Amazon already offers through its Whole Foods Market and Amazon Fresh chains.
https://www.grocerydive.com/news/amazon-perishables-grocery-delivery-ecommerce-food/757551/
REAL ESTATE AND MOBILITY
Examining Relationships Between Eliminating Parking Minimums and New Housing Construction Using a Terner Housing Simulator Tool
The high cost of providing parking – whether mandated by city ordinances or demanded by lenders or renters – contributes to higher housing costs. Land is expensive in high-demand cities like Denver, and dedicating part of a building’s footprint to parking is costly. In fact, parking minimums carry both a direct cost (developers must pay to build the parking) and an indirect cost (dedicating land for parking limits the developable building envelope possible on a given site, which often translates to fewer units).
https://www.law.du.edu/sites/default/files/2025-07/Examining%20Relationships%20between%20Eliminating%20Parking%20Minimums%20and%20New%20Housing%20Construction%20Using%20a%20Terner%20Housing%20Simulator%20Tool%20-%20August%202025%20r2.pdf
Is the Future of Solar in our Sidewalks?
Most solar installs are fixed tilts at a 45-degree angle, Michaud explains. “Larger installations [such as solar farms] move with the sun to capture as much light as possible. A horizontal sidewalk is much less efficient,” he says. Not everyone agrees. Pavegen, a U.K.-based company, has combined the concept of in-ground solar tiles with the kinetic energy generated by people’s footsteps. When someone walks across the tile, a mechanism underneath it triggers an electric current that generates power.
https://www.planetizen.com/features/135708-future-solar-our-sidewalks
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Denver’s Incubation of Affordable Housing Innovation
Denver has become an innovation incubator for affordable housing solutions. Stakeholders across the affordable housing spectrum—from developers and architects to city officials—are all equally contributing a wide variety of solutions to boost housing supply and improve housing affordability. These solutions have been effective in driving meaningful changes in Denver’s housing landscape. Last year, apartment rents declined as a wave of new supply came to market. Next year, with an expanding construction pipeline, Denver is on track to enlarge its housing inventory by 9 percent. The city could become a model for solutions to combat the affordability crisis and support more housing supply.
https://urbanland.uli.org/development-and-construction/denvers-incubation-of-affordable-housing-innovation
‘Affordable Housing Is An Oxymoron’: Why Homes For Low-Income Renters Are Far More Expensive To Build
In markets from Massachusetts to California to Chicago to D.C., projects using the tax credits routinely cost more than $800K per unit to build, and in some cases more than $1M. Market-rate apartments, by contrast, typically cost less than $500K per unit. “It’s not unusual for an affordable housing project to cost twice as much as a market-rate project,” said Shawn Whitney, the head of the tax credit financing group at law firm Polsinelli. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was signed into law last month gave the LIHTC its biggest expansion in 25 years, but it didn’t address the issues with the program that drive the cost of government-subsidized, income-restricted housing far beyond that of typical apartments.
http://www.bisnow.com/national/news/affordable-housing/affordable-housing-is-an-oxymoron-why-homes-for-low-income-renters-are-far-more-expensive-to-build-130527
Looking to use a federal housing voucher in Colorado? It’s a coin flip whether you’ll be able to redeem it
People spend years on wait lists or repeatedly enter lotteries, praying this will be their year to score a coveted Housing Choice, or Section 8, voucher. The longstanding program, funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered by local housing authorities, subsidizes rent in the private market for low-income families, elderly individuals, veterans and those with disabilities. But even if you win the lottery and receive a voucher, it’s a coin flip as to whether you’ll be able to find a place to use it. A study published this year by New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy found just 57% of voucher recipients nationally have successfully used the rental assistance to lease a home — down from 65% in previous years.
https://www.denverpost.com/2025/08/11/colorado-housing-choice-vouchers/
Proposed housing-assistance cuts could displace thousands of Colorado renters, experts warn
The Trump administration is proposing a 43% cut to a critical federal housing-assistance program that could force thousands of Coloradans out of their homes, destabilizing families and straining the state’s rental market, experts at Metropolitan State University of Denver warn. The program, known nationally as Section 8, helps low-income households afford rent by covering the gap between income and market-rate housing costs. Those in Denver County may be familiar with the Denver Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher, which helps low-income families access Section 8 funds. Across Colorado, more than 33,000 households rely on the program to maintain stable housing.
https://red.msudenver.edu/2025/proposed-housing-assistance-cuts-could-displace-thousands-of-colorado-renters-experts-warn/
Converting Housing from Market-Rate to Deeply Affordable
The primary benefits of converting existing units to affordable housing include their cost-effectiveness, with a simpler financing process compared to ground-up development, as well as speed. “A tipping point for Community Solutions came in 2017, when we opened a new affordable housing development in Washington, D.C.,” Foster says. “We were getting accolades for developing a 121-unit building, but it took us seven years to complete . . . . With a conversion project, we can get residents moving in within 60 days and have a much higher impact.”
https://urbanland.uli.org/converting-housing-from-market-rate-to-deeply-affordable
Big Tech Pledged Billions for New Housing. The Results Aren’t Living Up to the Hype
Tech giants Meta Platforms, Google and Apple made headlines when they pledged billions of dollars to make housing more affordable in their Silicon Valley backyards. Now, six years later, the results haven’t lived up to expectations. Some projects are going forward. The three companies have helped fund the construction of thousands of affordable units, primarily by providing loans to developers creating new housing. Other initiatives haven’t gotten off the ground. Meta’s 2019 pledge included $225 million worth of land in Menlo Park, Calif., where the company is based. The city approved in 2022 a proposed master plan to develop 59 acres including office space, retail, a hotel and 1,730 housing units. But further approvals are still needed.
https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/tech-companies-affordable-housing-pledges-ecd91f4a
How an NYC Suburb Is Actually Managing to Bring Rents Down
New Rochelle has completed more than 4,500 new housing units over the past decade. Another 6,500 units are either in the pipeline or the planning stages for the next several years. Those 11,000 new units would represent a 37% increase in the number of New Rochelle apartments compared with 10 years ago. ~ City officials say they relied on a policy framework that encourages residential building. New Rochelle streamlined environmental reviews, offered developers tax incentives, and created standardized zoning rules to make it easier and cheaper to build homes. Community pushback in New Rochelle doesn’t cause the same delays common in other cities. If a residential project meets certain criteria, New Rochelle officials assure it will get a 90-day approval process.
https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/nyc-new-rochelle-lower-rent-e7695ded
