Working on the Wall Street problem

Wall Street and institutional investors have found it easier in the past to pour large amounts of capital into the simplified building types of sprawl. Now that there is a stronger market demand for walkable places, researcher Christopher Leinberger is working on a grading system that could guide US urban real estate investment in coming decades. That was an impetus for Leinberger's recent report The WalkUP Wake-Up Call, focusing on Walkable Urban Places (WalkUPs) in the nation's capital region. The DC area has 43 “regionally significant” WalkUPs, up from about five a quarter century ago. That’s an increase of more than 750 percent. The region also has many “locally serving” walkable places — quieter mixed-use neighborhoods. Leinberger focuses on the regionally significant WalkUPs, however, because those will capture the interest of Wall Street and institutional investors. The report grades WalkUPs based on economic performance, i.e. lease rates and sale prices, grouping them into categories Copper, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Leinberger plans to test the system in Atlanta and Detroit, and then expand it nationwide. See the detailed report in the October-November issue of Better! Cities & Towns.

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