Press Room

Los Angeles to Host Urban Land Institute's 2005 Fall Meeting

October 10, 2005

Los Angeles, Calif.— Thirteen years after the last Urban Land Institute (ULI) Fall Meeting in Los Angeles, ULI will once again hold its 2005 annual Fall Meeting here.  Attendance is expected to exceed the 5,700 who came to last year’s Fall Meeting in New York City. 

This year’s Fall Meeting will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from November 1st to November 4th.  A fundamental theme of the Fall Meeting is urban infill – the reuse of obsolete inner-city land. Widely-acclaimed economic forecaster Clyde Prestowitz, environmentalist Paul Hawken, economist Hernando de Soto, inner-city developer Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Jr., and former U.S. Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt are headlining an impressive list of industry professionals and analysts who will discuss political, demographic, economic, social and cultural issues affecting urban areas.  The meeting will also feature a discussion on rebuilding New Orleans.

The Fall Meeting will offer attendees a wide range of activities, tours, and presentations, including Mobile Workshops, which will take participants to significant Southern California neighborhoods and large-scale redevelopment projects.  With the recent Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) hearings, the reuse of former military bases is a priority for both municipal governments and ULI.  One of this year’s mobile workshops,  “Tustin Legacy and Heritage Fields: From Military Base to Master Plan,” will focus on this issue.

In addition, the emerging trend towards downtown high-rise living and redevelopment will be addressed by another mobile workshop, “The Advent of 24/7 LA: Housing as a Catalyst for Revitalizing the Historic Core.”  It will explore the adaptive reuse of existing, historically significant buildings into lofts and other housing.  City officials and developers will discuss the challenges and successes involved in transforming downtown Los Angeles into a 24/7 community.

Hosting the Fall Meeting is ULI Los Angeles, a district council of the Urban Land Institute, whose chair is Michael Banner, CEO of Los Angeles LDC, Inc.

“Thirteen years ago, when the Fall Meeting was last held in Los Angeles, the real estate market was severely in the doldrums,” said Banner.  “Today, things have turned 180 degrees – in many ways the real estate market has never been more robust, and due to the scarcity of developable land, much of today’s interest is shaped by the needs of urban dwellers and their ability to revitalize neighborhoods.”

Other Fall Meeting special events include three media briefings:

Emerging Trends in Real Estate: 2006®, published by ULI and Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP, will be released to the media during a special breakfast briefing.  Attendees will have the opportunity to speak with the experts who prepared the report, which is considered a “must read” among industry practitioners and analysts.

Driven to change, or not?  ULI will release the results of its very timely nationwide survey which discusses whether rising gas prices are causing consumers to change their commutes, driving habits and lifestyles. 

ULI Center for the West: ULI will announce the creation of a new research center devoted to real estate and land use issues in the Western half of the United States.  Those who attend will be the first to hear details on what the new center will offer.

Additional Fall Meeting highlights include the following panel discussions and educational sessions:  “Infill – Hot Products,” “The Future of Federal Urban Development Programs,” and “Is There a Housing Bubble?”

ULI will also continue its discussion about “Building a Livable Urban Future,” which began at ULI’s inaugural World Cities Forum held in London in June of this year.  The Los Angeles session will explore sustainability; civic leadership; and issues of wealth creation, property rights, and social equity.  It will also lay the groundwork for the second World Cities Forum, which will be held in Shanghai in September 2006. 

The Fall Meeting is open to ULI members and the public.  For more information on the Fall Meeting or to purchase tickets, please visit www.uli.org/meetings or call (800) 321-5011.  To join ULI, please visit www.uli.org and click on “Membership/Join.”      
  
Members of ULI who live or work in the counties of Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Kern are members of ULI Los Angeles, a district council of the Urban Land Institute. Over 1,800 ULI Los Angeles members carry out the initiatives of the Los Angeles District Council in support of the ULI mission “in the community” and access the full educational and professional resources of the Institute. 

The Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide responsible leadership in the use of land in order to enhance the total environment. Established in 1936, the Institute has more than 27,000 members representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.