From the Editor: Warm Greetings, and a Look Ahead

I’m pleased to be the new editor-in-chief of Development magazine. My background is a combination of public policy and real estate development with an eye to demographic changes.

Jennifer LeFurgy

The makeup of the United States is changing rapidly, but we also need to think about our place in the world. We are aging as a society and must rely on creative solutions from diverse, younger generations.

We are confronted with many challenges not only on the home front but also in the emerging markets. The rules have changed since the last recession, but “let cooler heads prevail” is a mantra that has gotten us through uncertainty in the past.

I view our readers not only as consumers of our content but also as contributors. We at Development welcome our readers’ ideas and feedback. Please contact us and help NAIOP be the best organization it can be.

Stay informed,
Jennifer LeFurgy, Ph.D.
Editor-in-Chief

In This Issue

An aging population in the U.S. is changing the landscape for health care-related properties as doctors move into new types of spaces and use traditional commercial real estate in innovative ways.

A national survey shows that warehouse employees are now making an average salary of $14.30 an hour excluding benefits, a big jump from the average of around $10 an hour that prevailed from 2002 to 2014.

When municipalities reduce parking minimums, many discover that they can save money, create less congestion and generate alternative land uses.

Productivity in construction has struggled to keep pace with other sectors of the economy, and one of the main reasons is a poor rate of adoption of high-tech labor-saving advances. Ongoing labor shortages might change that.

When controversial development projects rile up a community, it’s important to turn public conflict into corporate goodwill through thoughtful strategies and genuine concern for the local community.

Opportunity Zones are of great interest to the commercial real estate industry, but many other types of businesses stand to benefit from the significant tax breaks offered by the federal program.

The battle for top talent is bringing revolutionary changes to workplaces, which are morphing from drab office spaces to dynamic destinations that offer unique experiences and high levels of digital connectivity.

Kim Roy is the CEO of HITT Contracting in Falls Church, Virginia, and one of the few female leaders in the construction industry, which is still about 90 percent male. She talks with Development magazine about that and other topics.

The collapse of RealtyShares, a real estate crowdfunding startup, shows that there is a gap in the middle-market real estate finance world that can be filled by individual investors.

The expansion of container-on-vessel service along the Mississippi River and into the Midwest has the potential to increase demand for distribution facilities in those areas.