Originally published on May 30, 2023, by Jennifer Lefurgy, Ph.D. for NAIOP.

The NAIOP Research Foundation, as part of its Industry Trends meeting, recently hosted a panel discussion on what’s next for the office sector. Analysts from leading service firms joined NAIOP Research Foundation Governors and office developers Greg Fuller, president and COO, Granite Properties and Paul Ciminelli, president and CEO, Ciminelli Development, to discuss problems and potential opportunities. The panelists agreed that the sector will undergo a shakeout that will include transformation, streamlining, new approaches to work and holistic solutions.

We're back with our popular "Two for Tuesday PLUS" edition providing education for you about relevant issues.  Here's our list of things YOU should know about:

• CLT Land Development Streamlining Submittal Process - In conjunction with the implementation of the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), the department is enhancing the application submittal process.  Some highlights include:
• Accela Citizen Access (ACA) will be reduced to 9 record types from 70.
• ACA will now be accepting UDO Administration Applications for Pre-submittal meetings, Appeals, Variances, and Interpretations.
• Fees will be invoiced after all records are assessed in a gateway.  For fee estimation, a link on the application will go to the User Fee Section on the CLT Development Center website.
• Charging to the Mecklenburg County account option will be eliminated due to payment options now offered by the CLT Development Center - conventional check, credit card payment, and e-checks.
• NCDOT will be reviewing Plats and Traffic Impact Study records in Accela.  Staff is working with NCDOT to streamline the Commercial review process.

PLEASE NOTE:  The City’ s submittal portal Accela Citizen Access (ACA) will be “under construction” on Thursday, June 1st thru Sunday, June 4th.  ACA will re-open on Monday, June 5^th.  CLT Development Center

Rob Nanfelt, Executive Director of REBIC, take:  Anything that can be done to smooth out the process and provide more certainty is a positive.  We appreciate staff taking the initiative on this.  The additional reviews that will come with the new stormwater and tree requirements will be where some delays are inevitable - probably as much as 5 to 7 business days.  It will take some time to get this right.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Stormwater Services is currently in the process of revising the BMP (Best Management Practices) Design Manual- As part of this process, the new Stormwater Control Measure (SCM) Design Manual is open to public comment for a period of 30 days.  A summary and the revised chapters can be found at:  Stormwater Control Measure (SCM) Design Manual​ – City of Charlotte (charlottenc.gov).  Please contact Gurveer Uppal by close of business TOMORROW, May 31, 2023 with any comments or questions.

CLT Council Committees Meet Next Monday - On June 5th, Charlotte City Council Committees will meet as they always do on the first Monday of each month.  Next week's meetings will be of particular interest as the next wave of UDO text amendments will likely be discussed in the Transportation, Planning, & Development Committee.  A final resolution on the Eastland Project may also be in the offing in the Economic Development Committee.  

Check this link later in the week to view the agendas.

Originally published on May 23, 2023, by Shawn Moura Ph.D., for NAIOP.

NAIOP National Forums members attending last week’s annual Symposium had the opportunity to tour several projects in the office and life science markets in East Cambridge, Somerville and the greater Boston market. The tour, led by Rob Dickey, Executive Vice President at Leggat McCall Properties (LMP), included site visits to two mixed-use projects that are currently under development.

Originally published on May 19, 2023, by Kathryn Hamilton, CAE for NAIOP.

Opening with an image of a sailboat, National Forums Symposium keynote Heidi Learner said the photo captures the whipsaw tone of economic news today, with sudden shifts in unexpected directions.

Originally published on May 19, 2023, by Kathryn Hamilton, CAE for NAIOP.

The Boston seaport has been continually reshaped since the 1800s, devolving from what was once a thriving area of commerce to acres of muddy parking lots and a few restaurants. Today, it is being reimagined again in a rapid and remarkable transformation that includes soaring office and lab towers, high-end residential, and all the retail services you could imagine.

Originally published on May 19, 2023, by Kathryn Hamilton for NAIOP.

Opening with an image of a sailboat, National Forums Symposium keynote Heidi Learner said the photo captures the whipsaw tone of economic news today, with sudden shifts in unexpected directions.

Originally published on May 19, 2023, by Kathryn Hamilton for NAIOP.

The Boston seaport has been continually reshaped since the 1800s, devolving from what was once a thriving area of commerce to acres of muddy parking lots and a few restaurants. Today, it is being reimagined again in a rapid and remarkable transformation that includes soaring office and lab towers, high-end residential, and all the retail services you could imagine.

Originally published on May 11, 2023, by Brielle Scott for NAIOP.

California’s Title 24, the state’s energy code, has required solar for all low-rise multifamily projects since 2016, but new provisions have gone into effect this year, impacting any projects permitted since Jan. 1, 2023.

Originally published by Adam Roth for the Spring 2023 Issue of NAIOP Development Magazine.

The “Rule of 1.5” explains the impact of transportation costs on industrial real estate.

A recent Q&A in the Wall Street Journal with Marie-Christine Lombard, CEO of international freight-forwarding firm Geodis SA, includes a comment that sums up the current state of the global logistics industry: “The entire supply chain is being rethought and recalibrated and re-costed.”

Originally published by Matthew Goelzer and Maribel Barba for the Spring 2023 Issue of NAIOP Development Magazine.

A one-of-a-kind Costco arises in a Mexico City neighborhood.

Imagine playing soccer or shooting hoops on the outskirts of Mexico City while atop a 524,549-square-foot Costco Wholesale project. Built on a landfill, this unique retail warehouse, parking structure and loading bay is almost completely hidden from public view. 

Originally published by Chris Lee for the Spring 2023 of NAIOP Development Magazine.

