Women's Development Collaborative (WDC)(old)
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Upcoming Fall 2018 Boston Women’s Development Collaborative Program at the ULI Fall Meeting
Our WDC events will take place Monday evening 10/8, Thursday evening 10/11 and Friday morning 10/12* Monday evening 10/8: Our inaugural WDC Leadership Workshop ("Leading the Way") will be led by Carol Murray (WDC Leadership Chair and Principal at The Lifework Institute) on Monday 10/8, likely starting at 7 PM, with a follow up leadership discussion on Friday 10/11 over lunch. Location and details TBD.
* Thursday evening 10/11: We are delighted to announce that Pam Goodman CEO and Dara Kovel President at Beacon Communities will be sharing their perspectives on leading one of Boston’s largest residential real estate firms that has as its core mission “Living Well by Design.” We will also tour the South End of Boston, with a special extended stop at Dahlia’s Gallery, a wonderful studio and weaving shop featuring local, women-made artisan products and owned by Dahlia Popovits. Stay tuned for details, but our events will likely begin at the Convention Center around 4:30 PM (where we will start our tour) and end around 9 PM.
* Friday 10/12: Morning walking tour, likely beginning at 9:30 AM, of women-led Boston projects, followed by our follow-up WDC Leadership Lunch Discussion and optional afternoon activities.
Note: Transportation for all WDC activities in Boston will be on foot and/or via public transit.
Past Women’s Development Collaborative Programs WDC at the ULI Spring Meeting in Detroit (May 2018) WDC wishes to to say a big “Thank you again!” to everyone who helped make our visit to Detroit so special and who shared their development and entrepreneurial stories: Thursday Night * Thank you to Melissa Dittmer, Veronica Rickett and Tamara Knapp of Bedrock Real Estate who developed Lofts at Merchants Row and are continuing to enliven Detroit through beautiful building restorations and well-curated retail * Thank you Regina Gaines—owner of House of Pure Vin—for achieving her dream of House of Pure Vin and its amazing wine collection. * Thank you Roslyn Karaoke—owner of Detroit is the New Black—for letting us “shop local” with an elegant, DITNB twist. Friday Tour * Thank you to our Friday speakers: David DiRita of Roxbury Group, Abir Ali of the The Platform, Kimberly Dowdell of Century Partners and Cecily King of Live6Alliance for sharing how their work is catalyzing new investment in Detroit. * Thank you to Carolyn Howard—Owner and Developer of Traffic Jam & Snug, as well as other Detroit properties—for the delicious lunch and conversation. * And a special thank-you to our event curator, Jeanette Pierce of Detroit Experience Factory, who not only shared her passion for Detroit but gave us an incredible perspective on its history and trajectory. |
WDC at the ULI Fall Meeting in Los Angeles (October 2017) Thank you again to all who helped make possible our activities at the ULI Fall Meeting in Los Angeles! Thursday Night * Thanks again to the Ratkovich Company for hosting us at the beautiful rooftop lounge at the top of The Bloc and for making such a special place to spend the evening overlooking downtown LA. * Thanks to Clare DeBriere for doing such an amazing job moderating the often uncontainable, unpredictable, larger than life Magic Johnson! * Thanks to Coly Den Haan, owner of Vinovore, for introducing us to Oeno, the wonderful wine that we all enjoyed that evening, and for telling us the inspiring story of how Vinovore was created. We hope you will buy Oeno and other wines by the fabulous women vintners that Coly features. Friday Tour * Thanks to Ava Bromberg, who showcased the vibrant activities at The Reef to bring together innovators, entrepreneurs and diverse creators in downtown LA. (Can’t wait to hear about the next set of events that The Reef will host!) * Thanks to Dana Trujillo for leading us through the innovative features of the award-winning Star Apartments by Skid Row Housing Trust, which provides supportive housing for formerly homeless individuals. * Thanks to Amanda Loso for sharing the inspiring story of the friendship between two women that created the Downtown Women’s Center (DWC) to help women overcome poverty and end homelessness, and for showing us what DWC is doing everyday to make this happen. * Thanks to Adele Yellin for welcoming us to join in the 100th anniversary celebration of the Grand Central Market and for curating such an amazing group of restaurants that made our lunch so special. * Thanks to Metabolic Studio and Lauren Bon for showing us how art can both inspire and create change through the Bending the River Back to the City, among many other projects. As the studio’s sign says: Artists need to create on the same scale that society has the capacity to destroy. |
WDC began with a group of women gathering informally at the conclusion of the ULI Spring and Fall Meetings to build connections among women leaders and to showcase projects being developed by women in the host cities of the ULI Meetings. Many women are members of the ULI WLI National and/or Local Steering Committees and were part of the impetus of starting WLI. As WLI has developed into a wonderful place within ULI for women, the WDC network has continued to expand, as women have invited more and more women to join our WDC events, which now include a reception, tour and luncheon after the ULI Meeting that feature transformative development projects led by women. | |
Women of WDC gather at the end of the ULI Fall Meeting in Los Angeles, 2017 |
CONTACT
If you would like more information on the Women's Development Collaborative,
Women's Development Collaborative (WDC)
The Women's Development Collaborative (WDC) is a network of women leaders who inspire, promote and support women who lead transformative real estate developments. WDC’s mission is to advance women’s success, leadership, innovation and collaboration in building developments that sustain and create thriving communities. WDC’s founding members and sponsors are committed to advancing WDC's mission and our collective capacity to champion and catalyze women-led developments.
Upcoming Fall 2018 Boston Women’s Development Collaborative Program at the ULI Fall Meeting
Our WDC events will take place Monday evening 10/8, Thursday evening 10/11 and Friday morning 10/12
* Monday evening 10/8: Our inaugural WDC Leadership Workshop ("Leading the Way") will be led by Carol Murray (WDC Leadership Chair and Principal at The Lifework Institute) on Monday 10/8, likely starting at 7 PM, with a follow up leadership discussion on Friday 10/11 over lunch. Location and details TBD.
* Thursday evening 10/11: We are delighted to announce that Pam Goodman (CEO) and Dara Kovel (President) at Beacon Communities will be sharing their perspectives on leading one of Boston’s largest residential real estate firms that has as its core mission “Living Well by Design.” We will also tour the South End of Boston, with a special extended stop at Dahlia’s Gallery, a wonderful studio and weaving shop featuring local, women-made artisan products and owned by Dahlia Popovits. Stay tuned for details, but our events will likely begin at the Convention Center around 4:30 PM (where we will start our tour) and end around 9 PM.
* Friday 10/12: Morning walking tour, likely beginning at 9:30 AM, of women-led Boston projects, followed by our follow-up WDC Leadership Lunch Discussion and optional afternoon activities.
MANY THANKS TO OUR 2018 WDC SPONSORS AND FOUNDING MEMBERS!
Dorothy Alpert Karen Backus Mary Campbell Kacey Clagett Susan Connelly Suzanne Corcoran Amy Erixon Terri Gumula Juanita Hardy Marty Jones Madelyne Kirch Ellen Klasson Sandra Kulli Allison Lynch Mary McCarthy |
Margaret M. McCauley Molly McKay Cindy McSherry Carol Murray Lucy O’Laughlin Janet Protas Cyndi Rottenberg-Walker Wendy Rowden Libby Seifel Adrienne Teleki Dana Trujillo Ranne Warner Marilyn Weitzman Emma West Michele Wheeler |
WDC began with a group of women gathering informally at the conclusion of the ULI Spring and Fall Meetings to build connections among women leaders and to showcase projects being developed by women in the host cities of the ULI Meetings. Many women are members of the ULI WLI National and/or Local Steering Committees and were part of the impetus of starting WLI. As WLI has developed into a wonderful place within ULI for women, the WDC network has continued to expand, as women have invited more and more women to join our WDC events, which now include a reception, tour and luncheon after the ULI Meeting that feature transformative development projects led by women.
Past Women’s Development Collaborative Programs
WDC at the ULI Spring Meeting in Detroit (May 2018)WDC wishes to to say a big “Thank you again!” to everyone who helped make our visit to Detroit so special and who shared their development and entrepreneurial stories:
Thursday Night
* Thank you to Melissa Dittmer, Veronica Rickett and Tamara Knapp of Bedrock Real Estate who developed Lofts at Merchants Row and are continuing to enliven Detroit through beautiful building restorations and well-curated retail
* Thank you Regina Gaines—owner of House of Pure Vin—for achieving her dream of House of Pure Vin and its amazing wine collection.
* Thank you Roslyn Karaoke—owner of Detroit is the New Black—for letting us “shop local” with an elegant, DITNB twist.
Friday Tour
* Thank you to our Friday speakers: David DiRita of Roxbury Group, Abir Ali of the The Platform, Kimberly Dowdell of Century Partners and Cecily King of Live6Alliance for sharing how their work is catalyzing new investment in Detroit.
* Thank you to Carolyn Howard—Owner and Developer of Traffic Jam & Snug, as well as other Detroit properties—for the delicious lunch and conversation.
* And a special thank-you to our event curator, Jeanette Pierce of Detroit Experience Factory, who not only shared her passion for Detroit but gave us an incredible perspective on its history and trajectory.
WDC at the ULI Fall Meeting in Los Angeles (October 2017)
Thank you again to all who helped make possible our activities at the ULI Fall Meeting in Los Angeles!
Thursday Night
* Thanks again to the Ratkovich Company for hosting us at the beautiful rooftop lounge at the top of The Bloc and for making such a special place to spend the evening overlooking downtown LA.
* Thanks to Clare DeBriere for doing such an amazing job moderating the often uncontainable, unpredictable, larger than life Magic Johnson!
* Thanks to Coly Den Haan, owner of Vinovore, for introducing us to Oeno, the wonderful wine that we all enjoyed that evening, and for telling us the inspiring story of how Vinovore was created. We hope you will buy Oeno and other wines by the fabulous women vintners that Coly features.
Friday Tour
* Thanks to Ava Bromberg, who showcased the vibrant activities at The Reef to bring together innovators, entrepreneurs and diverse creators in downtown LA. (Can’t wait to hear about the next set of events that The Reef will host!)
* Thanks to Dana Trujillo for leading us through the innovative features of the award-winning Star Apartments by Skid Row Housing Trust, which provides supportive housing for formerly homeless individuals.
* Thanks to Amanda Loso for sharing the inspiring story of the friendship between two women that created the Downtown Women’s Center (DWC) to help women overcome poverty and end homelessness, and for showing us what DWC is doing everyday to make this happen.
* Thanks to Adele Yellin for welcoming us to join in the 100th anniversary celebration of the Grand Central Market and for curating such an amazing group of restaurants that made our lunch so special.
* Thanks to Metabolic Studio and Lauren Bon for showing us how art can both inspire and create change through the Bending the River Back to the City, among many other projects. As the studio’s sign says: Artists need to create on the same scale that society has the capacity to destroy.
CONTACT US
We would love to hear from you! For more information on the Women's Development Collaborative,
And be sure to check us out on LinkedIn.
WDC 2019
The Women's Development Collaborative (WDC) is a network of women leaders who inspire, promote and support women who lead transformative real estate developments. WDC’s mission is to advance women’s success, leadership, innovation and collaboration in building developments that sustain and create thriving communities. WDC’s founding members and sponsors are committed to advancing WDC's mission and our collective capacity to champion and catalyze women-led developments.
Our WDC events will take place Sunday evening (4/14) and Monday (4/15) right before the ULI Spring Meeting. The ULI Spring Meeting runs Tuesday 4/16 through Friday 4/19, and this Spring WDC is changing our schedule in recognition of the Easter/Passover holidays. (Be sure to join us at WDC's LinkedIn Group to stay up to date on the latest event notes!)
WDC at Nashville Schedule
SUNDAY, April 14, Tour + Dinner
5:00 PM Pre-tour assemble at Old Glory (1200 Villa Pl #103), a wonderful bar run by two inspiring sisters
5:30 PM Walking tour (starting at Old Glory) through Edge Hill, Music Row and Downtown, featuring great buildings and art work by creative women along the way.
7:00 PM Dinner/tapas at Chauhan Ale & Masala House (123 12th Ave N) featuring an interactive discussion with innovative women developers from across the nation who are building transformative developments (featuring Tara Hernandez of JCH Properties+, Cathy Sloss Jones of Sloss Real Estate Company, Molly McCabe of Lotus Campaign, and moderator Tifinie Capehart of SilverPointe Properties).
MONDAY, April 15, Tour + Lunch + Leadership
9:00 AM Meet at Red Bicycle Coffee & Crepes’ Germantown location (1200 5th Avenue; short Lyft/Uber drive from downtown)
9:30 AM Begin Morning Tour featuring Buchanan Street Arts District, Germantown Co-Housing and North Nashville
Noontime Lunch (time approx) in North Nashville
(Optional afternoon activity: She-Build with Rebuilding Together at a Nashville Food Project Farm)
4:00 PM WDC Leadership Program in Downtown Nashville, where we will meet to discuss strategies to advance WDC’s mission. (We will meet downtown near the Cannery Ballroom so women can attend ULI’s Songwriter in the Round event at 6 PM)
Note: Transportation for all WDC activities will be on foot and/or via rideshare.
MANY THANKS TO OUR 2018 WDC SPONSORS AND FOUNDING MEMBERS!
Urban Land Institute’s “Building the Resilient City Conference”, September 3-5 in San Francisco
Cities across the globe need to develop stronger, more adaptive environments to meet the challenges of an increasingly volatile climate that threatens intensified storm seasons and rising sea levels. To encourage resilience efforts worldwide, the Urban Land Institute will hold “Building the Resilient City” this September in San Francisco. The conference will bring together real estate professionals and thought leaders on climate change to share best practices on how cities and new development can become more resilient in ways that improve public spaces, add value, and minimize risk.
ULI’s chairman, Lynn Thurber, of LaSalle Investment Management, and ULI San Francisco District Chair, Jeff Smith, of Sack Properties, will open the conference and provide their perspectives on building resilient cities. Harriet Tregoning, new director of the HUD’s Office of Economic Resilience, will discuss the role of the federal government in creating resilient cities, and Henk Ovink will present best practices learned from Rebuild by Design, an initiative of the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force and HUD that is spurring development and policy innovations in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. Margaret Davidson, who leads NOAA’s coastal inundation and resilience efforts, will present latest insights into climate change's impact and the importance of linking data, technology and sustainable coastal development practices.
