The Membership Committee hosted Member Coffees at coffee shops around town encouraging members to learn more about ULI and to get engaged with the council. Various ULI Houston committees partnered with the Membership committee to host the series.

The Women’s Leadership Initiative hosted their annual Dinner and Dialogue featuring Michele Wheeler, President & CEO of JacksonShaw with host Cortney Cole, JLL. Attendees got to hear about Michele’s successful career and how she got to where she is.

We hosted our 13th annual Sporting Clay Scholarship Classic with presenting partner Hoar Construction in September with record heat and record crowds. After a successful tournament, we donated $20,000 in scholarships to graduate real estate students at Texas A&M and University of Houston.

EE Reed hosted the first annual WLI Sporting Clay Clinic for members interested in building confidence on sporting clay course. Trainers focused on lessons in gun safety, how to load and how to shoot a shotgun.

Our expert panel during our August Leadership Lunch focused on serving our homelessness population and how Houston and the region has been hailed as a national leader in that work. Panelists were Michael Nichols, Coalition for the Homeless, Dr. Charlene Flash, Avenue 360 Health and Wellness, Joy Horak-Brown, New Hope Housing, Inc., and Samantha Maggiani, Harris County Office of County Administration.

Volunteers served as facilitators and our mock City Council for UrbanPlan at St. Thomas High School this summer. UrbanPlan is a realistic, engaging exercise in which participants—high school students, university students, or public officials—learn about the fundamental forces that affect real estate development in our communities.

ULI Houston’s NEXT Group presented our Developer Shark Tank, an interactive event that aims to entertain while educating, advising, and empowering real estate developers. John Paul Garland, chair of ULI NEXT, moderated the 2nd Annual event with our expert panel of sharks: Christina Blackwell, First Horizon Bank; Paul Layne, Layne Property Partners; Colby Mueck, JLL; Mark Reed, EE Reed Construction and Scott Ziegler, AIA, Ziegler Cooper.

ULI Houston hosted our first Innovation Day, a networking expo designed to promote innovative trends and best practices in real estate. Approximately 200 guests joined to hear Michael Harper with ICON and to network with our sponsor companies in the expo.

Following a live demo of the latest AI tools, including ChatGPT, Bing AI and DALLE, panelists from Houston Community College, Vive Funds, and JAM Idea Agency spoke about the impact of AI on commercial real estate and the development industry. Panelists were G. Raymond Brown, Ph.D., Houston Community College, Veena Jetti, Vive Funds, and Kristin Kautz, JAM Idea Agency.

The Women’s Leadership Initiative held Off The Record dinners with prominent real estate professionals, Susan Hill and Christine Mastandrea. These annual exclusive gatherings focus on the host’s career stories which lead to engaging conversation with members over dinner.

Members went on a walking tour of The Plant in Second Ward, a project representing a new approach to car-lite development in a recently approved transit oriented development zone. Concept Neighborhood, a mixed-use development and management company, spoke about their vision for the project, which is the first to connect the light rails to bayou trails.

The Young Leaders and Rice University Real Estate Club hosted the annual Capital Markets Event panel consisting of Adam Hines, Hines, John Fenoglio, CBRE, and Mandy Negrete, McNair Interests, moderated by Justine Levine, Levcor. They discussed real estate capital markets and investments in Houston, the U.S., and globally.

The Small Scale Development Member Council kicked-off a productive year with tours and lessons in best practices in real estate with guest speakers. One outing included a guided tour of Montrose Collective by council member Barton Kelly.

Community development focused members formed a new Community Development Member Council meeting this year to tour projects and discuss best practices in real estate. Anna Deans with Midway hosted the council at East River for a hard hat tour.

In February, our members and guests heard from panelists about the unique opportunities and challenges in transforming buildings from one purpose to another during our Leadership Luncheon. The conversation brought together Mike Pittman, Cushman & Wakefield, Amy Castellanos, M2G Ventures, Matt Coscio, Harvey Builders, Maija Kreishman, Michael Hsu Office of Architecture and Steve Radom, Radom Capital.