The commercial real estate industry is facing many challenges as it moves into 2023. Amid rising interest rates, the lingering impacts of COVID, high levels of inflation, a recessionary economy, shifting capital markets, technological advancements, the Great Resignation, quiet quitting and demographic transitions, one element remains clear and constant — talent management. The real estate industry can’t operate and deliver successful outcomes without exceptional talent and leadership. However, those two factors also come with rapidly rising compensation and retention challenges.

While interviewing Tracy Montross, we discovered some amazing facts about her, and the impact this pivotal airport and airline has on the health of our entire region.  For instance, did you know that at one point during the pandemic, our own Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) was the busiest terminal in the world?  It’s a testament to the airline that has helped put us on the world map in terms of attracting, maintaining, and growing business opportunities around the greater Piedmont region.

Charlotte, (or CLT which represents 5% of the entire GDP for the state of North Carolina) is fortunate to serve as America’s second-largest hub, connecting us to the world with an average of 560 daily flights, more than 170 destinations, and 23 countries, serving more than 42 million travelers in 2022.  Its regional impact on our economy, huge employment figures, and the way it supports our ability to attract world businesses; this is truly a subject REBIC wants you to know about!

Listen to this very entertaining podcast, here.

We definitely see growing momentum around the country related to adaptive reuse.  In some cases, this involves office-to-residential conversions and in others office to other institutional uses.  You may recall we started beating the drum on this back in November as one of our six strategies related to housing affordability (click here) with the mindset that increased production of housing units would be a positive outcome.

Since that time, we have had an opportunity to talk to a lot of folks who agree that we should see if we can make it work.

One architectural firm in particular, Gensler, has put much effort into the concept.  Click the links below to learn more about how these ideas could become a reality.

• Gensler Blog - What We Learned
• Gensler Blog - Converting Class C Office Space
• Gensler Webinar
• Calculator Presentation

Originally published on April 20, 2023, by Gary Tasman for NAIOP.

If you’ve ever attended a ceremonial groundbreaking for a school, restaurant, corporate headquarters, or other new building, you understand the symbolism of that first turn of the dirt. The groundbreaking ceremony signifies the physical start of a construction project. In most cases, however, months or even years have already been spent preparing the land for future growth, as planners and developers work behind the scenes to make the property “shovel-ready.”

During last night's meeting, the Charlotte City Council held a hearing on four text amendments related to the soon-to-be-implemented Unified Development Ordinance (UDO).  Since these were introduced several weeks ago, REBIC representatives met with Planning Staff and suggested revisions to the proposed amendments, some of which were accepted, and some were not.  This is the first round of changes that will likely be made over the course of the next couple of years.   Here are the details:

• Text Amendment to the Charlotte Tree Ordinance - (1) Adds new requirements for collected civil penalties to only be used to further the purpose, intent, enforcement, spirit, and requirements of the Charlotte Tree Ordinance with regard to the use of collected funds; (2) Corrects numerical and roman numeral sequencing in Articles; and (3) Deletes two unintentional words in one sentence.  
• Text Amendment 2023-056 - Amends the UDO for the use Landfill, Land Clearing, and Insert Debris (LCID) by (1) deleting it as a use permitted with prescribed conditions in all zoning districts except ML-2; (2) modifying the use in the ML-2 zoning district as a use requiring a conditional zoning that complies with the prescribed conditions; (3) increasing the distance between an operational portion of an LCID landfill to 50 feet from any property line; (4) adding a requirement that the actual fill area shall be located at least 300 feet from any Neighborhood 1 or Neighborhood 2 Place Type or an existing residential structure in any other place type; (5) deleting collector streets as a permitted primary vehicular access; (6) adding limited hours and days of operation for the use; (7) adding a requirement for a geomembrane liner and leachate collection system subject to state standards that is equal to or exceeds the state criteria for municipal solid waste landfill units; (8) adding a requirement that the use shall comply with the state groundwater well and surface water requirements for a municipal solid waste landfill; and (9) deleting the requirement for a zoning permit for the use. 
• Text Amendment 2023-057 - Amends the UDO to allow Multi-Family Attached and Multi-Family Stacked development in the CG and CR zoning districts under certain conditions and to modify the prescribed conditions for the principal use of Drive-Through Establishment and the accessory use of Accessory Drive-Through (formerly Drive-Through Facility) to limit their use in Centers Place Types.
• Text Amendment 2023-058 - This is a broad "clean up" amendment that corrects errors in the adopted ordinance and will improve functionality.  This is the first of many such amendments that will be proposed over time.  Click this link for a Summary Memo that describes the proposed language changes.  

A final vote on the amendments will likely be held prior to Memorial Day as the originally adopted ordinance becomes effective on June 1st.

Last Thursday the Charlotte City Council held a Budget Workshop as it works toward a May/June approval of the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget set to begin on July 1st.  To view the full meeting, click this link.  Additional inks to presentations provided can be found following here: 

• Revaluation Update Presentation 
• Revaluation Impacts
• CATS FY 2024 Budget Outlook
• CATS One-Pager
• Charlotte Water FY 2024 Budget Presentation
• Charlotte Water One-Pager
• March 9th Budget Workshop Follow Up

In a move that is definitely backward motion, that will create uncertainty, and potentially threaten the economic vitality of an important part of our region, the Board of Commissioners of the Town of Mooresville adopted a resolution establishing a working group to study the legal requirements of imposing a growth moratorium. 

Erin Shaw is slated to become the newest member of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Commission as she received seven recommendations during last night's Council meeting earning her an automatic appointment.  Erin is a Managing Director with Beacon Partners, a REBIC Member, serves on the Charlotte Region Commercial Board of REALTORS®, a participant in the Urban Land Institute National Development Council, and is a member of NAIOP.  She will add a wealth of experience to the commission.