Nationally Renowned Land Use and Urban Planning Experts to Present Future Vision on April 8, 2016

For more information, contact: Robert Krueger at 202-624-7051

WASHINGTON (April 4, 2016) – This week, an eight-person panel of nationally renowned land use, design, and urban planning experts will visit Reno, Nevada to evaluate how to improve the area’s livability and economic development potential. The advisory services panel, convened by the Urban Land Institute (ULI), specifically will be researching the economic vitality and activation of the Virginia Street Corridor by considering land use, design, and transportation elements from the University of Nevada, Reno (17th Street) to Meadowood Mall (McCarran Boulevard).

City officials hosted a welcome dinner last night for the panel members, who today will be taking a Virginia Street Corridor bus tour along with local dignitaries and stakeholders. The panel – assembled through ULI’s advisory services program and sponsored by the City of Reno, Regional Transportation Commission (RTC), Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, and Peppermill Resort Hotel – is tasked with creating a vision for how the Virginia Street Corridor will continue to evolve into a mixed-use activity center and lay out the next steps for its implementation.

The panelists will spend this week touring the Reno area as well as meeting with stakeholders and members of the local community relevant to the study area. After carefully analyzing the area and interviewing up to 100 individuals, the panel will then spend two days (Wednesday and Thursday) framing their recommendations and drafting a report that will be presented to the public on Friday, April 8, 2016.

The advisory panel is being chaired by Tom Murphy, ULI’s senior resident fellow and chair for urban development.  “We’re excited to bring ULI’s expertise to Reno,” Murphy said. “We are aiming to demonstrate how rethinking the Virginia Street Corridor can contribute to the city’s overall economic prosperity, livability, investment appeal, and competitiveness.”

Murphy will be joined by Daniel Anderton, senior planner for Dewberry, Gaithersburg, Maryland; Walter Bialas, vice president, market research director, JLL, Dallas; Kathleen Cecilian, Cecilian Worldwide, Flemington, New Jersey; Bill Clarke, planning consultant, Ross, California; Lucia E. Garsys, chief administrator for development and infrastructure, Hillsborough County, Florida; Todd Meyer, principal – director of planning and urban design, Clayco/Forum Studio, Chicago; and Zane Segal, project director, NorthGulf ZSP, Houston.

Now in its 69th year, the ULI advisory services panel program assembles experts in the fields of real estate and land use planning to participate on panels worldwide, offering recommendations for complex planning and development projects, programs and policies. Panels have developed more than 600 studies for a broad range of land uses, ranging from waterfront properties to inner-city retail.

According to Thomas Eitler, vice president of ULI’s advisory services program, the strength of the program lies in ULI’s unique ability to draw on the substantial knowledge of its 37,000-plus members, including land developers, engineers, public officials, academics, lenders, architects, planners and urban designers. “The independent views of the panelists bring a fresh perspective to the land use challenge,” Eitler said. “The advisory services program is about offering creative, innovative approaches to community building.”

Past sponsors of ULI advisory services panels include: federal, state and local government agencies; regional councils of government; chambers of commerce; redevelopment authorities; private developers and property owners; community development corporations; lenders; historic preservation groups; non-profit community groups; environmental organizations; and economic development agencies.

NOTE TO REPORTERS AND EDITORS: The ULI panel’s recommendations will be presented at 9 a.m. on Friday, April 8, 2016 at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, located at 3800 South Virginia Street in Reno. The event is open to the public.

About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute  is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the Institute has more than 37,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.