The 2023 ULI Carolinas Meeting was held on February 23 – 24, 2023 at the Raleigh Convention Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. The tenth annual event drew more than 700 attendees from across the region and featured mobile workshops, keynote sessions, panels, and incredible networking opportunities. See more photos here! 

Read meeting highlights featured in UrbanLand magazine online: 

• What Can We Learn from Life Science Successes? 
• Harvesting the Value of Mass Timber 
• Breaking the Infrastructure Model 
• Crane Watch 

Other Session Notes:

Keynote
The Wild Quest to Uncover How the World’s Most Successful People Launched Their Careers featuring Alex Banayan. Some lessons learned: 

• Persistence is key! Consistent follow-up, failed approaches (with reapproaches), and happenstance encounters are part of the hard work and consistency for breakthrough opportunities.  
• Fear is good at making logical excuses! While it’s difficult to push through “head trash” and self-doubt, tremendous growth and opportunities could be on the other side. Courage is acknowledging your fear.  
• Success looks different to different people! People have different values resulting in a different ideas of what success looks like to them in their personal and professional life.  
• Create a Growth Compost (turn mistakes into fuel) 
  • Sit in silence for 20 minutes and write down what you learned from your mistake. 
  • Get a different point of view. Call a friend, mentor, or coach and ask for their feedback on the lessons/takeaways. 
  • Sit in silence for 20 minutes and circle the 10 favorite lessons. Then type it out, print it out, and sit on it for a week. 

Eating the Elephant: Getting Traction on Affordable Housing
Addressing creative solutions to tackle multiple housing challenges.  Affordable housing is about the people in the box (don’t think about the box, aka house).  What impact are we making on the people with our work?  Mindful solutions to housing include educating the NIMBYs, breaking down barriers with non-profits and other developers, educating capital and the public on timelines, and creating new models for affordable housing.  One of the most impactful ways to help affordable housing, in our present structure, is expedited reviews and quicker construction.   

Ground Floor Activation…Creative Local Retail
A dynamic group of experts in the retail arena shared trends across the region, as well as insights into cultivating unique experiences. We discovered ways the public and private sectors work together to attract and retain regional and local businesses, encouraging growth and economic development. The advantage is the chance to build authenticity, places people want to gather and cultivate local businesses. The challenge is the unfamiliar brands and the capital behind retailers. Creative solutions include upfit grants, alternative rent structures, and smaller, flexible spaces.  

Driving Real Estate Decisions 
While we seem to be in uncertain times, the Carolinas continues to remain among the top regions for population growth, with job growth in innovative technologies and investment. In fact, 10 of the top 20 growth cities in the United States are in the southeast.  While the capital markets will create uncertainty for the upcoming months, the Carolinas is expected to weather the storm better than other areas. What is driving real estate decisions in the Carolinas in 2023?  The flight to quality matters and great projects attracts other great projects. Amenities such as connectivity via transit and greenways continue to add value and elevate experiences.

Contributing Authors:  A special thanks to our Carolinas Meeting Scholars who offered their insights in each of the sessions.   

Aya Hojadova is a Commercial Associate Broker at Coldwell Banker Commercial Realty serving the South Carolina area. Born in Turkmenistan and raised in San Francisco Bay Area, Aya was excited to call Charleston, South Carolina, her new home because of its enchanting southern charm and abundant opportunities. She has over 10 years of marketing experience and is part of a team that has over 30 years of commercial real estate experience closing NNN properties, Apartment Buildings land for development, Retail centers, and Condo Complexes. 

Bill O’Donnell is an MBA candidate at UNC-CH and is set to graduate in May 2023 with a concentration in real estate. During his final year in the MBA program, he has also worked in a part-time Development Analyst role with Capitol Commercial in Raleigh. Prior to pursuing his MBA, Bill worked as a financial statement auditor within Deloitte’s audit practice as a CPA. Bill also holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting/Business Management from North Carolina State University and a Master of Science in Accounting from the University of Virginia. He currently lives in Raleigh with his fiancé. 

Jenae Valentine is a member of Maxis’ Location Analysis and Incentives project team, where her duties include site consulting and incentive negotiation. Prior to joining Maxis Advisors, Ms. Valentine worked for the City of Charlotte. During her time in the Economic Development department, she served as a Project Manager on the Business Recruitment and Retention team where her role had a dual focus on real estate and business incentives.  Ms. Valentine led RFI real estate and incentive responses for companies interested in relocation or expansion in the Charlotte market. 

Pierre Lawson is a Capital Markets Analyst from Charlotte, North Carolina.  With hands-on experience in analyzing trends in the equities/debt capital markets and commercial real estate market, Pierre is skilled at preparing reports on real estate investment performance and trends for senior management investment committee review. He is vital in developing real estate finance strategies, analyzing cash flow, and preparing budgets based on estimated revenue. 

Bianca Shoneman is an award-winning urban place manager with over 15 years of experience in growing city skylines and cultural amenities.  She joined Fayetteville’s downtown revitalization team in September of 2019 as the CEO of the Cool Spring Downtown District. Since her arrival, the organization has celebrated more than 800,000 GSF of new, planned or under-construction investments in urban core, organized more than 100 community events and tripled the entity’s operating budget.   

Felice Mitchell is the founder and Managing Principal of Change117, LLC, a holistic Management Consulting Firm in Raleigh, NC. Felice has expertise in change management, real estate, community development, affordable housing, public/private partnerships, diversity, equity, inclusion, & belonging, organizational development, stakeholder management, and strategic alliances, through which she designed and implemented four startup entities and several strategic initiatives at government, nonprofit, and corporate levels for a myriad of notable organizations.  

Megan Clark currently serves as the Planning Division Director for the City of North Charleston, within the Planning and Zoning Department, serving at the city since 2018. Before moving to South Carolina, Ms. Clark previously worked as a Town Manager for the Town of Boonsboro, Maryland, and as a Planner in various municipal governments in Maryland and West Virginia since 2005.