On Friday morning of the conference, we will explore how world cities are leveraging natural ecosystems to create multifunctional, protective open spaces that also help catalyze new private development and economic growth. Sarah Slaughter, Executive Director of the Built Environment Coalition, will moderating the session “Getting More Bang for the Buck: Leveraging Green Infrastructure to Create Value and Reduce Risk" and will be joined by distinguished panelists Thomas Woltz of Nelson Byrd Woltz, Karen Kubick of San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, and Bry Sarte of Sherwood Design Engineers.
Please join us on this interactive panel as we discuss ground-breaking projects that create value, mitigate risk, and elevate green design to the next level.
“Building the Resilient City” will take place Thursday and Friday, September 4 and 5, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco. Registration information is available here.
Libby Seifel is serving on the ULI conference planning committee and is coordinating the session “Getting More Bang for the Buck” in collaboration with John McIlwain of ULI and Claire Bonham-Carter of AECOM.
"There is no finish line. Resilience is an ongoing process."
-Yukimoto Ito, vice mayor of Sendai, speaking after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
Urban Economic Revival in California
While macro demographic, economic and societal trends continue to improve the prospects for California cities, not all will benefit to the same degree. This Thursday’s "Urban Economic Revival in California" session, held at the California Society of Municipal Analysts (CSMA) conference in Napa, will explore the underlying conditions and local government and private sector actions associated with cities like San Diego and San Francisco, whose economic outlooks continue to improve. The session will posit and address questions such as “Given the dissolution of redevelopment, how do cities attract private investment and employers to help revitalize older cities?” “Would a continuing drought affect the mix of urban versus suburban/exurban development?”
Joining Libby on "Urban Economic Revival in California" are Karen Ribble (Fitch Ratings) and John Shirey (City of Sacramento). Established in 1986, the California Society of Municipal Analysts (CSMA) is a non-profit organization that fosters professional development through discussions, meetings and presentations of issues relevant to municipal credit analysis.
Click here for the final agenda for this Thursday, November 5 conference.
ULI SF Housing the Bay Summit on March 23
Join industry leaders at ULI San Francisco’s Housing the Bay Summit (Friday, March 23) as we explore origins and solutions to the Bay Area's housing supply and affordability crisis. Since early 2017, ULI SF has refined the Housing the Bay initiative with industry leaders and partner organizations from throughout the Bay Area. Through working groups, convenings and interactive educational programs, ULI seeks to bring the brightest minds together to foster solutions to the region's housing supply and affordability crisis.
Panels and presentations at the March 23 Summit will focus on innovative solutions in the realms of financing, construction costs, policy, and the public process. Speakers will engage in conversations on lessons learned, successful case studies, and best practices with local Bay Area leaders. The afternoon panel “Director’s Cut: Shaping the Bay Area Cities Through a National Lens” features planning directors from Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose as they share past experiences driving change and taking on the Bay Area’s housing challenges. Joining Libby on this interactive panel are William (Bill) Gilchrist (Oakland Planning Director), Rosalynn Hughey (San Jose Acting Planning Director) and John Rahaim (San Francisco Planning Director). With national perspectives and localized expertise, these planning directors are each developing and implementing strategies to build and preserve more homes, increase housing affordability, and provide the needed infrastructure to make all this possible.
ULI SF's Housing the Bay 2018 Summit takes place Friday, March 23 at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco. Full programming and registration information is available here: https://sf.uli.org/event/housing-the-bay/. Housing the Bay is a ULI SF member-driven initiative to foster innovative solutions to the Bay Area housing crisis in the realms of financing, building costs, policy, and the public process.
(Check out the buzz already generating for the upcoming Summit! Urban Land magazine’s recent article covering the Summit includes interviews with several Summit participants, including Xiomara Cisneros, Michelle Frey, Amit Price Patel and Libby Seifel.)
UPDATE! (March 26): Click here to view the presentation “Director’s Cut: Shaping the Bay Area Cities Through a National Lens”.
ULI SF Housing the Bay Summit 2019
Everyone who lives in the Bay Area is affected in some way by the high cost and limited supply of housing, particularly housing that is affordable to our family members and workers. The San Francisco District Council of the Urban Land Institute launched Housing the Bay, a ULI SF member-driven initiative to foster innovative solutions to the Bay Area housing crisis in the realms of financing, building costs, policy, and the public process.
In collaboration with key non-profit partners, ULI SF sponsored the first Housing the Bay Summit in March 2018 to focus on innovative solutions in the realms of housing finance, construction, community acceptance and public policy. Speakers from around North America engaged in conversations on lessons learned, successful case studies, and best practices with local Bay Area leaders.
Over the past two years, ULI members have been working across the Bay Area on a variety of policies and programs to address housing, including supporting the regional CASA effort to protect, preserve and produce housing. CASA has convened a diverse, multi-sector set of partners in the Bay Area to identify and act upon game-changing regional solutions to the Bay Area’s chronic housing affordability challenges. As presented at the recent Housing the Bay program on the CASA Compact, Bay Area leaders have agreed upon a regional compact that will provide a roadmap leading to tangible housing solutions at the regional and state levels.
We hope that you will join us for our next full day Housing the Bay summit on May 10th, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco where we will review innovative housing initiatives across the Bay Area and and learn from best practices across the world to develop and preserve affordable housing.
The ULI Housing the Bay Steering Committee is co-chaired by ULI members Eric Tao of AGI and Libby Seifel of Seifel Consulting.
ULI Housing the Bay, Proposition 13 Panel on Wednesday, March 7
1978: Nearly two-thirds of California's voters pass Proposition 13, capping property taxes in California and dramatically changing our State’s fiscal and development landscape. Forty years later, a proposed ballot initiative to amend Prop 13 proposes to eliminate the existing inflationary cap on annual assessments for most industrial and commercial properties statewide, allowing non-residential properties to be assessed at fair market value and generate higher property taxes to help fund schools, infrastructure and public services.
On Wednesday March 7, ULI SF’s Housing the Bay presents "Forty Years of Proposition 13: Truth and Consequences”. Moderated by Libby Seifel, the panel will discuss the “truth and consequences” of Prop 13, examining how it governs the collection and distribution of property taxes and how this landmark initiative has affected the fiscal and development landscape throughout California. Fred Diaz (City Manager of Fremont), Brian Uhler (Principal Fiscal & Policy Analyst at the California Legislative Analyst's Office), Tom Bannon (California Apartment Association CEO), and Ben Grieff (Campaign Director at Evolve) will share their insights and explore how Prop 13 affects housing costs, new housing development and property turnover.
"Forty Years of Proposition 13: Truth and Consequences" takes place Wednesday, March 7 at 5pm. Prologis Ventures has graciously opened their doors (at Pier 1, Bay 1, Embarcadero, San Francisco) for this panel. Full event details and registration are available here: https://sf.uli.org/event/forty-years-prop-13-truth-consequences/
This program is part of ULI SF’s Housing the Bay, a ULI SF member-driven initiative to foster innovative solutions to the Bay Area housing crisis in the realms of financing, building costs, policy, and the public process. This panel has been coordinated by our Innovative Financing group and is a lead-up program for the ULI SF Housing Summit on Friday, March 23, 2018.
UPDATE! (March 8): Click here to view the presentation "Forty Years of Proposition 13: Truth and Consequences”.
ULI Housing the Bay Summit 2020
Since 2017, members of our local San Francisco District Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI SF) have been working hard to foster innovative solutions to the Bay Area housing crisis through ULI SF's Housing the Bay initiative.
Housing the Bay has brought together partner organizations, industry and public sector leaders, and global experts to share bold ideas and strategies to catalyze healthy, sustainable, and affordable housing options for everyone who lives and works in the Bay Area. Our members and partners have co-created three well-attended Summits and numerous lead-up events, tours, and workshops focused on breaking down barriers and finding lasting housing solutions for the Bay Area.The third Housing the Bay Summit was held virtually on September 15, 2020 with musical interludes from jazz musicians associated with the SF Jazz Center. The 2020 Summit opened with an insightful discussion regarding transformative solutions to bring about systemic change moderated by Tomiquia Moss, Founder of All Homes in conversation with Melissa Jones (BARHII), Jeff Tumlin (SFMTA) and Kate Gordon (California OPR). Deanna Van Buren, Co-founder of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, spoke about her work to harness the power of the built environment to counter societal inequities. Three Bay Area start-ups pitched their technologies and business plans to increase housing production and increase housing options. The 2020 Summit also featured two thought provoking panels about current and future housing initiatives with statewide leaders such as California Assemblymember David Chiu, Assemblymember Buffy Wick and Governor Newsom’s Senior Counselor on Homelessness, Jason Elliot, as well as Bay Area leaders of the “3Ps Housing Plan,” Fred Blackwell (SF Foundation), Denise Pinkston (TMG) and Linda Mandolini (Eden Housing). San Francisco’s Mayor London Breed did an inspiring closing keynote.
Last year's 2019 Summit featured inspiring presentations by Dr. Michael McAfee, CEO of Policy Link, Calvin Gladney, CEO of Smart Growth America, Tyrone Poole, Founder and President of One App and Lisa Bender, President of the Minneapolis City Council. A diverse group of innovators and entrepreneurs did lightening round presentations of their innovative solutions to address our housing challenges. The Summit's closing panel featured a dynamic panel of four California mayors who are working hard to address housing solutions in their cities.
To date, ULI San Francisco has held three Housing the Bay Summits, and our members and partners have co-created nearly two dozen lead-up events, tours, and workshops to break down barriers and take steps toward finding lasting housing solutions for the Bay Area.
The ULI SF Housing the Bay Steering Committee is co-chaired by ULI members Eric Tao of L37 Partners/AGI and Libby Seifel of Seifel Consulting.
ULI Housing the Bay Forums: Modular Construction to Meet Housing Needs; Public Engagement in the Development Process
ULI San Francisco’s Housing the Bay initiative features two San Francisco forums next week that explore housing affordability and public policy.
The Future is Now: Modular Construction in the Bay Area (Tuesday, July 18 at 5pm). Modular construction provides an opportunity for reduced hard costs during a time when it is getting increasingly difficult to make projects pencil. Join industry professionals Rick Holliday (Holliday Development), Fei Tsen (Windflower Properties), Larry Pace (Cannon Constructors) and Jay Bradshaw (NorCal Carpenters Regional Council) in a discussion on the evolving modular industry, the prospects that this construction methodology provides, and what the future of modular construction means for the Bay Area.
Housing the Bay is a new initiative launched by ULI San Francisco in collaboration with SPUR and other local partners to address the underlying issues affecting housing cost and supply in the Bay Area. Through ongoing events, research and workshops (including the October 6 Housing the Bay Summit), this initiative is dedicated to delivering innovative housing solutions for the Bay Area in the realms of real estate financing, construction costs, policy and the public process.
“360 Look at a Win-Win Public Engagement: 1028 Market Street” takes place Thursday, July 20 at 8am. Click here for complete details and registration.
(UPDATE! “360 Look at a Win-Win Public Engagement: 1028 Market Street” is currently sold out!? See registration page for waitlist info!)
(Special thanks to DPR Construction for hosting the event at their space.)
ULI Housing the Bay Evening Forum: Housing the Missing Middle, A New Financial Frontier
"Housing the Bay” is a new initiative launched by ULI San Francisco in collaboration with SPUR and other local partners to address the underlying issues affecting housing cost and supply in the Bay Area. Through ongoing events, research and workshops (including the October 6 Housing the Bay Summit), this initiative is dedicated to finding lasting housing solutions for the Bay Area.
On Tuesday, June 27, Housing the Bay presents "Housing the Missing Middle: A New Financial Frontier”, a lively discussion to share ideas, strategies and market-driven solutions for increasing middle-income housing throughout the Bay Area. With approaches ranging from impact funds to non-traditional equity sources to new statewide programs intended to spur private-sector development, this forum will explore multiple tools to finance housing in the Bay Area. Moderated by Eric Tao (AGI Avant), the four dynamic panelists will present their innovative approaches to housing the missing middle: Nicholas Targ (Holland and Knight), Rebecca Foster (San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund), Kevin Zwick (Housing Trust Silicon Valley) and Anne McCulloch (Housing Partnership Equity Trust).
“Housing the Missing Middle” takes place Tuesday, June 27 at 5pm. For complete details and registration, visit https://sf.uli.org/event/new-financial-frontier-leveraging-market-forces-solve-missing-middle/
Special thanks to SmithGroupJJR for hosting the event at their offices at 301 Battery Street.
ULI Housing the Bay – Third Summit to be held on June 2, 2020
Since 2017, members of our local San Francisco District Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI SF) have been working hard to foster innovative solutions to the Bay Area housing crisis through ULI SF's Housing the Bay initiative.
Housing the Bay has brought together partner organizations, industry and public sector leaders, and global experts to share bold ideas and strategies to catalyze healthy, sustainable, and affordable housing options for everyone who lives and works in the Bay Area. Our members and partners have co-created two well-attended Summits and numerous lead-up events, tours, and workshops focused on breaking down barriers and finding lasting housing solutions for the Bay Area.
Last year's 2019 Summit featured inspiring presentations by Dr. Michael McAfee, CEO of Policy Link, Calvin Gladney, CEO of Smart Growth America, Tyrone Poole, Founder and President of One App and Lisa Bender, President of the Minneapolis City Council. A diverse group of innovators and entrepreneurs did lightening round presentations of their innovative solutions to address our housing challenges. The Summit's closing panel featured a dynamic panel of four California mayors who are working hard to address housing solutions in their cities.
The 2020 Housing the Bay Summit will be held on June 2 at the beautifully designed SF Jazz Center in San Francisco. We hope you can join us to innovate, collaborate and act together to ensure that more people in the Bay Area have homes they can afford and we can maintain the Bay Area’s quality of life for everyone.
The ULI SF Housing the Bay Steering Committee is co-chaired by ULI members Eric Tao of AGI and Libby Seifel of Seifel Consulting.
