LOCUS

Foot Traffic Ahead: New report ranks metro areas on walkable urban places

By ·


A new survey of development trends will reveal which regions are building most walkable neighborhoods.
Photo via DC: The WalkUP Wake-Up Call, 2013.

Our major metropolitan regions are racing to capture the market demand for walkable urban places. Do you want to know who is winning?

Join us for the release of Foot Traffic Ahead: Ranking Walkable Urbanism in America’s Largest Metros on June 17, 2014 at 2:00 PM EDT, live streamed from Washington, DC during the 2014 LOCUS Leadership Summit.

LOCUS

Is your name on the list?

By ·

Over 100 of the country’s top real estate developers and local elected officials have registered for the nation’s premiere conference where smart growth deals get done. Having secured a spot on the exclusive list of attendees, they know the Summit will provide a unique opportunity to learn about the top metros for investment, the latest smart growth projects and to network with the best minds in the industry.

LOCUS

LOCUS Applauds Inclusion of TOD Financing in Draft Senate Transportation Bill

By ·

Yesterday, Senate EPW Chairman Barbara Boxer (CA) and Ranking Member David Vitter (LA) released a draft bipartisan six-year, transportation reauthorization.

For the first time, the bill includes a transit-oriented development (TOD) financing provision that LOCUS has strongly supported. As proposed, the TOD financing provisions provide local communities the tools needed to leverage greater private sector investment and economic development around public transportation through the highly successful TIFIA program.

LOCUS

Congress takes a stand for neighborhoods with transit

By ·

Have you ever caught a bus right outside your office? Taken the subway to a ball game? Or ridden the light rail to go to the grocery store?

If you have, you know how convenient and inviting transit-oriented development can be.

This strategy—of building neighborhoods with homes, shops and offices near public transportation—can create significant economic development, generate new tax revenue for towns and cities, and lower housing and transportation costs for families. But these projects come with complex infrastructure challenges, and as a result need more than just bank support.

A new bill introduced today in Congress would help make transit-oriented development projects more financially feasible.

LOCUS

What the GROW AMERICA Act would mean for smart growth and community development

By ·

Yesterday the Obama Administration sent Congress its proposal for a four-year federal transportation bill—the GROW AMERICA Act. The current bill, MAP-21, is set to expire at the end of September, and the new bill has implications for highway and rail construction as well as economic development programs like TIGER grants. How would these proposals impact community development and smart growth?

The good news
The bill includes several promising policies for smart growth advocates.

First and foremost, it would require cities and states to consider all modes of travel when designing federally funded roads, provisions very similar to those proposed in the Safe Streets Act. This strategy gets the most out of federally funded projects, makes sure a given project best meets a community’s needs, and supports neighborhoods with a wide range of transportation choices—all things that Smart Growth America supports.

Complete Streets LOCUS

LOCUS to unveil new rankings of walkable urban places in America

By ·

walkable-post

LOCUS: Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors along with The George Washington University’s Center for Real Estate & Urban Analysis will release an updated report ranking the 30 metropolitan areas with the most walkable urban places in the country at the 2014 LOCUS Leadership Summit.

This new ranking is an updated version of a 2007 survey by the Brooking Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program comparing the economic performance of metropolitan areas that have the most walkable urban places based on selected commercial real estate metrics. The ranking will highlight which metropolitan areas are transitioning away from sprawl, which are in the process of transition, and those that are continuing to sprawl outward.

LOCUS

Reminder: Nominate an outstanding real estate developer for the 2014 LOCUS Leadership Awards

By ·

Know a real estate developer or investor who is creating great, walkable places and has displayed exemplary public leadership to advance smart growth development? Nominate them for the 2014 LOCUS Leadership Awards.

The LOCUS Leadership Awards recognize real estate developers or investors who has demonstrated exemplary commitment to public leadership and development practice for walkable, sustainable development. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase and reward a game-changing developer who is influencing the future of real estate. The 2013 Awards went to HRI Properties, Inc. and Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. The 2012 Award went to Forest City Enterprises as well as Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Warner.

LOCUS

Discounted registration for 2014 LOCUS Leadership Summit now available for young professionals

By ·

LOCUS Summit 543One of the participants of the 2013 LOCUS Leadership Summit.

LOCUS is offering an exclusive opportunity to young professionals in the real estate development industry under 35. For a limited time, young professionals can register for the 2014 LOCUS Leadership Summit—taking place on June 17 and 18 in Washington, DC—for the reduced rate of $175 (general registration is $450). This is a limited time offer and prices will go up May 6, 2014. Use code YNGDEV when you register for the Summit to take advantage of this great opportunity.

LOCUS, a program of Smart Growth America, is a national network of real estate developers and investors who advocate for sustainable, walkable urban development in America’s metropolitan areas. The discounted rate for young professionals has been made possible by the 2014 Summit sponsors, who believe the future of sustainable, walkable urban development is in the hands of young developers.

LOCUS
  • …
  • …