Urban Infill
The value of the urban core, a core value.
Urban Villages was founded on the principle of creating and maintaining value for the long term. Time has shown that city-center properties are best positioned to weather cyclical downturns and increase in value over time. As the cost of oil and other natural resources rises, and as their associated environmental impacts become more widely understood, the strength of city properties will continue to increase. This makes urban-core opportunities a natural fit for a firm committed to long term investment and value creation.
Reversing the trend of ever-expanding suburbanization is fundamental to Urban Villages. Central locations allow close connections to the essential services and activities of life, which means less energy spent on transportation. Developing in urban areas helps the people and businesses that use them lower their carbon footprints.
University Housing Villages
Integrating smart urban design into today's campus living.
University housing is in short supply throughout our country. Leaders at public and private institutions are calling for creative solutions to meet this need as well as reflect the particular preferences of today's students and faculty.
Most universities are, by nature, mini cities that operate continuously when school is in session. College residents and populations expect the convenience of nearby shops, restaurants, services, and transportation options. The well-crafted built environment creates its own energy, an energy that can match the vibrancy of college campus life. Urban Villages brings expertise in creating mixed-use developments that successfully blend residential use with retail, commercial, and transit uses.
Property Management and Service
Enhancing value through knowledge and service.
Large, “one size fits all” management companies provide a standard menu of property management services. However, we have found that one size does not necessarily fit all. Standardized services and processes do not address the intricacies of and differences among properties. Nor do they always deliver the level of service desired by investors and owners who intend to hold properties for the long term, or as legacy assets. Sadly, in the name of profit margins, attention to detail and responsiveness are often lost. At Urban Villages, we appreciate the individuality (those quirks, challenges and beauties) of each asset, and build our management teams to bring out the best in each individual property. We treat the properties we manage as our own, leading to outstanding results.
Urban Villages manages a diverse portfolio of commercial and residential properties. Drawing from our experience as a developer of all classes of real estate, we bring an intimate knowledge of operations and systems to each project. This allows us to better advise owners and partners on capital expenditures, increasing system efficiencies, and other improvements that reinforce long-term property value.
Our nuts-and-bolts operations skills are balanced by our white-glove approach to leasing, service, and tenant relations. We work with property owners to identify and secure a tenant mix that will increase visibility and energize the asset. On behalf of our clients, we negotiate commercial leases, manage residential leasing, and oversee vendors and service providers. We also assist in securing long-term financing appropriate for the asset and the ownership risk versus return tolerance.
Town Founding
Creating lasting, multi-generational value.
As the American population ages and family assets pass from one generation to the next, millions of acres of private land changes hands. The younger set generally maintains new and different values, and is looking for new options for their real estate holdings. This trend presents a tremendous opportunity for change in prevalent development patterns.
Building new towns by design is an art that has largely been lost since WWII. However, a small yet growing group of development leaders have begun to revisit the practice. All around the world, planners, architects, investors, and policy makers are working together to establish planned communities based on the principles of traditional urban design, sustainable development, and eco-conservation.
Urban Villages partners with landowners to provide real estate experience and expertise, and to help realize land use solutions that create long-term value for the land, the local community, and the owner's investment portfolio.
Properties with potential for new town founding are often "greenfield" by nature, rather than "urban." Even so, the essential principles of good urban center development can be applied to these projects; principles such as appropriate density, connectivity, and mixed-use. As our population grows, the use of smart urban planning and traditional design to create whole connected communities becomes increasingly important.
