Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning; and, (S.M. in Real Estate Development)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Real Estate Development in Conjunction with the Center for Real Estate, 2011. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-128). / This thesis is an inquiry into the feasibility of creating new compact, mixed-use transit-oriented development (TOD) within existing suburbs. I have focused on the entitlement phase of projects, during which land is rezoned, permits are granted and development agreements are struck. Municipalities and developers must work together during this process, and I sought to understand the issues from both sides. For TOD's in Boston's suburbs that have successfully made it through the entitlement phase, what were the most pivotal issues? Pivotal factors can be positive or negative, and either help advance the project or create sticking points. In the case of problematic issues, how were they resolved? To answer these questions, this thesis investigates three case studies: Station Landing in Medford, the Hingham Shipyard in Hingham and Westwood Station in Medford. All three cases had some pivotal issues in common, although resolution varied among cases. Political will, prior zoning and planning done by the municipality, traffic and schools were important factors in every case. Recommendations to planners and developers are as follows: - It's important for both planners and developers to understand the "other side." Working groups are an innovative way to vet issues. - TOD is not for the faint of heart. Projects require vision, leadership and political will. - Experience (especially with similar past projects) matters. - Clear language in the zoning bylaw is crucial. - Predictable mitigation is best. - Planners and developers should look for ways to phase projects and create opportunities for smaller developments. - Transit may not be a necessary ingredient. Flexibility in thinking about TOD and smart growth is vital. Interestingly, while the thesis focuses on TOD, I found that transit was not a critical component for any of the three cases. Therefore, I believe that the findings of this thesis are more broadly applicable to many forms of compact, mixed-use infill development within the suburbs. / by Kristin Simonson. / S.M.in Real Estate Development / M.C.P.

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2015. / Thesis: S.M. in Real Estate Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Real Estate Development in conjunction with the Center for Real Estate, 2015. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 95-99). / Innovation Districts are emerging across the country as vehicles for economic development, job creation, urban revitalization, and sustainable growth. As they continue to be developed, there is a need to rethink the role of community benefits in supporting economic resiliency within the innovation ecosystem. Public innovation centers have the opportunity to bolster this environment by providing needed community space, fostering exchange within the public realm, and helping to sustain a mix of budding startups and established firms. Innovation space such as incubators, accelerators, coworking spaces, and makerspaces are not foreign to the commercial real estate market. However, when these relatively new product types collide with the idea of public space and community benefits, there is potential to create something unique. In the spirit of a community center, innovation centers offer the broader public access to the rapidly growing innovation ecosystem and startup culture, all while helping to generate new ideas, products, and-potentially-jobs. / by Alice Brooks Davis. / M.C.P. / S.M. in Real Estate Development

Thesis (M.C.P. and S.M. in Real Estate Development)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2004. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-115). / Research and practice have shown that air rights development over highway corridors in America's cities is not only feasible, but desirable. As planners, policy makers and consumers attempt to curb the sprawling development pattern that was characteristic of the second half of the twentieth century, the development of the air space over urban highway corridors is emerging as a beneficial type of development that promotes revitalization and can be more sustainable than other types of redevelopment. As the advantages of air rights development over highway corridors become increasingly apparent, more projects and proposals are surfacing in cities nationwide. However, while this development pattern can contribute to urban revitalization, it is also unique from other types of infill and redevelopment. Air rights development is complex and requires special scrutiny and treatment from a planning and policy perspective, a distinct understanding of urban design and attention to neighborhood context, and specific development principles for construction and financial feasibility. This thesis describes these unique considerations both generically and through analysis of the Massachusetts Turnpike in Boston. It examines three cases: a completed air rights development, a planned development that has gone through the permitting phase, and a proposed air rights development as it seeks the path of least resistance for development. In this examination, a set of "best practices" and recommendations is proposed to advance the feasibility of this unique type of development. The recommendations aim to make air rights development over highway corridors more sustainable, more predictable, and more systematic in improving the urban environment. Chief among these recommendations include: the implementation of a robust and predictable regulatory framework to control the outcome of air rights development; design guidelines to ensure connectivity and contextualized development that also reflect realistic assumptions about financial feasibility and development intensity; and a systematic air rights lease negotiation process and framework that links leasing liabilities to future development revenues. / by Bonnie E. Campbell. / M.C.P.and S.M.in Real Estate Development

