The 2014 LOCUS Leadership Summit: Closing the Next [Smart Growth] Deal, was held on June 17-18, 2014 in Washington, DC, and brought together real estate developers, investors, members of Congress and Washington’s thought leaders all in one place.

Over 140 real estate senior executives and local elected officials convened at the Hotel Monaco in Washington, DC to learn about the latest and most innovative strategies to finance, design and build sustainable, walkable developments. This year’s summit also provided participants with a forum to discuss deals and business opportunities with the leading and most cutting edge real estate developers and investors in the nation. Read a full recap of the event here >>

We hope you enjoyed connecting with your colleagues at the Summit and will join us in the movement to advance walkable places across the country by becoming a LOCUS member. Take a look below at some of the events and resources from the summit.

Release of Foot Traffic Ahead
LOCUS: Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors, along with The George Washington University’s Center for Real Estate & Urban Analysis, released a joint report ranking 30 metropolitan areas with the most walkable urban places in the country. See where your metropolitan area ranks and watch the report release >>

2014 LOCUS Leadership Award
This year’s LOCUS Leadership Award ceremony was held at the Congressional Breakfast on Wednesday, June 18th to honor the 2014 recipient Meea Kang, president and co-founder of Domus Development, LLC, as well as Ed Walker, Founder and Managing Member of CityWorks, LLC in Roanoake, VA and Marketstreet Enterprises’ The Gulch Project in Nashville, TN as the 2014 Honorable Mentions for their exceptional work in smart growth development. Read more about our 2014 LOCUS Leadership Awardee >>

R.E.A.L Talks
LOCUS debuted the Real Estate Advocacy and Leadership Talks (R.E.A.L Talks) and off-the-record sessions during the summit. The R.E.A.L Talks featured industry experts presenting on topics such as mission-driven development and community revitalization and how those issues intersect with smart growth development.
Presentations from the R.E.A.L. Talk Speakers are available below:

Re-imagining Communities and Revitalization

• Ellen Dunham-Jones, Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
• David Grannis, President, PointC Partners
• Mark Mallory, Former Mayor of Cincinnati, OH

Mission-Driven Development

• Richard Baron, President, McCormack Baron Salazar
• Calvin Gladney, Managing Partner, Mosaic Urban
• Jair Lynch, President & CEO, JAIR LYNCH Development

Videos of the R.E.A.L. Talks will be posted soon!

Off-the-Record Sessions
During the off-the-record sessions, participants had a nothing-is-off-limits style conversation to develop innovative and actionable solutions for the most controversial smart growth real estate issues facing the industry today. Speakers explained the mechanics behind their projects while being open about what is and isn’t working on the ground.

Highlights from the 2014 Leadership Summit

Private tour of DC’s newest and iconic development project On Tuesday, participants toured CityCenterDC with project developer Bill Alsup, Senior Vice President of Hines Interest Group. During the tour, Alsup gave an overview of the project and other information on the development including how Hines made the affordable housing component of the 10 acre, mixed-use development project “pencil out” and what policies the city created to help move the project from the design to the construction phase.

“Getting Deals Done” during our networking receptions The goal of the summit was to advance smart growth projects on the ground. During various breaks, lunches and receptions, participants engaged in high-level networking and deal-making. Over a dozen projects were highlighted during “The Pitch” cocktail reception, including Katharine Perez-Estolano (Member, Estolano LeSar Perez Advisors) and Bill Fulton (Director of Planning, City of San Diego) on various California-based projects that they had available for development. For information on how to connect with the contestants of The Pitch, contact Megan Pierce.

Advocating for better policies to support walkable, sustainable development LOCUS members play a vital role in guiding legislative and regulatory changes to support your business’ bottom line. At the Congressional Breakfast, participants went to Capitol Hill to ensure the next federal transportation bill includes measures that will lower the cost to building transit-oriented, mixed-use development. Following the breakfast, participants met with the White House Business Council, the office of the Vice President and the US Department of Transportation to educate the Obama Administration on policies that help both taxpayers and the real estate industry.