ULI Assignment: J.C. Nichols Prize Luncheon Honoring Chicago Mayor Richard Daley

A few days ago, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was named the 2010 laureate for the Urban Land Institute J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development.

Through my ongoing writing engagements for the ULI's Chicago District, I had the privilege of being at the Art Institute of Chicago to chronicle the event.

In addition to gathering brief remarks on video from about a dozen prominent business and civic leaders, I wrote this summary that appears on ULI Chicago's website.

Real Estate Investment Acquisitions: The Written Summary for Urban Land Institute

In the wake of a gridlocked transaction market these last couple of years, “thawing out” only begins to describe what’s most recently been happening in the real estate investment acquisition market.

That's the start of my summary of the April 29, 2010, meeting of the Urban Land Institute's Chicago District Council, whose members gathered at the Union League Club in Chicago.

To check out the rest of the write-up, click here.

NAIOP Marks A New Writing Adventure

A new writing client of mine is NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association. The acronym, by the way, rhymes with "skytop."

It's a fitting memory device, considering my first assignment, in March, was to write a summary of "A View from the Top: The Nation’s leading Real Estate CEOs Provide Insight Into The Industrial Market.”

A week ago, I covered a panel discussion of "Chicago Rail: Economic Development for the Region."

Much like my experience with the Chicago district of the Urban Land Institute, writing for NAIOP has been a most educational experience.

More than once, the remarks have sent me scurrying to the Internet to dig for more context. With my most recent write-up, I even included a bevy of links to aid others who may be inclined to do the same additional research.

To quote from the assocation's website, NAIOP is "the leading organization for developers, owners and related professionals in office, industrial and mixed-use real estate."

Want to learn more? Click the link that appears with this post's first word.

ULI Update: Writing About the Future of Retail

A year ago, I began writing summaries of panel discussions of the Urban Land Institute's Chicago chapter. Two days ago, after a summer hiatus, the ULI resumed those meetings with "The Future of U.S. Retail-How a Changed Consumer Will Affect Retail Real Estate."

As usual, the speakers were brimming with insight, which I did my best to encapsulate, complete with Mick Jagger lyrics, in this written summary, which appears on the ULI-Chicago website.

Of the numerous data points divulged on Wednesday at the Union League Club in downtown Chicago, here's the one I found most intriguing: the year when the United States is projected to be its "oldest" is 2037. God willing, I'll be turning 69 that year, doing my part to justify that collective elder-statesman distinction.

You can also read prior Inside Edge PR blog posts about ULI topics I've covered, from talks the organization held last November, as well as in January, in March, and in May.

ULI Update: State of the Industrial Market in Chicago

A few weeks ago, I had my latest writing assignment with the Chicago chapter of the Urban Land Institute. The session covered the "State of the Industrial Market: Past, Present and Future Opportunities" in the Chicago area.

You can also check out prior blog posts about ULI topics I've covered, from talks the organization held last November, as well as in January and in March.

My Growth Formula: Complex Assignments

If you're not growing, you're shrinking.

I am a firm believer in this truth, and it's part of what fuels me every day to learn as much as possible.

This morning, as I listened to Malcom Gladwell's "Outliers"--the supremely talented author reads the book himself--I was struck by his mention of the three elements that add up to work fulfillment.

They are autonomy, complexity, and a relationship between work and reward.

The second piece of that equation, complexity, is what I enjoy most about the ongoing assignment I have with the Chicago chapter of the Urban Land Institute.

Since September, I have had five opportunities to tackle what is (for me, anyway) the complex task of distilling more than an hour's worth of ULI discussion into a cohesive 1,000- to 1,200-word summary. You can read my reports, including the one from last Thursday's session, here.

Having covered government bodies for the better part of two decades, I have a finely tuned ear to what a variety of people say, and how it all fits into the larger web of all that is said. But because ULI talks encompass topics with which I have little familiarity, the process presents an entirely new challenge.

Although ULI gives me two days to file a summary, I usually file my report within six hours. The rapid turn-around isn't as noble as it may seem--I am eager to flesh out the session in writing before the impression of what I just learned fades to gray.

ULI Summary: Niche Property Classes

Freezing temperatures and the Urban Land Institute: the two will be forever linked in my memory.

That's because last Thursday, very possibly the coldest day of my life (it was about 20 degrees below zero), I trekked to the Union League Club to cover a meeting of the Urban Land Institute's Chicago chapter.

The topic: "Niche Property Classes: Are they faring better than Primary Real Estate Asset Classes?"

For the fourth time in as many months, I learned a wealth of information. When my fingers thawed upon returing to my office, I wrote this summary for the ULI, which touches on some of the insights shared by development experts in the niches of parking garages, medical offices and college housing.

You can also read three prior summaries I've written for the Urban Land Institute's Chicago chapter, "Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2009®," "The Credit Crisis: How the Collapse of Credit Impacts the Economy and Commercial Real Estate," and "River North: Past Plans, Future Opportunities."

In Praise Of the Urban Land Institute

I receive zero compensation for sick days and vacation, I pay for my family's medical insurance out of my own pocket, and my boss--the guy I see in the mirror--often orders me to show up for work before 7 a.m.

But as I approach my 10th anniversary of self-employment, I wouldn't have it any other way. Among the many reasons is this benefit: the variety of interesting and mind-stretching work that I get to pursue.

A current case in point is the writing I've been doing for Urban Land Institute's Chicago chapter the past few months.

Thanks to a referral from friend and fellow Medillian Ed Finkel, who had previously written for the ULI, I began writing summaries at the organization's Sept. 25 meeting: "River North: Past Plans, Future Opportunities."

That debut was followed by a most timely session whose subject was The Credit Crisis: How the Collapse of Credit Impacts the Economy and Commercial Real Estate."

Talk about a crash-course!

Most recently, last Thursday, I sat in on the "Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2009" discussion led by ULI consultant Jonathan D. Miller.

For the third straight time, by listening to very bright people use clarity and humor to cut through complex topics, I learned a ton and had the privilege of striving to boil down the discussion in about 1,000 words.

Once ULI-Chicago posts the summary on its website, I'll link to it here.