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning; and, (S.M. in Real Estate Development)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Real Estate Development in Conjunction with the Center for Real Estate, 2012. / Cataloged from department-submitted PDF version of thesis. This electronic version was submitted and approved by the author's academic department as part of an electronic thesis pilot project. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-104). / The land readjustment method of land assembly has an extensive international history, but is virtually unknown to professional planners and real estate developers in the United States. Its potential benefits are many. It promises to produce efficient development patterns, maximize value creation, minimize population displacement, fund the construction of project-related infrastructure and public facilities and protect the rights of property owners. Decades of experience in Japan and Germany, among other countries, have shown land readjustment to be a flexible tool adaptable to many development scenarios and cultural contexts. As part of a joint effort with planners from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the regional planning body serving the 101 cities and towns of Metropolitan Boston, this investigation seeks to provide insight into the financial economics of land readjustment and to provide guidance on how the tool could be employed in Massachusetts. A case is made for the use of land readjustment in urban redevelopment scenarios in Massachusetts. As socio-demographic changes put pressure on our urban cores, the need for strategic redevelopment of urbanized areas will be reinforced. The land readjustment mechanism can simultaneously address the needs of affected communities and the development goals of the municipality in a consensus-based environment. This investigation uses the Four Corners area of Dorchester in Boston as a hypothetical case study for land readjustment in an urban redevelopment context. A comparative financial analysis is produced to contrast the net economic benefits created by a conventional piecemeal land assembly with as-of-right development to those created by a comprehensive land readjustment process through which community development goals are achieved. The investigation concludes with a discussion of the distribution of these economic benefits. The financial analysis tool created by the researcher is provided in the accompanying spreadsheet. / by Melissa Schrock. / S.M.in Real Estate Development / S.M.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning; and, Thesis (S.M. in Real Estate Development)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Real Estate Development in Conjunction with the Center for Real Estate, 2013. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 129-132). / In China's current landscape the paradigm for urban development is the rapid creation of whole neighborhoods instead of the conventional piecemeal approach of creating individual buildings that gradually aggregate over time into neighborhoods. China's approach is complex and fast moving, and has resulted in the highly repetitive form of tower-in-park typology being applied throughout the country to develop new neighborhoods. This development strategy creates living environments that require households to adopt patterns of daily living that consume excessive resources and needlessly contribute to climate degradation by relying on mechanically controlled interior climates in neighborhoods requiring excessive dependence upon automobiles. This situation presents compelling opportunities for planners and designers to create a more energy efficient city form. What is required is an effective method of accurately predicting, during the design process, patterns of neighborhood energy consumption. This thesis presents guidelines for doing this. When partnered with the Energy Proforma© the guidelines can help make possible rapid yet highly energy efficient urban design and development at the neighborhood scale. Development of these guidelines drew upon the research of the Making the Clean Energy City in China Research Group led by Dennis Frenchman and Christopher Zegras. Other resources include literature describing previous approaches to neighborhood scale designs and guidelines, and an examination of current and emerging practices in the field of urban design and development. Finally, student projects are incorporated into the thesis and interwoven with the guidelines to illustrate the forms that potential developments might take. / by Alexis M. Wheeler. / S.M.in Real Estate Development / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P. and S.M. in Real Estate Development)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2004. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Vita. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-95). / by Sung-Min Thomas Suh. / M.C.P.and S.M.in Real Estate Development / This thesis examines the financial feasibility of office-to-residential conversions in Downtown Manhattan's asset markets given the policy context shaping redevelopment opportunities. The analysis explores whether such conversion feasibility is desirable in the larger context of Downtown Manhattan's economic development. Market evidence from Downtown Manhattan's underperforming Class B/C office stock as well as record high performance in residential markets indicate that office-to-residential redevelopment is no longer an option, but a market-based necessity for transitioning Downtown Class B/C stock into more economically viable uses. Although markets have long identified office-to-residential conversion as the highest and best use of land in Downtown's markets, policymakers have also played an important role in facilitating conversion activity by allowing markets to adjust to economic changes. In the mid-1990's, policymakers used two separate approaches to advance sustainable redevelopment by clearing regulatory barriers for conversion and establishing incentives to encourage redevelopment activity. In comparison to these measures, post-9/11 incentives were designed to hold the market together and address immediate short-term redevelopment needs to stabilize markets in the long-term. The thesis establishes that even in today's evolving conversion markets, Downtown presents a substantive level of risk for developers. The findings reveal a crucial interdependence between critical mass and private sector investment in services. These issues are compounded by longstanding urban planning issues involving infrastructure, transportation, and access. The market study, institutional analysis, and case-based material support the position that under current market conditions, policy measures must readjust conversion policies to foster reasonably paced residential redevelopment in conjunction with larger economic development plans for Lower Manhattan.

