ULI salutes longtime member Bob Engstrom as he approaches 50 years of dedicated service and participation with ULI. He will be attending his 100th consecutive semi-annual meeting in 2013.

Urban Land Institute Leader

Bob was an officer of ULI, and a past Chairman of Education, Membership, and District Council committees and chair of the Residential Council. During 1997-1999, he was chairman of the ULI Inner City Task Force. He is the author of the Urban Land Institute’s publication, The Planning and Design of Townhouses and Condominiums.  At present, Bob is a member of the ULI Sustainability Council, a juror for the 2013 Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition, and a member of the ULI Minnesota District Council Executive Committee. He is a ULI Life Trustee.

“Champion of Open Space”

In 2004, Bob Engstrom was named Champion of Open Space by the Embrace Open Space organization, the only developer to receive this recognition. In the June 2004 issue of Urban Land, he was featured in the Community Builders Profile sponsored by the J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. He also served as Chairman of the landmark Advisory Services panels for North Lawndale and West Dallas.  In 1987, Bob was the first recipient of ULI’s Robert O’Donnell Award, which is now awarded annually to an outstanding panel participant.

He is a pioneer in the planning and development of townhouse and open space communities, and the developer and builder of Summit Place, a three block urban restoration and new construction neighborhood in the Cathedral Hill Historic District of St. Paul. In 1992, Summit Place received the Urban Land Institute Award of Excellence.  Previous developments include Highpointe, the Woods at Elm Creek and White Oaks of Elm Creek in Champlin; Chatterton Ponds, Deerwood, Wildflower, the Woodlands and Great Oaks in Eagan, and Woodbury Crossing, which includes the Math and Science Academy and Natural Science Charter schools.

A Tradition of Excellence

Bob is currently concentrating development activities on environmentally friendly conservation communities. He is developing or has developed several residential communities in the Twin Cities region including Cloverdale Farm, a 250 acre neighborhood, and The Fields of St. Croix, a 241 acre community that preserves over 50 percent of the site for open space and agriculture. Both are located near Lake Elmo, Minnesota. The Fields of St. Croix was also awarded two Best In American Living Awards at the National Association of Home Builder’s convention. In recognition of the nation’s best new housing designs it received a Gold National Award for Best Community Under 150 Units, and also received the highest National Award for being judged “Best in Region”.