Transforming San Francisco’s Waterfront: Featured Program at Leadership California’s California Issues & Trends Program
The transformation of San Francisco’s waterfront, and the many exciting opportunities and challenges it presents–was the focus of Leadership California’s July 20th afternoon program. As part of their yearlong California Issues & Trends Program (CIT), women leaders from across California gained insight from San Francisco women who are leading major development projects along the waterfront.
Rebecca Benassini from the Port of San Francisco started the presentation by providing an overview of the catalytic projects stretching from north to south along the City’s seven miles of waterfront. Nadia Sesay of the Office of Community Investment & Infrastructure (OCII) described the innovative public private partnership that OCII is undertaking with Five Point at Hunters Point Shipyard and Candlestick Point (The Shipyard). Ivy Greaner of Five Point described the key development components of both The Shipyard and Treasure Island that Five Point is currently implementing. Anne Taupier of the Office of Economic & Workforce Development described the key negotiating principles that have provided the framework for innovative public private partnerships at Mission Rock, Pier 70 and HPS/CP to enhance transit access, create housing affordable to a broad range of local residents and workers and provide new parks, artist studios, maker space for local artisans, and small business and employment programs for local residents along the southern waterfront. Libby Seifel, an alumna of the Leadership California program, moderated the panel and led an interactive discussion on lessons learned and best practices regarding on how to create successful public private partnerships that transform communities while addressing key community goals. OCII staff then led CIT women on a dynamic tour of the new neighborhood that is being created at The Shipyard.
Leadership California is a network of accomplished women who are dedicated to advancing the leadership role that women play in impacting business, social issues and public policy. The CIT Program brings together a diverse group of women from a broad range of sectors, ethnicities, regions and professional backgrounds.
Transbay Transit Center: Key Investment in San Francisco's Future as a World Class City
As the Bay Area continues to grow as one of the world’s most robust business centers and home to the nation’s most competitive technology sector, San Francisco is poised to make its next big mark on the world stage, and the Transbay Transity Center is one of the City's most important investments to assure long term success in an increasingly global economy. Creating a landmark multi-modal transit hub and a vibrant walkable neighborhood that features parks, public plazas, and retail, the Transbay Transit Center will foster activity, energy and vibrancy to downtown San Francisco while driving significant value premiums on surrounding properties. Improved transit access and additional public spaces and neighborhood amenities provided by the Transbay Project are projected to add $3.9 billion to the value of private property located within ¾ of a mile of the Transit Center. Additionally, redevelopment of public property once occupied by the former Transbay Terminal and abandoned freeway ramps is projected to stimulate over $4 billion in new development. A substantial portion of this new development is already in progress, including the 1.3 million square foot Transbay Transit Tower and more than 1,200 mixed-income residential units.
Research shows that knowledge service businesses thrive best in a compact, transit-rich environment. Better transit connectivity will help expand the regional labor market and make it easier for workers to reach jobs. Moreover, the use of transit instead of cars will foster increased physical activity, promote healthy living, and reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by removing thousands of vehicles from our streets and highways. Regionally, the Bay Area will benefit from the creation of approximately 8,300 construction job years, 27,000 permanent jobs, and up to $87 billion in gross regional product through 2030.
In November, Seifel completed the publication Transbay Transit Center: Key Investment in San Francisco’s Future as a World Class City as part of our economic benefit analysis work for the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA). A combined effort on the part of Seifel, the TJPA, and other San Francisco offices, Transbay Transit Center highlights the numerous economic benefits that the Transbay Project will bring to San Francisco and the Bay Area region.
Transbay Transit Center: Key Investment in San Francisco’s Future as a World Class City is available to download here.
Transbay Transit Center: Anchoring a new neighborhood, driving economic benefits
To remain globally competitive, cities around the world are expanding their transit networks and encouraging the development of dense urban neighborhoods. The Bay Area is one of the world’s most robust economies and San Francisco is emerging as a major hub for many rapidly expanding technology and knowledge service companies. In the recent publication Transbay Transit Center: Key Investment in San Francisco’s Future as a World Class City, the Transbay Joint Powers Authority hails the Transbay Transit Center, considered the “Grand Central of the West,” as one of San Francisco’s most important investments to assure long term success in an increasingly global economy. (A copy of Transbay Transit Center is available here.)
A public private partnership, the Transbay project, is transforming downtown San Francisco by creating a landmark multi-modal transit hub and a vibrant, walkable, transit-oriented development neighborhood featuring more than 11 acres of parks, public plazas, retail, and tree-lined streets. The improved transit access, public spaces, and neighborhood amenities provided by the project are projected to add $3.9 billion to the value of private property located within ¾ mile of the Transit Center. Additionally, redevelopment of public properties once occupied by the former Transbay Transit Terminal and abandoned freeway ramps is projected to stimulate over $4 billion in new development, much of which is already underway, including the 1.3 million square foot Transbay Transit Tower and more than 1,200 mixed-income residential units.
Research demonstrates that knowledge-service businesses thrive best in a compact, transit-rich environment. Better transit connectivity will help expand the regional labor market and make it easier for workers to reach jobs. Moreover, the use of transit instead of cars will foster increased physical activity, promote healthier living, and reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by removing thousands of vehicles from our streets and highways. Regionally, the Bay Area will benefit from the creation of approximately 8,300 construction job years, 27,000 permanent jobs, and up to $87 billion in gross regional product through 2030.
For more on the Transbay Transit Center and its development, click here.
Seifel prepared Transbay Transit Center on behalf of the TJPA to highlight the numerous economic benefits that the Transbay Project will bring to San Francisco and the Bay Area region. In collaboration with The Concord Group, Seifel prepared the economic analysis of value premiums from transit, open space, and neighborhood amenities from the Transbay project.
Above construction photo credit: Patricia Chang
Transbay Transit Center District at recent ULI Fall Meeting
Formerly dominated by underutilized properties and an abandoned freeway, the Transit Center District is now the site of a comprehensive planning and redevelopment effort to create a dense, walkable employment center that will feature housing at all levels of affordability, active retail and abundant public open space. The substantial public infrastructure investment needed to undertake this project is funded through a complex and innovative mix of public and private funding sources. The major rezoning of properties throughout the district, along with its significant amenities, has created substantial value while generating enthusiastic response among the development community.
A concurrent session at the recent ULI Fall Meeting, "Transbay Transit Center District: Transforming Downtown San Francisco through Innovative Public/Private Partnerships" examines the redevelopment challenges overcome during the project and strategies used to create this new “Grand Central of the West” and its adjacent neighborhood.
Discussion leaders included Scott Boule of Transbay Joint Powers Authority, Tiffany Bohee of the San Francisco Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure, John Eudy of Essex Property Trust, Mike Grisso of Kilroy Realty Corporation and John Rahaim of the City of San Francisco. Libby Seifel served as moderator of the panel, in addition to her duties as local program co-chair of the ULI Fall Meeting.
A video of the session is available for viewing at ULI's webpage, here.
The Future of Funding for Transit Oriented Development and Affordable Housing
While transit-oriented development (TOD) projects are being encouraged throughout the nation, limited financial resources are available to catalyze their development. The Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Fund (TOAH Fund) is an innovative $50 million public-private financing resource that provides up-front funding to catalyze the development of affordable housing, valuable community services, and other neighborhood assets near transit lines throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
The TOAH Fund was created by a collaboration of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), its partner regional planning agency (ABAG), and a dedicated core of nonprofit organizations. MTC has been at the forefront of promoting TOD in the Bay Area, and it provided the initial $10 million in seed capital that serves as the first of five components in the capital stack. According to a Fund Sponsor, “Convening a diversity of players in the affordable housing community and having partners with a high level of trust, competency and a shared understanding of goals and the need to distribute investments regionally was critical in the Fund’s formation.” To date, the Fund has awarded financing to four projects: Eddy and Taylor Family Housing (San Francisco), 5th and Howard (San Francisco), Leigh Avenue Senior Apartments (San Jose), and West Grand Development (Oakland).
The TOAH Fund, with LISC, retained Seifel and ICF International to provide program evaluation and implementation consulting services for the TOAH Fund. Their analysis is available here.
More on the TOAH fund and its mission can be found here.
The Future of Affordable Housing and Community Revitalization
On Monday, May 14, Libby Seifel joined leaders in local government, housing policy, and community economic development to conduct a panel discussion at East Bay Housing Organization's (EBHO) event "Life After Redevelopment: The Future of Affordable Housing and Community Revitalization".
Moderated by Rick Williams, Partner at Van Meter Williams Pollack, this panel presented ideas on what the next steps are for financing sources at the local, regional and state level. Joining Libby and Rick in this engaging discussion were: Anu Natarajan, Vice Mayor, City of Fremont; Linda Mandolini, Executive Director, Eden Housing; Laura Simpson, Housing Division Manager, City of Walnut Creek; and Kara Douglas, Affordable Housing Program Manager, Contra Costa County.
Session information is here.
SPUR/SFHAC Lunchtime Forum: How Many Homes Should We Have?
The Bay Area housing shortage leads many residents and businesses to cite housing affordability as the top issue facing the region. SPUR’s Tuesday, June 27 lunchtime forum poses the questions: Just how much housing does the Bay Area need to build? How much of that housing should be subsidized and for whom? Where are the opportunity sites to build?
Co-presented by the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition (SFHAC), SPUR’s session “How Many Homes Should We Have?” brings together private and public sector perspectives on the Bay Area’s housing challenges: Ted Egan (San Francisco Office of the Controller), Pedro Galvao (NPH), James Pappas (San Francisco Planning Department) and Libby Seifel (Seifel Consulting, active SPUR/ULI/NPH member on housing issues).
Please join the discussion on Tuesday, June 27 at 12:30pm at SPUR’s Urban Center (654 Mission Street). Tickets are free for SPUR members, $10 for non-members, and no pre-registration required. For more details/registration, visit http://www.spur.org/events/2017-06-27/how-many-homes-should-we-have.
UPDATE (July 7, 2017)
Click here to view the entire presentation!
SPUR Forum: “Why Does Housing Cost So Much?”
Housing costs have continued to rise since 2014, when The Urbanist featured "The Real Cost of Building Housing” in San Francisco. SPUR’s upcoming panel, "Why Housing Costs So Much” will feature industry insiders Mark Hogan (OpenScope Studio), Ann Silverberg (BRIDGE Housing), Taeko Takagi (Pankow) and Libby Seifel (Seifel Consulting). This lively group of panelists will dissect the complex cost factors in housing development, explore the reasons for why costs have continued to increase and suggest what could be done do to help curtail them. (Mark and Libby previously examined these very issues at a SPUR session in early 2014.)
Please join on May 30 for this panel. Admission is free for SPUR members/$10 for non-members. Check out SPUR for more information: http://www.spur.org/events/2017-05-30/why-does-housing-cost-so-much
- SPUR Lunchtime Forum: “Why Does Housing Cost So Much?”
- 12:30pm on Tuesday 5/30, SPUR Urban Center, 654 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA
UPDATE (July 7, 2017)
Spotlighting Community Assets to Attract and Retain Business
How do communities highlight their best assets to attract and retain business? A key first step is the identification of the community’s core strengths and their competitive advantages in relationship to how businesses decide where to locate.
A second critical component to economic development is developing a "customer centric" orientation that emphasizes better communication and rapport with business owners and their representatives.
A second critical component to economic development is developing a "customer centric" orientation that emphasizes better communication and rapport with business owners and their representatives.
At the League of California Cities’ Annual Conference, held September 19, Libby Seifel facilitated the lively workshop discussion “Economic Development: Spotlighting Assets in Your Community to Attract & Retain New Business". Fellow panelists included Robert Gilmore, Land Use and Economic Development Consultant with MuniServices, and Damian McKinney, Founder & CEO of The McKinney Advisory Group. Joining Libby, Rob, and Damian were elected officials and city staff.
The basics of hospitality can be a key ingredient to attracting new jobs, as Damian McKinney explains. Sharing a personal experience, Damian tells the story of a homemade dinner at the house of Town’s Mayor, of how a relaxed and supportive environment led to honest and insightful conversation on Town growth opportunities, and how this eventually led to the development of a major business in town.
Rob Gilmore noted how communities need a proactive economic development strategy that includes a focused work plan with prioritized action steps to be done on a quarterly and annual basis. Audience members also shared “best practice” experience from their own communities, including examples of how they help communities work together to establish a shared vision, conducting workshops with local business community members to identify actions steps, and developing key metrics to measure success.
The word 'hospitality' in the New Testament comes from two Greek words. The first word means 'love' and the second word means 'strangers.' It's a word that means love of strangers. - Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Spotlight on Redevelopment: What You Need to Know
On July 21, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) presented a one day conference in Oakland, CA for all its CPD and competitive grantees. Similar HUD conferences took place throughout the nation to seek innovations and collaborative solutions to the deployment of HUD programs.
Libby Seifel and Marie Munson presented "Spotlight on Redevelopment - AB1X 26 & 27: What You Need to Know". Check out the presentation here.
Sharing real estate value creation insight with our friends to the North
On April 8, Libby spoke to members of Victoria, British Columbia’s chapter of the Urban Development Institute (UDI)on what creates value in real estate. Her presentation, “Leveraging Value to Create Great Places”, explored real-world examples of development happening in our very own city: the Transbay Transit Center District and Mission Bay. Looking at the value premiums created by transit, open space, and other neighborhood amenities, Libby shared with UDI members insight into the costs of development and the value creation of these and similar transit-focused and sustainable communities.
In spring of last year, UDI members paid a visit to San Francisco to observe some of the exciting projects currently underway in our City. With Seifel staff as their guide, UDI members were able to get a behind-the-scenes look at the Transbay project before heading out to a tour of Mission Bay
UDI is a non-profit association of the development industry in British Columbia, whose members include individuals and organizations involved in all facets of development and land-use planning. UDI is actively involved in government relations, professional development and education, and research. Committed to working with communities and governments to create and achieve balanced, well-planned, and sustainable communities, UDI works to promote efficient urban growth, good planning and good development practices, affordable housing, and high quality commercial and industrial developments. More information on UDI is available here.
Seifel Heading to New Orleans!
