Don’t despair, if you missed the November ULI Fall Meeting recap session held on November 13, you can read a sampling of what speakers Debra Campbell (Char-Meck Planning Dept.) Tom Webb (Faison) and Ty Niess (Crescent Resources) and moderator Charles Teal (Saussy Burbank) said.  Use the links to explore more data.

Debra Campbell engaged attendees in grading Charlotte on the just-released Ten Principles for Building Healthy Places.  Based on her work on the panel that crafted the Ten Principles, Campbell mentioned these local examples:

• Charlotte’s adoption of  “complete streets” that factor the needs of pedestrians and bike riders into road designs
• The Carolina Thread Trail that is weaving together a 15-county system of trails and greenways.
• Local zoning changes that allow for farmers markets

Check the list out at http://www.uli.org/press-release/10-principles-for-building-healthy-places-and-intersections/ and give Charlotte your own grade.   By the way, attendees gave Charlotte a B or C on most, hinting that there is work to be done as ULI looks at the design of healthy communities

Tom Webb’s comments included such nuggets as:

• Whereas in the old days someone would not distinguish between a 10 and 20-minute drive when choosing housing, the price of gas is making them want to be closer to work
• According to a Texas developer, the new model is ”location, jobs, location, jobs”
• Golf is now prized behind fitness trails and even garden plots.
• 154 golf courses closed last year
• His proof golf is dead – ULI’s Spring meeting in Vancouver is the weekend of the Masters
• Chicago was the first meeting Webb can recall that did not have a major economic address – Do we have fatigue on the subject?

Ty Niess added to the mix by extolling:

• Sam Zell’s presentation. Attendees swarmed to gather the red book of his sayings.
• This link gives a feel for the wit and wisdom of someone with 25 IPOs under his belt
• http://urbanland.uli.org/capital-markets/sam-zell-on-risk-margin-and-mentors/
• There was much buzz around the session titled “What would Steve Jobs do: Innovations in Residential”
• The wide range of ideas included a special shout out to Blu Homes, called the iPod of home builders (http://www.bluhomes.com/)
• To get a tease of the session, link to http://urbanland.uli.org/news/what-would-steve-jobs-do-innovation-in-residential/

Final comments included a number of websites and books, all ripe for a Google search:

• The Naked Brand
• The 9-inch diet
• The Coming Jobs War
• Common, ad genius Bogusky’s bamboo bike factory in Greensboro, AL

And, some unique trends in office mentioned from the audience included:

• A 50,000 sf incubator in a merchandise mart funded by Pritzgers where shared desk could go for $150 a month to $400 for assigned desk with people competing to be selected
• In Chicago, years ago Sears relocated to suburbs but were forced to rent 125,000 sf of downtown space to get website designers to work for them as the younger professionals would not commute to the suburbs.

To experience some of the vibrancy of the meeting and the content, view the ULI Fall Meeting videos at http://www.uli.org/publications/featured-videos/.

Article written by Mary Hopper, ULI Charlotte Communications Committee Chair.