LOCUS
New speakers to join 2013 LOCUS Leadership Summit – Register today!
NoMa, one of DC’s newest walkable neighborhoods, and site of the 2013 Leadership Summit walking tour. Photo by Noma BID, via Flickr.
The second annual LOCUS Leadership Summit is less than three weeks away and we are pleased to announce the additional of several exciting speakers to the Summit’s agenda. 
Now hiring: LOCUS intern
Smart Growth America is seeking an enthusiastic intern to work with LOCUS: Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors. The intern will provide direct support to the LOCUS network of real estate developers and investors advocating for smart growth policies at the federal and regional scales. Core responsibilities include: managing correspondence with network members, drafting legislative summaries, organizing Hill briefings and meetings, drafting advocacy materials, helping with member recruitment and assisting the President of LOCUS with scheduling and general administrative tasks as needed.
In their own words: Steering Committee members on their experience with LOCUS
As the only organization working directly on behalf of developers and investors of walkable urban, transit-oriented and smart growth development, LOCUS is constantly striving to build its advocacy capacity on the national and state level to protect and voice their …
Upcoming webinar: Understanding new stormwater rules
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is preparing to release new rules regarding stormwater management that will set new standards for development projects. How will these new regulations impact infill development? And what do developers need to know?
Registration is now open for the 2013 LOCUS Leadership Summit
Real estate developers, investors and professionals are invited to attend the 2013 LOCUS Leadership Summit, taking place on June 4 and 5, 2013 in Washington, DC.
This year’s Summit, titled “Bringing the Market to the Hill: Realigning the Federal Role in Real Estate,” will convene real estate professionals from across the country to connect with members of Congress and discuss how federal policies and investments can support more walkable, sustainable developments and lead to a growing economy.
Participants will hear from industry leaders and chief policymakers on a variety of topics including programs such as the New Markets Tax Credit and TIFIA, best practices for developing smart growth, and the role of policy reform in sustainable development.
(Webinar) Financing Transit-Oriented Development: How to use the TIFIA program to finance TOD infrastructure projects
Thank you to everyone who joined LOCUS: Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors yesterday for an online presentation about using the recently modified federal loan program, Transportation Innovative Financing Infrastructure Act (TIFIA) to finance TOD projects. Presenters: Duane Callender, Director …
Announcing Executive Education Course on Walkable Urban Places
For more than 50 years, the dominant development model in the United States has been the familiar ‘driveable suburban’ approach. Today however, a structural shift is underway in the real estate market as demand increases for walkable urban development – and the DC region is leading the way.
Now, LOCUS, in collaboration with the George Washington University School of Business and ULI Washington, is proud to announce a five-day executive education course this summer aimed at providing real estate professionals the tools they need to take advantage of this of this market transformation. The course, which will be held from June 10th to 14th in Washington DC, features an impressive line up of developers, elected officials, place managers and others at the forefront of transforming Washington D.C. into the nation’s leading market for walkable urban development.
DC area’s neighborhoods are becoming more walkable – even in the suburbs
Chris Leinberger at CNU DC’s Live.Work.Walk event.
Urban dwellers and apartment hunters everywhere are familiar with the term “walk up,” frequently used to describe an apartment building lacking an elevator. But at a recent event hosted by the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) in Washington, D.C., attendees learned about a different type of WalkUP – the “walkable urban place.”
Chris Leinberger, President of Smart Growth America’s LOCUS, was a keynote presenter at Live.Work.Walk. D.C.’s Future Growth, presented by the Washington, D.C. chapter of CNU on March 11. In his presentation, which opened the full-day educational event, Leinberger gave an overview of “The WalkUP Wake Up Call,” a report which emphasizes the economic potential of walkable, urban places in greater Washington, D.C. and how the region can serve as a model for the country for future real estate development.
LOCUS Steering Committee gathers in Washington to decide policy priorities for coming year
Each year, the Steering Committee of LOCUS: Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors gathers in Washington to discuss and set the program’s federal policy agenda.
When LOCUS was formed in 2008, its Steering Committee consisted of a handful of committed real estate developers who believed the voice of the smart growth development community was missing from policy discussions in Washington. In a testament to how the program has grown since that time, our 2013 Winter Steering Committee meeting featured nearly 30 leading real estate developers and investors from across the country including our newest members, Rod Lawrence of The JBG Companies, and Jair Lynch of Jair Lynch Development Partners, both leading developers of walkable development in the DC metro area.
Join LOCUS in Seattle next month at ULI’s annual housing conference
The Urban Land Institute (ULI)’s annual housing conference brings together housing professionals from across the country to discuss current challenges and opportunities for supporting a full spectrum of housing choices in cities and suburbs increasingly challenged by the new economy.
Joining the discussion at this year’s conference is LOCUS: Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors. LOCUS Managing Director Christopher Coes and Steering Committee member John Hempelmann, of Seattle-based business law firm Cairncross & Hempelmann, will join a panel discussion at the conference about federal involvement in real estate and how it might be reformed.