Libby is traveling to New Orleans for the AIA 2011 National Convention and Design Exposition. Libby's session ("Using Public Private Partnerships to Encourage Urban Infill Development") is a collaborative effort between Libby and Steven Meyers (of CaP3i), Peter Stanley and Mitch Conner (of Archilogix), and Michael Strogoff (of Strogoff Consulting).
Here's a bit of the program abstract...
The national recession has had a profound effect on the ability of municipalities and regions to invest in transportation, utilities and social infrastructure despite universal agreement of this urgent need. While Public-Private Partnerships have a long proven record internationally, leveraging long-term private sector investment to socially benefit the public is a fairly new phenomenon in the US.
Check out the convention website here!
Seifel at ULI Spring Council Forum in Phoenix
On May 18 - 20, Libby Seifel will be joining the ULI Spring Council Forum in Phoenix. Per ULI, this year's summit looks to "bring together top decision-makers and industry experts to discuss the future of real estate and how individuals and companies can successfully adapt for what is coming."
More information on this year's summit is available at http://www.ulispring.org/
Save Redevelopment Coalition: Coalition Letter
San Francisco Housing Forecast: 2015
San Francisco: one of the hottest housing markets in the nation, where housing demand has surged along with job growth (about 30,000 new jobs since 2012), largely fueled by the rapid rise in “knowledge sharing” companies, like Salesforce, Twitter, AirBnB and LinkedIn. While 2014 was a banner year for housing construction in San Francisco (2,500+ housing units underway), the dramatic decline in construction during the recession means housing supply has not kept pace with demand.
There are only 2.1 months of remaining inventory for condominiums—one of the lowest inventory levels since 2008, says Chris Foley of Polaris. Chris presented an overview of the San Francisco housing market at the recent SPUR panel, “Housing Forecast: 2015” presented in conjunction with the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition (SF HAC) and the San Francisco AIA. Chris estimates that San Francisco currently has a shortfall in housing supply of 15,175 housing units.
The Office of Economic and Workforce Development’s (OEWD’s) Sarah Dennis-Phillips presented that San Francisco’s population is projected to grow by about 250,000 people over the next 25 years. To help meet future housing demand, the Mayor of San Francisco has established a goal to produce 30,000 units by 2020, of which 30% would be permanently affordable and 50% would be within the financial reach of working, middle income families. The City has established a housing meter that counts housing projects as they are completed, helping San Francisco to track its progress.
Libby Seifel presented an overview of Seifel’s recent work for the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD) to evaluate the “State of the Housing Market” in San Francisco. Seifel recently updated its 2012 Briefing Book, which profiles the City’s demographic and housing market trends, with a special focus on evaluating how recent changes in the housing market affect underserved low, moderate and middle income households. In addition, Libby described Seifel’s recent work with David Baker Architects to evaluate how density bonuses might be used
Tim Colen of SF HAC served as panel moderator, and Meg Spriggs of Shorenstein provided insights about how developers are viewing today’s and tomorrow’s San Francisco housing market. As presented in the panel, many local developers are now looking at development opportunities in Oakland and Emeryville, where a recent surge in home prices and rents has enhanced the financial feasibility of new development.
The discussion ended with the conclusion that San Francisco needs to pursue a broad variety of strategies to increase the pace of development, as well as pursue new funding sources to help assure that the majority of new housing is affordable to the City’s diverse population.
Top image courtesy of Flickr user Jeremy Brooks
San Francisco Art Institute Reinvents Pier 2 at Fort Mason
The Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (Fort Mason) is a nonprofit historic center located along San Francisco’s northern waterfront in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. More than 20 nonprofit and arts organizations are permanent residents of Fort Mason, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Magic Theatre, the well-established Cowell Theater and the internationally acclaimed Greens Restaurant.
Located in the beautifully renovated Pier 2, the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) is Fort Mason’s newest tenant. Working in close collaboration with Fort Mason, SFAI reinvented a 67,000-square-foot space on Pier 2 that includes more than 160 art studios for students, faculty and visiting artists, as well as 3,300 square feet of newly created public exhibition space that adjoins the existing Cowell Theater.
To celebrate its new Fort Mason Campus, SFAI held a series of grand opening events in November 2017 and commissioned artists to share new works to celebrate the new building over the next year. SFAI alum and faculty Alicia McCarthy (BFA 1994) kicked off this series with a beautiful mural of interwoven color, energy, and gesture—visible throughout the entire space and shown near the top of the accompanying photo from SFAI’s grand opening.
Seifel Consulting gratefully acknowledges SFAI, Fort Mason and the LAI Golden Gate Chapter for hosting an event in Fall 2017 to showcase the renovation of Pier 2, which was led by William Leddy and Marsha Maytum, founding Principals at LMS Architects who creatively designed Pier 2’s sustainable renovation. We also had a wonderful time at SFAI’s grand opening celebration meeting the talented array of SFAI students and faculty who exhibited their art works throughout Pier 2.
San Francisco Art Institute Reinvents Pier 2 at Fort Mason
The Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (Fort Mason) is a nonprofit historic center located along San Francisco’s northern waterfront in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. More than 20 nonprofit and arts organizations are permanent residents of Fort Mason, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Magic Theatre, the well-established Cowell Theater and the internationally acclaimed Greens Restaurant.
Located in the beautifully renovated Pier 2, the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) is Fort Mason’s newest tenant. Working in close collaboration with Fort Mason, SFAI reinvented a 67,000-square-foot space on Pier 2 that includes more than 160 art studios for students, faculty and visiting artists, as well as 3,300 square feet of newly created public exhibition space that adjoins the existing Cowell Theater.
To celebrate its new Fort Mason Campus, SFAI held a series of grand opening events in November 2017 and commissioned artists to share new works to celebrate the new building over the next year. SFAI alum and faculty Alicia McCarthy (BFA 1994) kicked off this series with a beautiful mural of interwoven color, energy, and gesture—visible throughout the entire space and shown near the top of the accompanying photo from SFAI’s grand opening.
Seifel Consulting gratefully acknowledges SFAI, Fort Mason and the LAI Golden Gate Chapter for hosting an event in Fall 2017 to showcase the renovation of Pier 2, which was led by William Leddy and Marsha Maytum, founding Principals at LMS Architects who creatively designed Pier 2’s sustainable renovation. We also had a wonderful time at SFAI’s grand opening celebration meeting the talented array of SFAI students and faculty who exhibited their art works throughout Pier 2.
Redevelopment reinvented: the new tools for housing and sustainable community development
The new tools of economic development and creation of sustainable and healthy communities in post-Redevelopment California took center stage at the Cal-ALHFA’s recent conference "Reinvention: 2014". Taking guidance from ULI’s December 2013 report After Redevelopment, New Tools and Strategies to Promote Economic Development and Build Sustainable Communities, Libby Seifel joined fellow report contributors to present on innovative techniques being used locally, regionally, and at the state level to stimulate housing and mixed use development. Through focused presentations and lively round table discussion, their session “Reinventing Redevelopment: New Tools for Housing and Sustainable Communities” explored recommendations and strategies posited in the ULI report.
Pro-Walk/Pro-Bike: Making Active Transportation Happen
"We are at an exciting tipping point in the US. More people than ever are walking and bicycling in our communities. Elected leaders and businesses are realizing the value of investing in active transportation. And we’ve seen cities small and large across the country pioneering ideas like Bike Share, bike boulevards, and open streets projects that turn pavement into places for recreation and fun." - Pro Walk/Pro Bike
Pro Walk/Pro Bike, the leading international conference on walking and bicycling, offers more than 100 program sessions, mobile workshops, and problem-solving workshops bringing together non-auto-centric transportation enthusiasts, including planners, engineers, civic leaders, government officials, public health professionals, architects, and landscape architects.
Held in sunny Long Beach, the 2012 Pro Walk/Pro Bike conference offered attendees the opportunity to network with like-minded enthusiasts, workshops, and sessions to help build coalitions, create planning initiatives and designs, and foster ways to grow the political support and funding needed to catalyze active transportation.
"Long Beach has embraced walking and bicycling as tools to improve its economic vitality, its quality-of-life, and as a way to ensure all residents are connected to a just and equitable transportation system."
- Pro Walk/Pro Bike
At the September 2012 conference, Libby Seifel joined the session "New Challenges, Tools, and Opportunities in Planning for Healthy Transportation” led by Jeremy Nelson (Principal at NelsonNygaard Transportation Consulting Associates). The panel also included Arfaraz Khambatta (Director of Access Consulting at Sally Swanson Architects Inc.), Heath Maddox (Senior Planner, Livable Streets Subdivision at San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency), and Jean Fraser (Chief at San Mateo County Health System).
Using successful case studies and lessons learned from communities of all sizes, the panel explored some of the challenges and opportunities in the development of healthier active transportation systems, prompting discussion on planning, outreach, and funding tools to inform planning enthusiasts of practical techniques to help in the implementation of healthy transportation policies and programs for California communities.
The National Center for Bicycling & Walking, a program of Project for Public Spaces, established the Pro Walk/Pro Bike conference in 1980. More on Pro Walk/Pro Bike and upcoming events can be found here.
Practical Solutions for Delivery of Affordable Housing Conference, New Delhi, India, November 30, 2010
Libby Seifel joins the International Knowledge Team presenting at the “Practical Solutions for Delivery of Affordable Housing” conference in New Delhi, India, this November 30. Sponsored by India’s Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the conference will be an international review of affordable housing delivery, identifying best practice examples that have maximized the amount of affordable housing that can be generated with limited resources.
As background for conference participants, Seifel worked with the International Knowledge Team to prepare RICS' research paper Making Affordable Housing Work in India, which looks at previous research on the housing dynamics in India (and frameworks in comparable cities) and outlines key initiatives being undertaken by the Indian Government. The paper also examines the issues requiring immediate Government intervention. Click here for a copy of RICS' paper.
The adjustment of housing markets worldwide has called into question the viability of current policies and strategies. Consideration is being given to new and more creative delivery and partnership models to satisfy the increasing need for affordable housing worldwide.
International speakers will help set the scene for the conference, utilizing considerable experience in successful housing programs and giving examples where roadblocks to delivery were overcome. Local speakers from industry and the government/urban local bodies will participate in panel discussions sharing their experiences and best practice of affordable housing projects and also highlighting any obstacles in the current system that may be slowing or even stopping project delivery. Audience participation will encourage the consideration and debate on different solutions, drawing up potential immediate and mid-term solutions. Conference speakers and panelists include:
Representatives from the Government of India
Kumari Selja – Honorable Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation and Minister of Tourism
Smt. Kiran Dhingra - Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation
Sh. S. K. Singh - Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation
Sh. R. V. Verma - Chairman and Managing Director, National Housing Bank
International Experts
Mr. Stuart Woodward - Managing Director, Levvel Ltd
Mr. Thomas Davenport - Director, South Asia, IFC/The World Bank Group
Mr. Stuart Thomas - Director, Terra Housing Consultants
Eminent Industry Speakers and Policymakers
Mr. Sanjaya Gupta - Managing Director, PNB Housing Finance Ltd.
Mr. Kumar Gera - Chairman, CREDAI
Mr. D.P. Srivastava - CEO, Affordable Housing Development
Mr. Pranav Ansal - Vice Chairman & MD, Ansal API
Mr. Firdose Vandrevala - Chairman & MD, Hirco Developments Pvt. Ltd.
Mr. Naveen Raheja - President - Housing Committee, ASSOCHAM
Northern California Real Estate Women of Influence 2017 Award Winners
Winners of the 2017 Northern California Real Estate Women of Influence Awards just announced! (Click here for the full listing of award recipients, care of San Francisco Business Times.)
The Northern California Real Estate Women of Influence Awards recognize women who have made outstanding contributions to the Northern California commercial real estate industry over the past 2 years. Honorees are selected by a diverse panel of industry leaders. The 2017 Award recipients are recognized at the September 13th Awards Luncheon—proudly sponsored by Allen Matkins—and are featured in the San Francisco Business Times as well as the Northern California Real Estate Women of Influence (NCRE WOI) website.
Please join Seifel in congratulating the accomplishments of these talented women and their efforts to advance the role of women in commercial real estate! The NCRE WOI 2017 Hall-of-Fame Awardees are:
- Margo Bradish of Cox, Castle & Nicholson
- Carla Boragno of Genentech
- Patricia Curtin of Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean LLP
- Shelley Doran of Webcor Builders
- Jan Lindenthal of MidPen Housing
The 2015 NCRE WOI Hall-of-Fame Awardees included Annette Billingsley of Union Bank, Janice Sears of Essex Property Trust, Ellen Warner of Lennar Urban, and Libby Seifel of Seifel Consulting.
New Tools and Strategies to Promote Economic Development and Build Sustainable Communities
The San Francisco District Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), in conjunction with the four other ULI California district councils, recently issued a report recommending a comprehensive set of tools to promote economic development and build sustainable and healthy communities. “In light of the demise of redevelopment in California in 2012, we need leadership at all levels of government to put in place a more flexible set of tools, without creating a financial burden on the state or other taxing agencies” said Elliot Stein, executive director of the ULI San Francisco District Council.
At the top of the list of recommended tools in the report “After Redevelopment: New Tools and Strategies to Promote Economic Development and Build Sustainable Communities” are the ability to assemble sites and negotiate sales, use tax increment financing on a voluntary basis by affected taxing agencies, and deploy these tools with local control, flexibility, and accountability. “One critical ‘fix’ needed is for housing,” said report co-author Joseph E. Coomes of Best & Krieger, Sacramento. “California's population is growing faster than the supply of housing. In particular, the amount of multifamily housing, which is more affordable to the state’s workforce and growing senior population, is not keeping pace. Access to affordable housing, job opportunities and quality education are critical components of any economic development strategy.” The report provides a series of targeted recommendations and calls for future discussion with State officials and key stakeholders on how to best deploy new tools in 2014.
Libby Seifel volunteered on ULI’s working group and served as the lead editor on the report (available here).
