The Advisory Services Times-Dispatch is a quarterly on-line newsletter for ULI’s premier outreach program. Established in 1947, the Advisory Services program has conducted over 600 panels around the world.

This installment of our newsletter includes links to more information about the last few panels completed by ULI Advisory Services; a summary and update of the $10,000 panel pilot incentive program, an overview of the recently completed Governors Advisory Panel (GAP) for the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California and a list of upcoming panels this Summer This issue also includes a focus on Ralph Nuñez, a landscape architect from Detroit Michigan and long-time participant in the Advisory Services Program.

As always, if you have any comments or suggestions as to how we can improve this newsletter, please email me.

Thanks,
Tom Eitler, Vice President
ULI Advisory Services

Bring a national panel to your community! Participate in the District Council Panel Incentive Program

Late last year, Advisory Services launched its Panel Incentive Program that promotes partnership between District Councils and the national Advisory Services program. District Council members and staff who help secure a panel can receive up to $10,000 for their District Council. For more details, please contact: Tom Eitler, Vice President of Advisory Services, via email or 202.624.7186.

Panel Focus: Governors Advisory Panel for the Rose Bowl, Pasadena California

Last year the ULI Foundation established a new panel program called Governors Advisory Panels or GAPs.

The GAP program is unique in that the ULI Foundation funds the panel completely, with a gift from Governor John S. Hagestad. Like other Advisory Services panels, GAPs are organized as interdisciplinary panels that can help communities address important land use and real estate development issues. Because the GAP Panelists are primarily ULI governors an incredible level of experience and knowledge is brought to bear on a given assignment.

With the help of Gayle Goldberg, Ron Altoon and many others from the Los Angeles District Council, the first GAP Panel was assembled in January 2012 to help the City of Pasadena address a myriad of issue surrounding the Rose Bowls and the Central Arroyo Seco.

The Arroyo Seco, a major tributary of the Los Angeles River, flows out of the San Gabriel Mountains in the northwestern corner of Pasadena and empties into the river in downtown Los Angeles. Located in the Central Arroyo Seco watershed, the world famous Rose Bowl, built in 1922, is a National Historic Landmark. Known mainly for the annual New Year’s Day Rose Bowl Game, the stadium is also the proud home of UCLA Bruins football, Fourth of July celebrations, and a monthly flea market. Rose Bowl Stadium can seat more than 90,000 people; in 2009, over 750,000 visitors attended events. The ULI panel was asked to consider and evaluate how the city could generate revenues from existing users to maintain and enhance the Arroyo experience without displacing existing users and affecting the surrounding residential neighborhoods.

ULI Governors (from left): Richard Perlmutter, Rick Rosan, Frank Stanek and Susan Hudson-Wilson along with Ryan Bouma.

Led by Washington DC developer and ULI Governor Richard Perlmutter, the panel was able to arrange a reception and working dinner with 16 other governors from the Los Angeles and Orange County District Councils allowing the panel to tap into an incredible source of local knowledge about Pasadena and the Rose Bowl. The panel felt that the city must better manage the entire Central Arroyo Seco, better coordinate activities, manage scarce resources, pool financial resources, and improve the overall user experience. To accomplish these tasks, the panel recommended that the city immediately

• Create a Central Arroyo Conservancy;
• Create and manage a Rose Bowl visitors program built on existing and potential visitor flows; and
• Develop a fee-based parking program for the Central Arroyo.

In addition to these three immediate actions, the panel also recommended that the city and conservancy plan and implement a series of near and longer-term Arroyo-wide improvements, including redeveloping the clubhouse so that it serves a broader range of visitors; reimagine and reorganize the golf course, including xeriscaping, raising greens fees, and coordinating with other users in the Arroyo; reorganize the parking and playfields; and naturalize the Arroyo Stream.

For More information about the GAP panel program contact Tom Eitler or Rick Rosan.

Europe and Asia

This winter ULI conducted two important panels in Europe and Asia. In Europe, a panel in Moscow, chaired by Jim Heid, was conducted in December (Brrrr!) 2011. The Moscow panel focused on the how the city can become a leading global city with specific recommendations on how develop a sustainable business model for redevelopment of former industrial areas. In December, a panel in Hong Kong, chaired by past chairman and trustee Jeremy Newsum of the Grosvenor Estate, focused on redevelopment opportunities for the old Kai Tak Airport site and the surrounding area of East Kowloon. Both panels showed global reach of the ULI panel program and the common denominator of real estate development as a force for economic change

Spotlight: Ralph Nuñez, Design Team Limited, Southfield, Michigan

Ralph Núñez has thirty-four years of experience as a planner and landscape architect, with particular emphasis on project design, management and development strategies. Projects include master plans and development plans for residential communities, senior living, commercial, office research campuses, and recreation facilities. He has been responsible for master planning more than 210,000 acres, over 100,000 dwelling units, 6.5 million square feet of office research and 18 million square feet of commercial projects throughout the United States and internationally.

He is currently the President and Design Principal of DesignTeam, a Landscape Architecture, Planning and Design consulting firm. DesignTeam has over twenty-five years of experience in working effectively with clients on creative problem solving. His commitment to sustainable design and is evidenced by his teaching and professional activities. He has been a guest lecturer and also serves as an adjunct professor at Lawrence Technological University.

After participating on ten panels, Núñez says, “It has been a privilege serving on the ULI panels. Being recognized by my peers as a national expert has been rewarding. I wear my PASHA pin proudly.”

The ULI advisory process of bringing together talented individuals with diverse expertise focused on answering difficult challenges facing our communities and developing recommendations within five days is simply amazing. It is a high-energy experience with big results.

“I have worked on ten great panels. All of them have been memorable and I have made some great friends. Out of those, the Indianapolis panel in 2011 stood out to me for a number of reasons. I got the chance to reconnect and work alongside old friends, as well as getting the opportunity to invite graduate students from Ball State to assist the design team in preparing our vision for the former GM stamping plant. Having one of my illustrations being published on the report cover was an added honor to the whole event.”

“The opportunity to work on a variety of current urban issues facing our communities reignites my passion for the profession. These experiences allow me to bring that same energy back into the studios at Lawrence Tech. I am able to show my students tangible examples of how their studies are actually put to use in the real world.“

“The satisfaction of helping people by improving their community is one the main reasons professionals should take part in these panels. We have made a difference and will continue to do so. I would strongly recommend becoming involved and look forward to the opportunity of working with you on the next panel.”