UrbanPlan volunteers ran an UrbanPlan for Public Officials Workshop with the City of Houston. UrbanPlan is a realistic, engaging exercise in which participants—high school students, university students, or public officials—learn about the fundamental forces that affect real estate development in our communities.

Building Industry Leaders (BIL), a cooperative program between the Urban Land Institute Houston (ULI) and the Boys & Girls Clubs Greater Houston (BGC), wrapped up our school year programming with a Spring Break camp. BIL’s goal is to educate and mentor BGC high school students on the diverse career opportunities in commercial real estate. Many volunteers helped make the year long program happen.

This year’s most compelling and innovative real estate projects were recognized by ULI Houston at the 16th annual Development of Distinction Awards presented by Wilson, Cribbs + Goren.

Through a grant from ULI HQ and in partnership with Harris County Health, The Kinder Institute for Urban Research and the Houston Land Bank, ULI Houston completed the Partnership In Health Equity Grant work and was awarded subsequent funding for implementing actions out of the Community Action Plan.

ULI Young Leaders organized and hosted their annual Real Estate Graduate Student Mentorship Program supported by Wells Fargo with a month long series of programming. Tours covered a variety of real estate products and were hosted by top real estate professionals.

ULI Young Leaders and veteran ULI members kicked off our annual Young Leader Mentorship Program supported by Wells Fargo. The program builds relationships and educates members in real estate through their year of tours and meetings.

ULI Houston’s NEXT group continued their program with tours and programs at Autry Park, Loro, 1550 On The Green and 1801 Smith. Members must apply to join a NEXT cohort, made up of leaders in the industry who are older than 35. Groups spend a full year together building relationships and learning more about the Houston market.

The Women’s Leadership Initiative hosted their annual WLI Happy Hour at East River 9, a golf course/driving range/pickleball facility that’s part of the new East River development. Members and guests got to preview the facility before its grand opening, hear about upcoming ULI programs and networked with fellow real estate professionals.

Climate change and urban development have influenced rising temperatures and heat waves. Panelists Angela Cotie, Bartlett Cocke, Wendy Heger, AIA, WELL AP, LEED AP, Page, Kevin Lanza, UT Health and Priya Zachariah AICP, City of Houston discussed why our industry should consider heat mitigation efforts and how it can ultimately help our bottom line.

Emerging Trends in Real Estate® is an annual series of trends and forecast publications that reflect the views of leading real estate executives in three global regions—the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. Our luncheon panelists featured, Tom Fish, Walker & Dunlop, Christina Blackwell, First Horizon, Charles DiRocco, CRE, CCIM, FRICS, PwC, Bryan Sanchez, Lionstone, and Danny Signorelli, Signorelli Company.

The Women’s Leadership Initiative hosted their annual Dinner & Dialogue, an exclusive dinner with a prominent real estate executive. Laurie Baker with Camden was hosted by Jennifer Raymond, JPR Commercial Real Estate for the evening.

The Membership Committee hosted the fall My ULI event to share information about our district council and how to get involved. Members new and old joined to learn about the best ways to get engaged with ULI Houston.

We hosted our 13th annual Sporting Clay Scholarship Classic with presenting partner Hoar Construction in September with record heat and record crowds. After a successful tournament, we donated $20,000 in scholarships to graduate real estate students at Texas A&M and University of Houston.

ULI Houston’s Women’s Leadership Initiative launched the first annual Amplify Women Program for 20 women participants. Participants, with help from the professional coach, worked to become clear on their vision of success and to utilize their unique gifts while identifying strategies for desired growth.

What’s happening in the neighborhoods surrounding our downtown is important. Veronica Chapa Gorczynski, East End District, Kirby Liu, Lovett Commercial, and Rebecca Reyna, Greater Northside Management District discussed what’s new and if downtown developments have impacted the areas around it with moderator Eric Hudson, Method Architecture.