New Partners for Smart Growth Conference, San Francisco 2018
New Partners for Smart Growth (NPSG) holds their 17th annual conference in San Francisco on Thursday 2/1 through Saturday 2/3 at the Hilton Union Square Hotel. Themed “Practical Tools and Innovative Strategies for Creating Great Communities,” NPSG’s 2018 conference features a dynamic speaker series and eight thematic tracks that address timely housing, transportation, planning and environmental challenges, with smart growth and equity as the threads that weave among each track.
Conference tours will offer attendees the chance to learn firsthand about local development initiatives across the Bay Area (including tours in San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond and Berkeley). In addition to helping to coordinate the NPSG housing track, Seifel Consulting arranged the Thursday morning “Downtown San Francisco Transbay Transit Center District Tour,” which will feature the numerous public private partnerships under development and recently built. Not only are these developments creating San Francisco’s newest mixed-income neighborhood (featuring 35% affordable housing), they are providing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for the new Transit Center.
On Saturday morning, we will delve more deeply into funding strategies for affordable housing. “Paying for Affordable Housing,” will explore the opportunities and challenges in raising capital to fund affordable housing, including multi-layered investment funds, cap and trade auction proceeds, and local ballot measures. Session attendees will leave with a greater understanding of successful approaches to fund housing within their own community. Speakers include Amie Fishman of Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California, Julijs Liepins of Forsyth Street, and Brian Prater of the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF). Libby will moderate this engaging session.
Full details on the 2018 New Partners for Smart Growth conference, as well as registration information, can be found here. Presented by the Local Government Commission, NPSG draws a national audience of federal, state and local leaders who are committed to building safer, healthier and more livable communities everywhere. In recent years, the NPSG Conference was held in St. Louis, Portland and Baltimore.
UPDATES (February 5)
Click here for a peek at the accompanying presentation to the Transit Center tour.
Click here to explore the Saturday morning Finance Panel "Paying for Affordable Housing"
New Funding Strategies to Fuel Smart Growth Successes
As part of a project funded by the California Endowment, the Local Government Commission (LGC) is holding a series of meetings throughout California to discuss innovative funding strategies and local community revitalization strategies.
With access to capital a frequent barrier to realizing a community’s vision, this Friday’s LGC session ”New Funding Strategies to Fuel Smart Growth Successes" will explore innovative strategies for getting projects going. This Friday morning's session features Darin Dinsmore (Founder and CEO at Crowdbrite), Jim Becker (CEO and President at Richmond Community Foundation), Joshua Genser (Board Chair at Richmond Community Foundation) and Libby Seifel.
UPDATE! LGC’S guidebook “Smart-Growth Money: New Funding Strategies for Community Improvements” is available at this link.
“Smart-Growth Money: New Funding Strategies for Community Improvements” explores funding tools and strategies to help local leaders identify funding sources and manage limited dollars to achieve community goals. The report includes case studies featuring innovative ways to successfully navigate financial hurdles. For more information, visit http://www.lgc.org/new-funding-strategies-guidebook
LGC works to build livable communities and local leadership by connecting leaders via innovative programs and network opportunities. More on LGC's is available here.
Moving Silicon Valley Forward - Housing, Transit and Traffic at a Crossroad
Silicon Valley, the heart of California’s technology hub, is perceived as a desirable place to live and work. However, many of the workers who keep Silicon Valley’s economic engine moving forward are unable to afford homes in the very communities in which they work.
NPH and Urban Habitat recently published Moving Silicon Valley Forward – Housing, Transit and Traffic at a Crossroad, a report that explores the economic, housing, and transportation challenges in Silicon Valley.
Moving Silicon Valley Forward shows that “contrary to popular perception, the average commuter into Silicon Valley is not the highly paid technology worker. More than 45 percent of in-commuters into San Mateo County earn less than $40,000 per year.”
Enduring longer commutes leaves lower-to-middle income workers with little money to cover other essential costs of living. Longer commutes also contribute to congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. Moving Silicon Valley Forward outlines crucial next steps to help preserve and develop affordable housing (particularly near transit), improve transit funding and service, and incentivize transit use by workers and residents.
Seifel Consulting, in collaboration with Nelson/Nygaard, provided economic, demographic and transit research for the report (available here).
Mountain View Ameswell Under Construction
Located adjacent to the intersection of Highway 101 and 85, Ameswell Mountain View is planned as a LEED Platinum office and hotel complex featuring more than 200,000 square feet of office space and 250 modern luxury hotel rooms located at the gateway to both North Bayshore and downtown Mountain View.
Ameswell is planned as a LEED-Platinum office and hotel complex featuring more than 200,000 square feet of office space and 250 modern luxury hotel rooms. The Mountain View City Council adopted the required CEQA findings and conditionally approved the development permits in October 2016. After finalizing negotiations for the purchase of an adjoining property from the California Department of Transportation, the Ameswell Mountain View development went into construction during 2018 and is planned to open during 2020.
The City of Mountain View and the developer—Broadreach Capital Partners—entered into a public private partnership for this development at 750 Moffett Boulevard in 2015. The Mountain View City Council adopted resolutions certifying the project's Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), making required CEQA findings and conditionally approving its permits in October 2016. The developer is currently working on construction drawings and the final design elements. (Click here to take a virtual tour of the project!)
Seifel provided real estate and property development advisory services to the City in support of the 7-acre, City-owned Moffett Gateway property (now Ameswell Mountain View). Collaborating with David Babcock and Associates (DBA) who provided urban design services, Seifel evaluated the financial feasibility of alternative development scenarios and recommended the consideration of office, hotel and retail uses at the site. Seifel subsequently advised the City on the developer solicitation process, helping to prepare the Request for Qualifications and Request for Proposals, in collaboration with City staff, Maurice Robinson & Associates and Baker Street Associates. Seifel facilitated the developer evaluation process and advised the City on selection of the Broadreach development team and on the subsequent negotiation process for the area. (See here more on Seifel’s services to Mountain View for this and other projects.)
Mountain View Ameswell Development Under Construction
Construction is well underway for the Ameswell luxury hotel and office development, located adjacent to Highway 101 at 750 Moffett Boulevard on route to downtown Mountain View. The new office and hotel complex will include a well-appointed 255-room hotel and 225,000 square feet of office space that will achieve the highest sustainability designation (LEED Platinum). (Click here to take a virtual tour of the project!)
This development is the result of a successful public private partnership between the City of Mountain View and the developer—Broadreach Capital Partners. Seifel provided real estate and property development advisory services to the City in support of the development of this 7+acre City-owned property, evaluating the financial feasibility of alternative development scenarios, recommending the consideration of office, hotel and retail uses at the site, and then advising on the developer solicitation, selection and negotiation process that led to the public private partnership. (Please refer to this prior news posting for more information on the project and our collaboration partners.)
MIT Center for Real Estate, Back-to-School Day 2015
The MIT Center for Real Estate (MITCRE) hosted its Alumni West Coast Back-to-School day in January 2015. Held at the Pier 1 headquarters of Prologis (in their graciously-donated meeting space), the event gave attendees the opportunity to hear from current MIT faculty on latest research and to hear from alumni and industry leaders on the important work they are stewarding. Patrick Kennedy ’85 of Panoramic Interests and Professor Albert Saiz, Director at MITCRE, opened the event.
Sessions panelists included alumni and industry leaders, who spoke to the complexities of large real estate ventures and on current real estate market innovations.
The panel “Ballot Box Entitlements” (moderated by Ted Horton ’87) explored the role that the voter plays in helping bring large-scale real estate projects online. The session featured Mary Murphy of Gibson Dunn, Alexa Arena of Forest City Enterprises and Diane Oshima of the Port of San Francisco, as well as MIT alum Libby Seifel.
In her presentation “IT Infrastructure & Asset Value Premia”, Dr. Andrea Chegut, Research Associate at MITCRE, explored the developing role of IT infrastructure in commercial development and how developers are rethinking the technology footprint of their projects.
The session “JV Profit Splits Fairness Framework”, presented by MITCRE faculty Tod McGrath and David Geltner, examined the fairness of joint-venture relationships between institutional money partners and managing partners in real estate development.
Industry veterans (from both sides of real estate deals) discussed the usefulness and application of Professor Geltner’s research on a broad variety of recent real estate deals.
“Crowdfunding for Real Estate Equity”, whose panelists included Bonnie Burgett of Sourced Capital, Adam Hooper of Real Crowd, Rodrigo Nino of Prodigy Network and Tom Lockhard of Fundrise looked at the emergence of crowdfunding as a powerful tool in the promotion and financing of healthy development.
Full event agenda is available here.
Founded in 1983 by an MIT alum Charles “Hank” Spaulding (CE ’51), MITCRE provides tomorrow’s real estate practitioners with a foundation to help traverse and transform a complex and global real estate market. More about the program can be found here.
Libby Seifel to Lead Panel at 2011 Housing California Conference
Libby Seifel will be leading a panel discussion on Key Principles for Successful PPPs (Public Private Partnerships) at the 2011 Housing California Conference in Sacramento on April 28. Libby will be joined by a panel including Polly Marshall of Goldfarb & Lipman, Lisa Bates of the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, and Kim McKay of BRIDGE Housing.
Public-private partnerships (PPP) provide a unique way for developers, government, and the community to work together to create innovative and sustainable urban infill developments. This interactive session will feature a lively discussion about how to structure innovative public-private partnerships that achieve “triple bottom line” results: Meet community goals, reduce our environmental footprint, and achieve financial returns. Attendees will learn how PPPs have been used to accomplish a broad range of projects, for the creation of affordable homes, mixed-use, and transit-oriented developments that incorporate green design to the redevelopment of surplus public properties and brownfield sites.
Link to conference: http://www.housingca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=events_annualconference
Leveraging Value: Planning and Funding Strategies to Catalyze Great Places
Now more than ever, California communities must creatively leverage and build upon their core strengths to catalyze great places. Research demonstrates that property values are higher in well-planned communities that are near parks and open space and where residents and workers have convenient access to high quality public transit.
Each year, the California Chapter of the American Planning Association (Cal APA) organizes a statewide conference to share best practices and recognize award-winning projects. This October, Bill Anderson, APA President and AECOM Principal, Richard Bruckner, LA County’s Director of Regional Planning, and Kearstin Dischinger, Senior Community Development Specialist at San Francisco Planning Department, participated in a Cal APA panel moderated by Libby Seifel to discuss how Los Angeles, Pasadena, San Diego and San Francisco have capitalized on these key property value drivers to capture and then reinvest revenues back in to their downtowns and neighborhoods through property tax increment and development impact fees. Their presentation, “Leveraging Value: Planning and Funding Strategies to Catalyze Great Places” discusses how “parking diets” and “street diets” improve the overall health of residents while fostering healthier project economics, which in turn lead to better development.
For more information, visit Cal APA here.
Leverage Public Assets to Create Vibrant Urban Core
How do you make the urban core a more vibrant place to live, work, and play? Members of the Urban Revitalization Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) discussed ways to catalyze investment and development in the urban core, the demographic factors that influence the popularity of urban living, and how different sectors of the real estate market are currently thriving in the urban core. Featured alongside fellow urbanists James Moore, Janet Protas, Claudia Sieb, and Charles Werhane, Libby Seifel provided insight into using a combination of public and private resources to bring an area back from deterioration.
“The last mile from transit is critical," Libby says."People want pedestrian- and bike-friendly paths between housing and the transit stop. Urban core areas that are able to achieve this will be extremely successful.”
Click here for further insightful strategies provided by ULI urbanists.
Letters in support of SB 450 and AB 1250
As part of the RDA Infill Coalition, Seifel has helped prepare two letters in support of important legislation aimed at "mending" and not "ending" redevelopment in California.
The RDA Infill Coalition is a statewide group of diverse interests from the housing, environmental, transit oriented development, economic and sustainable development sectors in support of affordable housing and redevelopment agencies.
See the letter to Senator Lowenthal here
See the letter to Assemblymember Alejo here
Inspirations for Positive Change in 2017 (May the Force be with us!)
The past year was tumultuous, marked by the passing of many iconic figures that have shaped our times. As 2017 begins, we want to take a moment to remember six inspirational lives and share some of their most poignant messages for our future.
Change is in the air, and we must all choose how we will respond to these disruptive times. As Gwen Ifill demonstrated so eloquently, our democracy depends on how well we engage and learn from one another. Despite the constant rhetoric that surrounds us, we must be even more committed to listen, learn and engage in caring conversations with people from all walks of life and perspectives, as only together can we move forward in a positive way.
Change comes from listening, learning, caring and conversation. Gwen Ifill
David Bowie really did seem to be a “man who fell to earth” rather than being born here. His extra-terrestrial inspiration, pioneering music and eccentric persona propelled our thinking in new directions. He revealed the power that comes from embracing both our masculine and feminine sides, and his outsize personality demonstrated why being different is a gift not a burden. May we all have the freedom to be our eccentric selves like David Bowie!
I find only freedom in the realms of eccentricity. David Bowie
Elie Wiesel vowed never to forget the first night at Auschwitz that turned his life in the labor camp into one long night of horrors. He dedicated his life to fighting injustice and promoting world peace through his writing, teaching and Foundation for Humanity. As the Nobel citation honoring him stated: “His message is one of peace, atonement and human dignity. His belief that the forces fighting evil in the world can be victorious is a hard-won belief.” His message that we have the power to transform darkness into light is a spiritual call to us all.
Even in darkness it is possible to create light. Elie Wiesel
Growing up in the segregated south, Cassius Clay Jr. (Muhammad Ali) wasn’t afraid to fight. He used his talents not only in the boxing ring to become a world champion but to fight for social change, exemplified by his refusal to be drafted in to the Vietnam War. He devoted his life to helping those in need, traveling around the world as a UN messenger of peace, and to promoting special causes near to his heart, like the Special Olympics. His wife Lonnie says that Ali wants us to remember him as a person who never became embittered enough to quit or to engage in violence despite the many injustices he experienced. Let’s all remember him by keeping the good fight going and always making our days count.
Don't count the days, make the days count. Muhammad Ali
Cannot remember Leonard Cohen without thinking about how Judy Collins resonated his poems to life. As the song goes, Leonard Cohen truly was a bird on the wire, who tried in his way to be free. By the freedom and power of his words, he will continue to sing on in our hearts and minds, reminding us that we can always transform and evolve by acting out who we want to become.
