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ULI Tampa Bay Trends Conference mixes real estate industry insights, networking opportunities <\/p>\nULI Tampa Bay Trends Conference mixes real estate industry insights, networking opportunities <\/p>\n
Urban Land Institute (ULI) Tampa Bay\u2019s annual Trends Conference is a wide-ranging forum on the Bay Area\u2019s real estate industry and a lesson in time efficiency.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s edition, \u201cBuilt for the Bay: Reframing Real Estate in our Region\u2019s Transformation,\u201d noon to 5:30 p.m., April 30th at Armature Works in Tampa, will tackle a slew of significant industry and community topics in just over four-and-a-half hours, once you factor in a break devoted to a long-standing industry priority, networking.<\/p>\n
The afternoon\u2019s speakers will cover topics such as resilience, attainable housing, current industry trends, preserving the Bay Area\u2019s character, as redevelopment reshapes the region, real estate and the restaurant industry, activating vacant retail space, the research and innovation coming out of the region\u2019s healthcare systems, and the Tampa Bay Rays\u2019 planned mixed-use development adjacent to the proposed baseball stadium at Hillsborough College.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe try to have something for everyone because our membership is so diverse,\u201d ULI Tampa Bay Executive Director Lee Lowry says. \u201cOur members are everyone from attorneys to developers to resiliency experts to architects.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are more details on the schedule. Lesley Deutch, managing principal of John Burns Research & Consulting, provides an update on the industry\u2019s conditions in \u201cAre the Trends Trending?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cHow Can We Preserve Tampa Bay\u2019s Character?\u201d is a panel discussion featuring executives from real estate developers WS Development, Kolter, and KETTLER, City of Tampa Deputy Administrator for Development and Economic Opportunity Geri Lopez, and moderator \u00a0Ben Dachepalli, with the law firm Bradley Arant Boult Cummings. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to be attractive and have major developers coming in,\u201d Lowry says. \u201cHow can we help these big companies realize \u2013 you wanted to be here. There is something about this place that did that. How do we preserve it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor Ralph with REAL Building Consultants will spotlight the resilience features of the St. Pete Pier in \u201cSurge: Resilience and the Award-Winning St. Pete Pier.\u201d\u00a0 Among its other awards, the pier was one of six projects to win the Urban Land Institute\u2019s ULI Global Awards for Excellence in 2022. Resilient design features include elevating the entire structure three feet higher than the last pier to prepare for storm surge and sea-level rise. The entire structural design is based on a 100-year flood storm event, and the project uses green infrastructure stormwater features.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHomecooking: Real Estate and Tampa Bay\u2019s Local Food Scene\u201d features Ferrell Alvarez of Proper House Group, Joseph Guggino of Next Level Brands, and moderator Jeff Houck of The 1905 Family of Restaurants, parent company of the Columbia Restaurant, discussing the real estate decisions restaurateurs have to make and their impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you make decisions on expansion?\u201d Lowry says. \u201cWhat\u2019s the reality on the ground of being a restaurateur and, essentially, being a developer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKeeping Tampa Bay Healthy: Medical Research and Innovation Projects\u201d features representatives from Tampa General Hospital, Moffitt Cancer Center, Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital, St Joseph\u2019s South Hospital\/BayCare Hospital Manatee, and moderator Alison Barlow of the St. Petersburg Innovation District in a discussion on the advances and innovations coming out of the region\u2019s healthcare systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cZero Empty Spaces: Answers for the Industry\u201d features Evan Snow, co-founder of Fort Lauderdale-based Zero Empty Spaces, describing the business\u2019s unique focus area- breathing new life and business activity into vacant retail storefronts and restaurants. In its most well-established program, Zero Empty Spaces has transformed vacant shops into affordable artist studios at nearly three dozen locations, including Tyrone Square Mall in St. Petersburg.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also a pilot program turning empty storefronts into co-retail space for emerging brands, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. Another pilot program in the works converts empty restaurant kitchens into commissary kitchens for food entrepreneurs. Another initiative they\u2019re testing repurposes empty bars and event spaces as cocktail labs for training bartenders.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cCreative Policy Solutions for Attainable Housing\u201d will have a Manatee County commissioner, a YIMBY St. Pete representative, and a representative from the Florida League of Cities discussing policy solutions to facilitate the construction of attainable housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
State laws like the Live Local Act have allowed affordable housing in industrial, commercial, planned-unit, and mixed-use zoning districts, while prohibiting local governments from requiring a zoning change for those projects. In this year\u2019s session, a bill to allow accessory dwelling units (aka granny flats) by right in single-family residential zoning died in the House. The proposals have drawn support for facilitating affordable housing, and run into opposition for taking away local elected officials\u2019 decision-making authority.<\/p>\n
The scheduled talks finish with \u201cBeyond the Ballpark: Sports-Led Real Estate Development.\u201d Tampa Bay Rays Chief Executive Officer Ken Babby will discuss the team\u2019s plans to develop a mixed-use district adjacent to the baseball stadium proposed at Hillsborough College. The Hillsborough County Commission and the Rays still need to reach a funding agreement for the stadium project to move forward.<\/p>\n
The event ends with a networking happy hour from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely one of our bigger events of the year,\u201d Lowry says about Trends. \u201cIt\u2019s fast-paced and features leaders from all these different sectors. I looked at the list, and it\u2019s a stellar group of attendees, too. We will have networking opportunities that are really important in times like these, when things are uncertain.\u201d<\/p>\n
ULI Tampa Bay is a nonprofit organization and part of a global network of real estate and land use experts seeking to shape the future of the built environment through equitable and sustainable best practices.\u00a0<\/p>\n