Guests at the cocktail party.
To kick off a week of events, KPF hosted a cocktail party with Arup ahead of project tours, site visits, and presentations focused on the current real estate, planning, and design activity in New York City.
On April 8, KPF invited industry leaders to its New York headquarters for “Cocktails at ULI,” a reception co-hosted by Arup. The event featured remarks by Melissa Román Burch, COO of New York City Economic Development Corporation, who discussed the organization’s ongoing development initiatives.
Tours featuring KPF projects took place on April 10, highlighting the creation of Hudson Yards, the largest private real estate development in US history, and Brooklyn Point’s contributions to its neighborhood’s residential renaissance. KPF Principal Andrew Cleary led a tour of East Midtown highlighting the district’s rezoning and featuring One Vanderbilt as a model for the area’s current development. Andrew also led a tour of the project focused on its role as a transit-connected building, showcasing its integration to Grand Central Station and links to the New York City Subway and the Long Island Rail Road’s Grand Central Madison.
Also on April 10, Principal Forth Bagley presented “From Central Business Districts to Central Social Districts.” He argued, through data-driven research and a collection of case studies, that the key to thriving cities are dense, diverse downtowns – what KPF calls central social districts. Forth noted multiple KPF projects that are driving these changes in cities including New York, Miami, Nashville, and Austin.
Sustainable Design Director Carlos Cerezo Davila gave a talk alongside the University of Washington’s Teresa Moroseos, titled “The Sweet Spot.” The presentation explored the importance of meeting net-zero goals and the tradeoffs real estate professionals should know to achieve a low-carbon built environment from construction to end of life.
Senior Associate Principal Andrew Werner gave a presentation titled “Financial Feasibility of Conversion Projects: The NYC Approach.” The talk focused on adaptive reuse projects in New York City, with emphasis on the financial feasibility and design implications of office-to-office versus office-to-residential repositioning. As an example of the former, Andrew spoke about KPF’s work on One Madison Avenue, a collaboration with SL Green where the team retained 67% of the original building’s structure and added an 18-story tower. Andrew was joined by Rob Schiffer, EVP of Development at SL Green, and Nathan Berman, CEO of Metro Loft Management. The presentation was followed by a panel, moderated by Peter McEneaney, EVP at Thor Equities.
The 2024 ULI Spring Meeting took place from April 9 to 11 in New York City. Learn more here.