Act the way you’d like to be, and soon you’ll be the way you act. Leonard Cohen
In her recent interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air, Carrie Fisher reminisced on filming Star Wars and told Terry that she had melded with Princess Leia over time. “I like how she handles things. I like how she treats people….[S]he tells the truth…and gets what she wants done.” As we move into this new era of change, may we be inspired to explore our internal and external worlds, get things done by treating people well, and always find our calm within the storm.
Writing is a very calming thing for me. Carrie Fisher
As we move forward into 2017, let’s commit ourselves to:
- Embrace change
- Engage in thoughtful conversations
- Celebrate our differences
- Create light out of darkness
- Make the days count
- Act the way we want to be
- Get great things done by treating people well
- Commit to doing what feeds our souls and calms our minds
Thanks to all of you for collaborating with us over the years, and look forward to working with you to catalyze positive change in 2017.
In the words of the Dalai Lama:
Let us all redouble our commitment to making the world a better place for everyone’s children.
During 2016, we at Seifel increased our professional and personal contributions to organizations that feed the hungry, provide affordable housing, support women around the globe, deliver in-depth news coverage, feature inspirational stories and music, and promote good government, visionary planning and sustainable development.
Change is in the air.
The future is in our hands.
Be sure to download a copy of our 2017 Seifel Calendar (click here).
Impact at the Local Level: Training City Staff on Real Estate Development
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) recognized its San Francisco District Council for providing six successful training sessions that taught the basics of real estate finance and development, how to structure successful public-private partnerships and strategies to accomplish new projects in a post redevelopment world to a broad range of San Francisco staff. As Jon Lau, Project Manager for SF OEWD, summarized of the impact of ULI’s training,
“The sessions were packed with critical information. As participants, we are developing a better understanding of the building blocks necessary to evaluate project feasibility and gaining exposure to criteria relied upon for marketplace decision making, and it is valuable to gain insight on the thought process directly from developers.”
The sessions achieved the two key purposes of the ULI Innovation Grant that helped fund the training:
1) provide tools to public agency staff to elicit the best quality from the private sector and 2) help strengthen relationships and collaboration across City departments.
Libby Seifel in collaboration with Landon Browning of Lennar Corporation developed the training materials and taught the first three sessions on the basics of real estate finance and development.
Hot Construction 2017 Update – Transbay Transit Center
Transbay Transit Center poised to open in Spring 2018
The Transbay Transit Center is poised to open in 2018. In addition to providing intermodal transit access throughout the Bay Area, the 1.2 million-square-foot Transit Center will feature more than 100,000 square feet of retail space and a signature 5.4-acre rooftop park, including an amphitheater and public plazas. Surrounding the Transit Center are numerous new developments underway that will ultimately include more than 6 million square feet of commercial space, about 4,400 new housing units (35% affordable to very low, low and moderate income households) and new public parks and open space.
Lincoln Property Company is leading the management team of the Transit Center’s public spaces, retail leasing, open space programming, and promotional platform, collaborating with Colliers International, Biederman Redevelopment Ventures, and Pearl Media. Collectively this team will lease and activate the Transit Center’s retail space, dynamic rooftop park and its promotional platform featuring more than 270 digital displays throughout the Transit Center. The Transit Center will connect eight Bay Area counties and 11 transit systems, including future California High-Speed Rail. Bus operations at the Transbay Transit Center are scheduled to start in early 2018. (To learn more updates about the Transbay Transit Center, visit them at www.TransbayCenter.org.)
Seifel Consulting has advised the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, the City and County of San Francisco and the former San Francisco Redevelopment Agency on the complex funding program for the Transit Center, the redevelopment of the surrounding area, and the implementation program for the Transit Center District Plan.
Hot Construction 2017 Update – Mission Bay
With several residential construction projects at or near completion in Mission Bay, the City of San Francisco and the Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure (OCII) have nearly achieved their goals for affordable and market rate housing in this area formerly dominated by abandoned railyards and vacant land. By summer’s end, 5,646 of the planned 6,404 residential units will be complete. One Mission Bay (350 market-rate units) and Five 88 (200 units of affordable family apartments) are expected to be completed by the end of 2017, while residents are in the process of moving into Mission Bay by Windsor (formerly Eviva Mission Bay). Anticipated for completion in late 2018 is the 143-unit development at 626 Mission Bay Boulevard North, which will reserve 20 percent of its units for formerly homeless families.
Seifel Consulting advised the City and County of San Francisco and its former San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, as well as the Port of San Francisco on the redevelopment efforts for Mission Bay and the adjacent Mission Rock development, paving the way for development of this growing new neighborhood in the City.
Help Save Redevelopment
Governor Brown’s proposal to eliminate redevelopment will be voted on soon by the Legislature. We continue to work with our clients and many coalition partners to save redevelopment—California’s largest and most successful economic development and affordable housing program. We want to share with you our key talking points on redevelopment’s benefits and why the proposed legislation is risky, flawed and costly. Like Humpty Dumpty, redevelopment cannot be put together again if eliminated on July 1, 2011.
Please urge your Legislators to remove the elimination of redevelopment from the budget bill and refer redevelopment’s future to a Joint Legislative Committee for thoughtful reform.
Let’s make a difference,
All of us at Seifel Consulting
Overview of Redevelopment Benefits
As a critical engine for economic growth and sustainable development in California, redevelopment:
- Annually generates hundreds of thousands of jobs and puts Californians to work at a time when our State’s unemployment rate is over 12 percent.
- Contributes $40 billion annually to California’s economy and generates more than $2 billion annually in state and local tax revenue.
- Revitalizes blighted areas and catalyzes economic vitality by creating jobs, funding affordable housing, building public infrastructure improvements, and creating commercial opportunities.
- Is a critical affordable housing program—since 1993, it has built or rehabilitated nearly 100,000 affordable housing units—helping local governments meet their housing needs.
- Provides key tools to reclaim brownfield sites and stimulate infill development as opposed to sprawl.
Constitutional Defects of Proposed Legislation
- Violates Article XIII, Section 25.5 (Proposition 22), which prohibits transfer of tax increment to the State, any agency of the State, or any local jurisdiction.
- Violates Article XVI, Section 16 of the California Constitution, which established tax increment financing and requires tax increment to be paid to redevelopment agencies.
- Violates Article XIII A, Section 1, which requires property taxes to be collected and distributed to the local districts within each county.
- Violates federal and state provisions prohibiting the impairment of existing contractual obligations.
Serious Flaws
- Potentially violates existing contracts by substituting “successor agency” for redevelopment agency without parties’ agreement.
- Likely violates collective bargaining agreements covering public sector employees.
Lack of Accountability and Increased Bureaucratic Costs
- Creates confusion regarding responsibility for managing redevelopment agency obligations.
- Creates unelected and unaccountable Oversight Boards with inherent conflicts of interest.
- Presents significant risks for fraud, mismanagement and litigation.
- Creates potentially massive costs for dissolution of redevelopment agencies and creation of successor agencies.
- Imposes significant unfunded state mandates on counties by shifting responsibilities to counties.
- Increases potential liability of County Auditor-Controllers related to disputes over their decisions and determinations.
Poor Public Policy—Eliminates Key Tool for Housing and Economic Development
- Obliterates long-established investment tool, creating a cloud over all local government financing.
- Eliminates California’s largest and most successful housing and economic development program.
- Short-circuits thoughtful, statewide discussion on redevelopment tools and reform.
Like Humpty Dumpty, redevelopment cannot be put together again if eliminated on July 1.
Help Save Redevelopment
Governor Brown's proposal to eliminate redevelopment will be voted on soon by the Legislature. We continue to work with our clients and many coalition partners to save redevelopment—California's largest and most successful economic development and affordable housing program. We want to share with you our key talking points on redevelopment's benefits and why the proposed legislation is risky, flawed and costly. Like Humpty Dumpty, redevelopment cannot be put together again if eliminated on
July 1, 2011.
Please urge your Legislators to remove the elimination of redevelopment from the budget bill and refer redevelopment's future to a Joint Legislative Committee for
thoughtful reform.
Let's make a difference,
All of us at Seifel Consulting
Overview of Redevelopment Benefits
As a critical engine for economic growth and sustainable development in California, redevelopment:
- Annually generates hundreds of thousands of jobs and puts Californians to work at a time when our State's unemployment rate is over 12 percent.
- Contributes $40 billion annually to California's economy and generates more than $2 billion annually in state and local tax revenue.
- Revitalizes blighted areas and catalyzes economic vitality by creating jobs, funding affordable housing, building public infrastructure improvements, and creating commercial opportunities.
- Is a critical affordable housing program—since 1993, it has built or rehabilitated nearly 100,000 affordable housing units—helping local governments meet their housing needs.
- Provides key tools to reclaim brownfield sites and stimulate infill development as opposed to sprawl.
Constitutional Defects of Proposed Legislation
- Violates Article XIII, Section 25.5 (Proposition 22), which prohibits transfer of tax increment to the State, any agency of the State, or any local jurisdiction.
- Violates Article XVI, Section 16 of the California Constitution, which established tax increment financing and requires tax increment to be paid to redevelopment agencies.
- Violates Article XIII A, Section 1, which requires property taxes to be collected and distributed to the local districts within each county.
- Violates federal and state provisions prohibiting the impairment of existing contractual obligations.
Serious Flaws
- Potentially violates existing contracts by substituting "successor agency" for redevelopment agency without parties' agreement.
- Likely violates collective bargaining agreements covering public sector employees.
Lack of Accountability and Increased Bureaucratic Costs
- Creates confusion regarding responsibility for managing redevelopment agency obligations.
- Creates unelected and unaccountable Oversight Boards with inherent conflicts of interest.
- Presents significant risks for fraud, mismanagement and litigation.
- Creates potentially massive costs for dissolution of redevelopment agencies and creation of successor agencies.
- Imposes significant unfunded state mandates on counties by shifting responsibilities to counties.
- Increases potential liability of County Auditor-Controllers related to disputes over their decisions and determinations.
Poor Public Policy—Eliminates Key Tool for Housing and Economic Development
- Obliterates long-established investment tool, creating a cloud over all local government financing.
- Eliminates California's largest and most successful housing and economic development program.
- Short-circuits thoughtful, statewide discussion on redevelopment tools and reform.
Like Humpty Dumpty, redevelopment cannot be put together again if eliminated on July 1.
Growing Together: Policy Tools for Inclusion
The May 9 Legislative Policy Breakfast, hosted by Housing Leadership Council (HLC) brought together advocates and experts alike to share best practice tips and advocacy ideas for affordable housing in San Mateo County. Since 2001, HLC has supported the creation and preservation of well designed, sensibly located housing for a range of income levels through collaboration with a range of San Mateo County partners (local governments, non-profit organizations and businesses).
State Senator Jerry Hill (California Senate, 13th District) and Marina Wiant (of California Housing Consortium) shared insights into State and National legislation that could provide funding for affordable housing and enhance housing production, leading discussion on why some legislation would likely become law while others might not. Senator Hill and Ms. Wiant emphasized the need for continued, coordinated advocacy (by groups like HLC) to make the case for why a diverse spectrum of housing is critical to future success of California.
Phillip Kilbridge (CEO at Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco) presented a lively overview of the trials and tribulations of local developers who have had to go “Light & Fit”, learning how to develop in the face of declining revenues. Libby Seifel provided a fast paced overview of current housing financing tools available to communities (in post-Redevelopment California) with particular focus on the challenges and opportunities of using Infrastructure Financing Districts (IFDs) to help fund development. Libby asked audience members to review recommendations from her recent volunteer effort with ULI to promote new funding tools and strategies for infill development and affordable housing in California. ULI recently described affordable housing as one of the central elements to building healthy places in its Ten Principles of Building Healthy Places, and Libby offered ideas about how to promote this concept more broadly throughout San Mateo County.
"The more successfully a city mingles everyday diversity of uses and users in its everyday streets, the more successfully, casually (and economically) its people thereby enliven and...give back grace and delight to their neighborhoods instead of vacuity."
- Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities
Former Redevelopment Properties, Resources for Development of Sustainable Communities and Affordable Housing
Housing California’s Annual Conference, the nation’s largest annual conference on affordable housing and homelessness, gathers together advocates, consumers, builders, lenders, lawmakers, and other leaders in the field. Here, more than 75 workshops, pre-conference institutes, and over 50 exhibitors showcase their knowledge on the interrelated topics of resources for development for sustainable communities and affordable housing. In April, Libby Seifel joined Lynn Hutchins of Goldfarb & Lipman, Kara Douglas of Contra Costa County, Linda Mandolini of Eden Housing, and Johanna Gullick of Union Bank to engage with participants on the use of former redevelopment properties. Their presentation ("Former RDA Properties: Key Resource for Building Sustainable Homes and Communities") examines case studies and best practices in the development of long-range property management plans.
Click here for a copy of "Former RDA Properties: Key Resource for Building Sustainable Homes and Communities".
Fisherman’s Wharf Retail Strategy Released!
The Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefit District (FWCBD) unveiled a new district Retail Strategy for the 30-block historic San Francisco waterfront neighborhood. The Strategy is a renewed effort to strengthen the district’s commercial mix, celebrate the area’s fishing industry, and create new interest in the area from both local residents and visitors. The comprehensive document focuses on business, entertainment, appearance, safety, marketing, and the public realm. A year-long collaboration between FWCBD staff, Seifel Consulting, lowercase productions and the Retail Strategy Task Force, the Strategy comes packed with statistics and input from visitors and local stakeholders---including businesspeople and approximately 6,000 neighborhood residents. The Strategy examines opportunities and challenges facing the District, and concludes with recommended action steps, with a particular focus on priority actions for the next two years.
Founded by businesses and property owners in the Fisherman’s Wharf neighborhood in the mid-2000s, FWCBD has worked tirelessly to foster relations between City agencies and the District neighborhood and community groups. A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, FWCBD is funded through an annual property assessment on the land side and a gross sales assessment on the Port side.
The Historic Fisherman's Wharf District is home to Pier 39, Ghirardelli Square, Anchorage Square, the National Maritime Museum, Historic Hyde Street Pier, breathtaking views of the Bay, Alcatraz, and so much more. The Retail Strategy report is available at fwretailstrategy.com (also here). (See more buzz on the Retail Strategy at SF Biz Journal, ABC News, Hoodline, and PRWeb.)
