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Urban Land.- Reinventing Real Estate Page lof5 Attachment I � / � , ,l � J �i f ,,f j fJ � 0 Reinventing Real Estate l I y Jim �Heid The still loioiming waterfall oif maturing commercial mortgage—backed securities, the s/oi thawing capital markets, and the ongoing uncertainty about where the next market will W, come froim have /eft real estate professionals searching for solid groiund. Entering the thi r year oif the broiad recession, the industry has retrenched reorganized, and is struggling to recapitalize. But is the industry retooling? I Why the next 24, months will matter more than the past 24, years. The Mar& 2008 collapse of Bear Stearns signr al ed the en of real estate 111 extended buill ruin. Thee September 2008 trifecta of the Leh�man� ban kruiptcy couipled with the Washington uituial and Wach�ovia barer k weekend fire sales shook the real estate in uistry to its core. The still looming waterfall of matuirin�g commercial mortgage—backed securities, the slowly thawing capital markets, and the ongoing uin�certain�ty abouit where the next market will come from have left real estate professionals searching for solid ground. Entering the third year of the broad recession, the in uistry has retrenched, reorganized, and is struigglin�g to recapitalize. Suit is the in uistry retooling? For years the in uistry has accepted real estate as the gull - encompassing term for both what it does and what it creates., By definition, real estate is "'all lan and improvements thiat are immovable.,"' Suit the increasing complexity of how the in uistry goes abouit its buisin�ess an�d, more important, the positive impact it can have on the broader society, defies the static n�atuire of the is one -dimen�sion�al definition. Recently, in uistry leaders are shifting the discuission from the topic of real estate to the built environme�nt., The latter term provides a more apt, multidimensional view of the in ulstry 11 s scope, en�compassin "'th�e manmade su�rrou�n in s that provide the setting for h�uiman activity.''' Changing how the in uistry thinks abouit what it does as less "'immovable lan and improvements''' and more 'I'providin�g the setting for h�uiman activity"' is anything bust suibtle. It creates a very different call to action an�d, if the in uistry chooses, positions it to be one of the most positive forces of the coming decade for resolving the complex challenges associated with h�uiman settlement. ITUMO M.TTMP 0 =Mppl rl M.M. I � After World War 11, real estate development change d from an in uistry of locally focussed entrepreneurs who took great pride and responsibility in their commuin�ities, to one of a global n�atuire thiat delivered a range of 'I'produicts.,'' As companies souighl t to make these produicts conform to a formuila or easily replicated template- http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewFreeUse.act?fuid=MTM4NzgOMTU�/�3D 09/14/201 1