Our 2024-25 ULI Chicago Fellows recently had the opportunity to attend the 2025 ULI Spring Meeting in Denver, Colorado. Here are a few of their key takeaways:

Vera Halicki | Beacon Capital Partners
2024-25 Women’s Fellow

This May, I had the fortunate opportunity to once again experience a ULI meeting, this time occurring in Denver, Colorado, as part of ULI Chicago’s Women’s Fellowship. My week began with CNN’s Dr. Fareed Zakaria providing his global insights under the lens of real estate. Tariffs were the hot topic of the convention, and Zakaria did not shy away from his perspective, offering insights into how he thought they might unfold. Later in the day, I was able to take advantage of incredible networking during the NEXT Americas Dine Arounds where I met with individuals all across the country for dinner before starting my packed schedule of panel sessions and District Council events the rest of the week.

The next day, Ron Insana of CNBC moderated the capital markets discussion with Chicago’s own, Emi Adachi of Heitman, Indy Karlekar of Clarion Partners and Suzanne Mulvee of GID. The overall tone of that conversation was that we are not in as good of a position as we previously hoped for 2025, but we’re in a better position than I would have expected. So a bit more optimistic than I would have guessed, given all the heated dialogue regarding the impact of the current administration’s actions possibly affecting the economic growth and status of the US at present.

Moving from a macroeconomic-level, I dove into the micro-level with a fascinating fireside chat featuring City Council President Amanda Sandoval who spoke to us about her initiatives as a city council member to improve her district and the city of Denver as a whole. This was my first event as a guest of the Green Flight of the Redevelopment and Reuse Council (RRC) led by Chair Bryce Turner and it made me excited to see what else was in store. The next day, the Green Flight’s RRC session continued with a full day of topics ranging from developments in Golden, Colorado, with the Clayworks redevelopment to the transformation of a decommissioned central city hospital campus that incorporated adaptive reuse of several buildings on the site. The discussions continued with updates on the Cherry Creek developments in a neighborhood that has grown and thrived as a retail district transforming itself into a bustling community just outside the CBD. We ended the day with further discussion about the historic reuse of the Denver Rock Drill site in Denver’s RiNo Arts District which concluded with city tours ending in RiNo itself.

I have had the opportunity to see many buildings in Chicago undergoing their own transformations and this council offered further insight into the myriad of ways that can be accomplished beyond the typical office-to-residential that permeates today’s discussions. While that type of conversion will continue to be an adaptive reuse discussion for those buildings suffering the functional obsolescence of the work product of the past, it was incredibly fascinating to think about how one can renew not just a building but uplift an entire community by rethinking beyond the traditional perspective. I hope to continue to participate in RRC’s discussions and appreciate seeing the projects that are currently transforming the Denver area for inspiration to bring back to Chicago.

Andrew Killian | Syndicated Equities
2024-25 Jeffrey Kahan Fellow

The ULI Spring Meeting was another incredible opportunity for me to hear about new topics, make new connections, and learn heavily from experienced real estate practitioners. From broader economic forecasts to in-depth conversations around office buildout and affordable retail space, the sessions were thought-provoking and well-mixed. And guesting on the product council was again the highlight of the conference – sitting in a room with highly accomplished real estate executives and listening to them discuss actual deals they’re seeing is invaluable and insightful. I left the conference feeling grateful for the opportunity to learn more and motivated to continue building my experience in the industry!