Etsy: A Global Marketplace for Artisans
Etsy, the online global marketplace for artists, artisans and collectors, is transforming how people around the world connect to buy and sell unique goods. Etsy currently boasts over 40 million members and is active in 200 countries with annual transactions.
Etsy’s mission is to re-imagine commerce in ways that build a more fulfilling and lasting world. Etsy practices its mission in all it does and in its work environment. Etsy is headquartered in Brooklyn, in the affectionately-named neighborhood of “DUMBO” (short for “down under the Manhattan Bridge overpass”). The company lives its mission, as ULI members saw firsthand during a recent tour of Etsy headquarters at the finish of the ULI Fall Meeting & Urban Land Expo (held this year in New York City).
Coordinated by Janet Protas and Libby, the private tour offered ULI women the opportunity to see the daily workings of the online commerce company that boasted over $1 billion total merchandise sales in 2013. ULI members also got a chance to meet Etsy’s public policy group to learn about Etsy’s mission to help disadvantaged crafters become successful Etsy sellers.
Etsy is increasingly promoting and training local manufacturers and artisans across the country to sell their goods on line. SFMade, one of Etsy’s key local partners, boasts a similar mission in building and supporting a vibrant manufacturing sector in San Francisco. Former Seifel staff member, Abbie Wertheim, is working with Etsy to coordinate national efforts to support manufacturing with the Urban Manufacturing Alliance.
Our mission is to re-imagine commerce in ways that build a more fulfilling and lasting world. - Etsy
Empowering the Local Economy: San Francisco and the “Sharing Economy”
The “sharing economy,” also known as the collaborative economy or peer economy, has grown from informal connections between people who share what they already have—cars, homes, tools, skills–to an emerging, multi-billion dollar business sector that is facilitating millions of “collaborative consumption” transactions across the globe each day. Utilizing technology and social media to connect suppliers and consumers, companies such as Airbnb, City CarShare, Lyft, RelayRides, Shareable, Taskrabbit, Vayable, ZipCar— many of whom are headquartered in San Francisco—are also creating an increasing number of jobs and economic benefits to the local economy.
San Francisco recently announced the nation’s first-ever policy group aimed at evaluating the economic benefits, key players, and emerging policy issues surrounding the growing “sharing economy”. Headed by Mayor Ed Lee and comprised of Board of Supervisors President David Chiu and Supervisors Mark Farrell, Jane Kim, and Scott Wiener the group will consider the implications of the sharing economy on San Francisco. “The Sharing Economy is promoting sustainability and creating new economic opportunities for San Franciscans across the socio-economic spectrum,” says Chiu. “It’s time for San Francisco to take a comprehensive look at our existing laws and regulations to consider this innovative new economy’s benefits while addressing real community impacts and concerns.”
On Tuesday, June 10, San Francisco Planning & Urban Research (SPUR) and Airbnb presented an evening discussion “Empowering the Local Economy”, hosted by Airbnb and sponsored by the Koret Foundation. This sold-out event featured five panelists—including Seifel President Libby Seifel—who explored how policymakers and citizens alike are taking part in this new manifestation of local economic activation. Panelists included:
- Event moderator Diana Lind serves as Executive Director & Editor in Chief of Next City, a nonprofit media organization dedicated to inspiring social, economic and environmental change in cities through daily online content, a weekly series of investigative articles (Forefront), and various outreach initiatives.
- Janet Lees, Senior Director at SFMade, a San Francisco-based non-profit focused on building San Francisco’s economic base through development of the local manufacturing sector, engaging with entrepreneurs and growing small companies while offering technical assistance and connecting companies to powerful local resources.
- Anita Roth, Head of Policy Research at Airbnb, the San Francisco-based community marketplace for accommodations worldwide, connecting travelers in more than 34,000 cities and 190 countries.
- Milicent Johnson, Director of Partnerships and Community Building at Peers, a member-driven organization that supports the sharing economy movement.
Libby Seifel spoke to the implications and opportunities that the sharing economy has for San Francisco, how this new economic activity makes use of “surplus capacity", and ways in which San Francisco can respond to the changing nature of the local economy. Libby also pointed to SPUR's The Urban Future of Work for its exploration of strategies for expanding San Francisco's economy while focusing on sustainability.
More on this SPUR event is available here.
Collaborative consumption is reinventing the way we live–and San Francisco is at the epicenter of the movement. This has the potential to be a source of great economic strength, as we translate our urban efficiency and creativity into new tools that the rest of the country can benefit from.
-Gabriel Metcalf, Executive Director, SPUR
Designing Effective California Public-Private Partnerships (May 13-14, 2010)
We are excited to announce that UC Berkeley Extension has launched a new sustainable design program and selected “Designing Effective California Public-Private Partnerships” for this program. This course has been expanded to a two-day course and will be eligible for academic credit and continuing education credit for planners and attorneys (AICP and MCLE).
Designing Effective California Public-Private Partnerships
Thursday and Friday, May 13-14, 2010, 9am - 5pm
Location: San Francisco UCB Extension, Room 206, Art and Design Center, 95 Third Street, San Francisco
Information and Registration: http://extension.berkeley.edu/
Guest Lecturers: John (Jack) Nagle of Goldfarb & Lipman and Joseph (Joe) Coomes of McDonough, Holland & Allen
Public-private partnerships (PPPs) provide a unique way for the government and private developers to work together to create sustainable and profitable urban infill developments. This two-day course offers practical techniques for designing, evaluating and negotiating effective PPPs. It describes how to effectively utilize California's unique legal and financial tools to accomplish a broad range of projects, from the redevelopment of surplus public properties and brownfields sites to the creation of mixed use developments that incorporate green design and mixed-income housing next to public transit.
Case studies and lectures by experts in the field offer practical techniques to understand and structure effective PPPs. Students will learn about the unique objectives and contributions of the public and private sectors in a PPP, the laws governing redevelopment-sponsored PPPs, and best legal practices in negotiating and documenting PPPs. They will also learn how to solicit, evaluate and select the right development team. The most successful PPPs effectively balance the financial objectives and needs of the public and private sector, so the course will present key fiscal and real estate concepts critical to understanding how the deal will be evaluated from both the public and private perspective. Participants will also learn how to encourage PPPs by using the unique tax increment financing tools of redevelopment, as well as other public financing techniques.
ELIZABETH (LIBBY) SEIFEL, M.C.P., AICP, is president of Seifel Consulting, an economic consulting firm. She helps private and public sector clients resolve complex urban growth issues, maximize real estate assets, and achieve fiscal goals. She has advised on more than 100 redevelopment project areas in California with projected new development values from $100 million to more than $4 billion.
Designing Effective California Public Private Partnerships
We are excited to announce that UC Berkeley Extension has launched a new sustainable design program and selected “Designing Effective California Public-Private Partnerships” for this program. This course has been expanded to a two-day course and will be eligible for academic credit and continuing education credit for planners and attorneys (AICP and MCLE).
Thursday and Friday, May 13-14, 2010, 9am - 5pm
Location:
San Francisco UCB Extension, Room 206, Art and Design Center, 95 Third Street, San Francisco
Information and Registration: http://extension.berkeley.edu/
Guest Lecturers: John (Jack) Nagle of Goldfarb & Lipman and Ethan Walsh of McDonough, Holland & Allen
Public-private partnerships (PPPs) provide a unique way for the government and private developers to work together to create sustainable and profitable urban infill developments. This two-day course offers practical techniques for designing, evaluating and negotiating effective PPPs. It describes how to effectively utilize California's unique legal and financial tools to accomplish a broad range of projects, from the redevelopment of surplus public properties and brownfields sites to the creation of mixed use developments that incorporate green design and mixed-income housing next to public transit.
Case studies and lectures by experts in the field offer practical techniques to understand and structure effective PPPs. Students will learn about the unique objectives and contributions of the public and private sectors in a PPP, the laws governing redevelopment-sponsored PPPs, and best legal practices in negotiating and documenting PPPs. They will also learn how to solicit, evaluate and select the right development team. The most successful PPPs effectively balance the financial objectives and needs of the public and private sector, so the course will present key fiscal and real estate concepts critical to understanding how the deal will be evaluated from both the public and private perspective. Participants will also learn how to encourage PPPs by using the unique tax increment financing tools of redevelopment, as well as other public financing techniques.
ELIZABETH (LIBBY) SEIFEL, M.C.P., AICP, is president of Seifel Consulting, an economic consulting firm. She helps private and public sector clients resolve complex urban growth issues, maximize real estate assets, and achieve fiscal goals. She has advised on more than 100 redevelopment project areas in California with projected new development values from $100 million to more than $4 billion.
Density and Development: Supporting Transit and Livable Communities
Moderated by Linda Wheaton of California Department of Housing & Community Development and featuring Allison Albericci of Owings & Merrill, LLP, Eve Stewart of Satellite Affordable Housing Associates and Libby Seifel of Seifel Consulting, "Density and Development: Supporting Transit and Livable Communities" examines and illustrates how density and affordable/mixed use housing work together toward livable, transit-supportive and sustainable communities. Part of an educational forum coordinate by the California Department of Transportation (CDOT), the presentation describes the density thresholds and development characteristics necessary to support key amenities and frequent transit service, as well as the critical role affordable housing plays in supporting these objectives.
Planning Horizons is an educational forum coordinated by the CDOT Workforce Development Branch, with speakers selected from both within Caltrans and the greater planning community. More information is on the program is available here.
Creative Placemaking
We create better places for ourselves when we create better places for everyone.
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) explores the benefits of creative placemaking, along with best practices and successful case studies in cities throughout the United States, in its report, Creative Placemaking: Sparking Development with Arts and Culture. The report was co-authored by ULI women Kathleen McCormick, Juanita Hardy and Marilee Utter.
As quoted in the ULI press release for the publication, “Creative Placemaking in real estate development is important now, more than ever, in this time of COVID-19 and racial unrest,” said former ULI Senior Visiting Fellow, Juanita Hardy, an author of the report and managing principal, Tiger Management Consulting Group LLC. “Creating places inspired by art and culture provide common ground for connection, inspiration, and healing.”
On July 16, 2020, Juanita Hardy shared many of the publication’s findings in a virtual program sponsored by the Women’s Development Collaborative. As she discussed in this WDC Room of Our Own program, the synthesis of art and culture in tandem with great urban design has the power to bring communities together. Inspired projects have stitched together neighborhoods in beautiful ways, such as the Crosstown Concourse, which transformed a defunct Sears Distribution Center into a mixed use “urban village” in Memphis, Tennessee. Juanita noted 4.2% of the US GDP comes from the arts, demonstrating that creative placemaking adds tangible value.
She also presented three inspiring creative placemaking efforts in the Washington DC area:
- Monroe Street Market in the Everton neighborhood, a thriving development where the ground floor spaces are work studios for artists and an “artists walk” creates an interior public street and a unique cultural vibe permeates the entire block.
- 11th Street Bridge Park over the Anacostia River of Washington, DC, which will literally “bridge” the Anacostia neighborhood to Capitol Hill with an elevated park for healthy recreation, environmental education, and the arts.
- The $1 billion transformation of the Walter Reed Army Medical featuring adaptive reuse of existing historic buildings and new mixed use development with 300,000 square feet of office, a hotel and conference center, 2,200 residential units (20 percent affordable), 125,000 square feet of retail, more than 200,000 square feet of space dedicated to education and the arts while preserving more than 20 acres of open space.
“We create better places for ourselves when we create better places for everyone,” says Juanita. Throughout her writing and this program, Juanita continually stresses the importance of having the artists, architects, and landscape designers involved from the beginning of a development. By combining elements of the built environment in compelling ways that attract people, we not only create a unique sense of place, but we foster healthy, culturally rich, and economically thriving places.
The Women's Development Collaborative (WDC) is a network of women leaders who inspire, promote and support women who lead transformative real estate developments. ULI member Libby Seifel founded WDC with other women leaders to advance our collective capacity to champion and catalyze women-led developments, building on the work of the ULI Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) to increase the visibility and promote the advancement of women leaders in the real estate industry.
Continued efforts to save Redevelopment...Assembly Bill 1250 and Senate Bill 450
Seifel has been working with a coalition representing housing, infill building, business, environmental, and planning groups to retain and reform redevelopment. Coalition members are supporting proposed legislation to "mend not end" redevelopment.
Assembly Bill 1250, making significant redevelopment reforms and reducing the scale of future redevelopment efforts.
Senate Bill 450, accomplishing key housing reforms to enhance the production of affordable housing, especially to those in greatest need.
Please urge your Legislators to support AB 1250 and AB 450 and preserve redevelopment, California’s largest and most successful economic development and affordable housing program.
California’s Adventure in Planning: New Tools and Strategies for a Changing Landscape
This year’s annual conference of California’s Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA California) brought together members of the planning community to share best practices and recognize award-winning projects that are changing the landscape of California’s communities.
With the recent loss of redevelopment in California, local communities must plan for the reuse of public properties without having access to many tools that were formerly available to facilitate development. In addition, members of the planning community find themselves having to assume economic development responsibilities that were previously assigned to their redevelopment agencies. The session "Brave New World: Developing Public Property Without Redevelopment” explored strategies being used by California communities to successfully develop public properties in a manner consistent with local planning goals. Session panelists Barbara Kautz and Rafael Yaquian (Goldfarb & Lipman), Kevin Keller (City of Los Angeles) and Libby Seifel presented proven techniques that local agencies can use to maximize their ability to redevelop these properties while examining the legal constraints on their use. (Click here for full presentation, including the handout "Top Ten Best Practice Tips for Development Deals".)
California communities are also approaching development and neighborhood revitalization in ways that can enhance local cultural heritage. The session "When Property Values Attack: A Planning Tool for Combating the Loss of Intangible Heritage" showcased the Japantown Cultural Heritage and Economic Sustainability Strategy (known as JCHESS, full report available here), which came out of a collaborative effort among San Francisco’s Japantown community, the City of San Francisco and local non-profits. JCHESS outlines strategies for preserving and enhancing Japantown’s cultural heritage and all that makes Japantown unique. The session featured Ruth Todd and Christina Dikas (Page & Turnbull), Shelley Caltagirone (San Francisco Planning Department), Desiree Smith (of San Francisco Heritage), and Libby Seifel, all of whom contributed to JCHESS. The session examined how the elements of Japantown’s heritage were documented (through the development of a Social Heritage Inventory Form) and contributed to the development of an economic incentives toolkit to help identify, prioritize, and incentivize the preservation of cultural and social heritage. (Click here for full presentation.)
California County Property Tax Managers Association Meeting
On February 22, at the CA County Property Tax Managers Association Meeting in Ontario, Libby joined fellow panelists Don Fraser, Marty Coren, and Lee Squire to present on Enforceable Obligation Payment Schedules (EOPS) and Recognized Obligation Payment Schedules (ROPS), Bond Payment Issues, and other Pass-Through Payment Issues affecting California Counties in the wake of Assembly Bill 26.
Their presentation is available here.
California Budget is Passed by State Legislature
John Myers at KQED News and his take on the recent passage of the state budget and the issue of redevelopment...
Building a Stronger Bay Area Economy
In 2013, the Bay Area’s nine counties completed a regional plan called Plan Bay Area that aligns with California’s 2008 state land use and climate change laws (SB 375). SPUR has long advocated for a regional plan and provided key input throughout the Plan Bay Area adoption process, conducting related analyses on how to promote better regional planning and build a stronger Bay Area economy. Highlights of SPUR’s contributions include:
The economic challenges to building a strong regional economy is compounded by the reality that middle-income jobs in the Bay Area are becoming scarcer as more and more job growth takes place at the high and low ends of the wage spectrum. SPUR is collaborating with a group of partners to help expand economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income Bay Area residents through its work on the Economic Prosperity Strategy, a key initiative of One Bay Area.
For the 2013 Index of Silicon Valley, SPUR wrote a special analysis on the economic benefits of governing the Bay Area as if it were a single economic region. The analysis focused on issues are difficult to address at the local level (limited housing production, fragmented transit delivery systems, job sprawl, fiscal inequities and climate change) and recommended potential strategies to address them.
As the Bay Area economy began to improve, SPUR reported in its publication The Urban Future of Work that knowledge sector firms are embracing the benefits of urbanism and relocating to San Francisco and other transit accessible Bay Area cities because these companies recognize the locational advantages of being close to suppliers, collaborators, and urban amenities desired by their employees.
SPUR’s Regional Policy Board advises on SPUR’s regional planning endeavors and Libby Seifel chairs this Board for SPUR.
Broadreach's Ameswell Mountain View now offering virtual tours!
Located adjacent to the intersection of Highway 101 and 85, Ameswell Mountain View is planned as a LEED Platinum office and hotel complex featuring more than 200,000 square feet of office space and 250 modern luxury hotel rooms located at the gateway to both North Bayshore and downtown Mountain View. The City of Mountain View and the developer—Broadreach Capital Partners—entered into a public private partnership for this development at 750 Moffett Boulevard in 2015. The Mountain View City Council adopted resolutions certifying the project's Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), making required CEQA findings and conditionally approving its permits in October 2016. The developer is currently working on construction drawings and the final design elements. (Click here to take a virtual tour of the project!)
Seifel provided real estate and property development advisory services to the City in support of the 7-acre, City-owned Moffett Gateway property (now Ameswell Mountain View). Collaborating with David Babcock and Associates (DBA) who provided urban design services, Seifel evaluated the financial feasibility of alternative development scenarios and recommended the consideration of office, hotel and retail uses at the site. Seifel subsequently advised the City on the developer solicitation process, helping to prepare the Request for Qualifications and Request for Proposals, in collaboration with City staff, Maurice Robinson & Associates and Baker Street Associates. Seifel facilitated the developer evaluation process and advised the City on selection of the Broadreach development team and on the subsequent negotiation process for the area. (See here more on Seifel’s services to Mountain View for this and other projects.)
Check out the City of Mountain View’s webpage for more on the project.
Bond Financing and Disclosure – Today’s Landscape and What the Future Holds
The issuance and disclosure of tax allocation bond (TAB) debt since the dissolution of redevelopment has brought challenges to communities throughout California, ranging from difficulty obtaining accurate project area information to lack of guidance regarding important issues like tax increment limitations. To aid city and county staff who are at the front lines of bond issues, the California Redevelopment Association (CRA) presented training workshops in Southern and Northern California, led by leading experts and practitioners, to provide an in-depth look at TAB bond administration, refunding and continuing disclosure issues.
David McEwen, partner at Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, led the first panel: “Existing Bonds: Fitting the Square Peg into a Round Hole,” featuring presentations by Barbara Boswell, Finance Director for the City of Lancaster, and Seifel Consulting President Libby Seifel. Their session presented recommended best practices regarding how to assure sufficient revenues are available to meet bond obligations through the ROPS process, legal requirements for the use of existing bond proceeds, and what to do when the IRS comes knocking.
Other issues covered during the workshop included:
- How State legislation has impacted tax allocation bonds and how these new legal requirements apply at the local level
- What it takes to market tax allocation bonds in this changing environment
- How the State Department of Finance and County Auditor Controllers evaluate bond obligations
- How to prepare necessary technical reports including fiscal consultant and disclosure reports
- What are the current bond disclosure policies and consequences of reporting failure, particularly given recent SEC scrutiny
- What are the pros and cons of bond refunding
Workshop luncheon speaker Brent Hawkins, Partner at Best Best & Krieger LLP provided an update on the latest developments on State legislation and pending legal cases related to redevelopment. Joseph (Joe) Coomes and Libby Seifel also presented the findings from ULI’s upcoming publication on new tools and strategies to promote economic development and build sustainable communities.
Analysis of San Francisco's TDR Program (Transfer of Development RIghts)
In response to record growth in San Francisco’s downtown in the mid-1980s, San Francisco created the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program to preserve the City’s “unique historic, architectural and aesthetic character.” The TDR program allows property owners to transfer unused development potential from a preservation property to other properties to ultimately be used on a development property in order to increase allowable gross floor area above what would otherwise be allowed. For the past three decades, the TDR program has helped the City to accommodate growth downtown while providing owners of historic buildings with incentives to maintain cultural resources.
The San Francisco Planning Department retained the Seifel Consulting team to conduct a comprehensive review of the City’s existing TDR program and make recommendations about how best to implement it in the future, including whether to certify TDR on City owned public buildings. Seifel was asked to analyze the impact of the potential sale of TDR from public properties on the TDR market.
The Seifel team completed a comprehensive review of the City’s existing TDR program and policies, and conducted in-depth analysis on the Planning Department’s database used to track TDR certification, transfer and use. It assessed the historical pace of TDR activity, key market factors in TDR transactions, and the value of TDR to the real estate development community. To provide insight into program implementation, as well the TDR market and pricing, the team interviewed brokers and other stakeholders involved in the TDR market and prepared case studies on specific TDR transactions in San Francisco. Finally, the team researched historic preservation-related TDR programs in other cities.
Click here for a copy of the Seifel team's TDR Study, included in the July 2013 San Francisco Planning staff report.
Alameda County Wins APA Award of Excellence (Ashland and Cherryland Business District Specific Plan)
The American Planning Association (APA) recently awarded Alameda County the Northern Section Award for Excellence in Economic Planning and Development for the Ashland and Cherryland Business District Specific Plan and Code (ACBDSP). Adopted by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in December 2015 by a unanimous vote, ACBDSP builds on and empowers the original Specific Plan by encouraging sustainable economic growth while outlining priorities for implementation.
Seifel served on the multidisciplinary team (led by Lisa Wise Consulting) responsible for developing a community-driven vision and implementation plan for the Plan Area and updating the 1995 Specific Plan. The team's work emphasized economic revitalization through place-making, innovative implementation strategies, creative marketing, branding, public improvement programs, multimodal transportation plan, robust community outreach and form-based code.
The consultant team of experts also included Opticos Design, Fehr & Peers, Rincon Consultants, Local Government Commission, Seifel Consulting, MJB Consulting and JWC Urban Design.
A copy of the adopted plan and code document is available here.
And be sure to check out NorCal APA's awards page, here.
After the First 100 Days: An Outlook on Real Estate
What is the outlook for real estate after the first 100 days of the new Trump administration? How will real estate markets be affected, and more specifically, how will funding for new housing and infrastructure be impacted?
The 22nd Annual Fisher Center Real Estate Conference addressed these critical issues and others facing the real estate and development community on May 8 at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco. The topic-driven annual spring conference of the Fisher Center for Real Estate & Urban Economics (FCREUE) assembled an exceptional group of leaders and experienced development professionals who discussed the challenging complexities of today’s real estate markets. Included in the conference lineup was “The President’s First Hundred Days: Real Estate Impacts & the Emerging Policy Environment”. Moderated by Libby Seifel, session speakers Douglas Abbey (Chairman at Swift Real Estate Partners), Ben Metcalf (Director of California Department of Housing and Community Development) and Mike Novogradac (Partner at Novogradac & Company LLP) led the audience through an engaging discussion of how changing national policies and Federal budget priorities could impact housing and the broader real estate climate in California and across the nation.
The mission of the FCREUE is to educate students and real estate professionals and to support and conduct research on real estate, urban economics, the California economy, land use, and public policy. More on FCREUE’s activities can be found here: http://groups.haas.berkeley.edu/realestate/index.shtml
Full information on the 22nd Annual Spring Conference can be found here: http://groups.haas.berkeley.edu/realestate/ExecEd/conferenceoverview17.shtml
Abandoning Redevelopment: California’s Big Experiment
While 2011 saw the signing of two bills into law by Governor Jerry Brown, both affecting redevelopment agencies throughout California, affordable housing advocates and others in the development community scrambled to figure out what the future of public financing strategies would look like in post-redevelopment California.
A recent Urban Land Institute article focused on the challenges that the loss of redevelopment has brought to infill developers, particularly affordable housing developers.
"We are very concerned about the lack of affordable housing funds this will create,” says Cynthia Parker, president and chief executive officer of BRIDGE Housing, a nonprofit organization in San Francisco. “We have about 30 projects that include redevelopment money, and last year we spent a fair amount of time getting commitments in place as part of the enforceable obligations of the agency. So we have plenty of work that will be started in the next two years. But beyond that, everything becomes quite murky.”
City visionaries and infill developers across California are searching for public financing solutions and strategies to encourage new development in urban areas. In the article, Libby speaks to the possibility of alternative funding sources, particularly infrastructure financing districts (IFDs), which would allow cities and counties to issue bonds to pay for public works projects and to then use property tax increment revenues to pay back the bonds.
“Most cities in California receive only a small share of property taxes that could be dedicated to bond repayment, after excluding property taxes from educational districts,” says Libby. “And right now, if 12 or more registered voters reside within the proposed district, approval from two-thirds of all voters in the district [is required].”
A senate bill under consideration in early 2012 would extend the deadline for the redevelopment handover process from February 1 to April 15. “There are complicated issues to resolve related to bonds and contractual obligations, including obligations to employees and their unions,” Libby continues. “A number of agreements and projects are jeopardized. More legal guidance and time [are] needed to work out the implementation details.”
Urban Land is a publication of the Urban Land Institute. More information is available here.
38th Annual Affordable Housing Conference by Non-profit Housing of Northern California
“Standing Together”--NPH’s theme for their 38th annual conference--reflects a commitment among NPH members, partners, allies and the broader housing community to create an equitable, sustainable and vibrant Bay Area region through the creation and preservation of affordable housing in Northern California. NPH’s annual conference joins together affordable housing leaders, peers, developers, advocates, experts and cross-sector partners to explore the tools, knowledge and networks to foster the development of quality, affordable housing in California.
Last year’s annual conference (“Building Opportunities”) explored strategies to “advance wins at the ballot box” for affordable housing in local communities across the Bay Area, working with coalition partners and NPH supporters to advance opportunities to increase resources for affordable housing, which resulted in many successful voter initiatives and legislation.
Hope you can attend NPH’s 38th Annual Affordable Housing Conference on Friday, October 6, from 8am-5:30pm at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. For full details as well as tickets and sponsorship info, click here.
1/28/14 SPUR Forum on Economic Strategies for Japantown's Cultural Preservation
For over 100 years, the Japantown neighborhood has been the cultural heart for the Japanese community of San Francisco and the Bay Area region. At the same time, Japantown has endured numerous challenges to its physical and economic environment. Over the last four years through San Francisco’s Better Neighborhoods planning process, community stakeholders have articulated their vision for Japantown’s future and recommended cultural and economic strategies to achieve this vision. The Japantown Cultural Resources and Economic Sustainability Strategy (JCHESS) is the result of this process to articulate community concerns, identify cultural resources in the area, and deploy public policies and funding tools to preserve and enhance cultural assets.
The upcoming 1/28/14 SPUR forum will present JCHESS, the first of its kind in the nation. Hear important lessons for other communities within San Francisco and beyond.
Seifel Consulting served as economic consultants assisting the City in creating a compendium of economic and other tools to help support the preservation and enhancement of cultural resources.
Details on the SPUR session located here.
1/21/14 SPUR Forum on the Cost of Building Housing in San Francisco
Blogger Markasaurus asks in a recent post, “Why can’t developers build housing in San Francisco for the people who need it most instead of for the rich?” The price of housing in San Francisco is skyrocketing. An upcoming SPUR forum will address the question: why is it so expensive to build housing in San Francisco?
Panelists will examine the component costs of bringing housing to market and discuss how predevelopment costs, delays, and requirements for additional studies and parking factor into the cost equation. The session will conclude with a deliberation on what can be done to drive down land costs and change construction practices, as well as what local government’s role—if any—is in cost reduction.
Architect Mark “Markasaurus” Hogan will present his recent analysis on housing costs. Panelist Libby Seifel will compare housing costs to costs in other communities and present findings from the Inclusionary Housing Financial Analysis Report her firm prepared for the San Francisco’s Mayor’s Office of Housing. Daniel Murphy of Urban Green DevCo and Blair Allison of Cahill Contractors will present developer and contractor perspectives on housing cost.
Details on SPUR session.