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2015. / Thesis: S.M. in Real Estate Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Real Estate Development in conjunction with the Center for Real Estate, 2015. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (page 125). / A Food Innovation Center (FIC) is an enclosed commercial space comprising a mix of complementary uses pertaining to locally-operated food growing, production, processing, testing, distribution, and sale. These uses include indoor vertical farms, commercial shared-use kitchens for start-up food businesses, rooftop greenhouses, food halls with local, artisanal vendors, and food-related R&D space, among others. While literature exists on the demand for locally produced food, there is still a gap in the industry's knowledge about the financing environment, development costs, and overall rate of success that FICs experience. The research presented in this thesis is intended to provide an overview of existing Food Innovation Centers via data on acquisition, construction, operations, and returns of individual projects. Does the FIC product innovation add value to urban industrial real estate, and is the FIC a feasible model, financially and economically, for industrial development? Survey analysis of 62 FICs and six in-depth case studies show that FICs are more prominently featured in commercial rather than industrial space and operate on a business model in which a developer owns the property but leases to individual tenants operating one of the FIC business components. Financing largely comes from the philanthropic sector, and some of the most ambitious FICs have partnered with municipalities to identify publicly owned land for a nominal ground lease to the city or below-market acquisition. Overall, the FIC product type is still under development, and more must be learned about the lease structures within the PC to generate more robust underwriting standards that will better attract commercial investment. The most proprietary component of FICs are indoor vertical farms, for which the technology supporting the farm systems is still very much in the nascent R&D phase and not yet prepared for commercial diffusion. FICs do, however, have the ability to impact urban residents who lack access to healthy food. Through procurement, distribution, and wholesaling operations that can take place at FICs, regional small farmers can more easily get their produce into an urban area for distribution to residents. Incubator kitchens can provide cost-effective means for urban residents to test their own business models in the food and beverage manufacturing industry, and the roles that FICs play in hosting public events increases the connection between consumers and the food they eat. FICs generate economic growth through their ability to launch small businesses and create stronger and more direct supply chains between farmers, producers, wholesalers, food and beverage providers, and ultimately the consumer. / by Alison Crowley. / M.C.P. / S.M. in Real Estate Development

Principles, structure and problems of project financing today. Evaluation of real estate development projects. Analysis of risk factors of the projects with emphasis on their influence over quality, time heftiness and project expenses. General influence of the risk factors on the economic result of the project. Retrieving solutions for work with hazard factors in common plains. Application of the knowledge on specific case study of a real estate development project and comparison of the actual project course with the theoretical course according to Risk Management.

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2014. / Thesis: S.M. in Real Estate Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Real Estate Development in conjunction with the Center for Real Estate, 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 157-165). / The question that this thesis ponders is: Is there a physical neighborhood form that promotes more integrated communities by supporting the different living preferences and resources of diverse racial and class groups? Though there are many factors that influence the socioeconomic diversity of a neighborhood, this study tests the hypothesis that a balanced urban environment-one that includes the characteristics of both city and suburb-is the most conducive neighborhood design to generate diverse communities. Residents' preferences for neighborhood style, location, and housing vary depending on need, resources, culture, and place in life. The city and the suburbs both offer different locations, housing options, and urban design that appeal and are available to different types of individuals. A balanced urban environment is one that spans both realms and offers a lifestyle that merges these two preferences together. A community that is able to provide a wider range of both urban and suburban options is likely to be more attractive, both financially and emotionally, to a broader spectrum of people, and thus more likely to be more socioeconomically diverse. Using metropolitan Boston as a case study, this thesis mapped socioeconomic diversity, defined as an equal mix of races and income classes, in the region. The author then visited the top eleven most diverse neighborhoods and identified two distinct neighborhood styles, the streetcar suburb and the affordable suburb, that promoted diversity. The observations from this fieldwork sparked three theories to explain why certain communities are more diverse than others: The Second Best Location Theory, the Affordable Walkability Theory, and the Personal Urbanism Theory. The observations also became the foundation for the thirteen variables that were developed to test these three theories empirically through a hedonic regression: distance to CBD; distance to transit; public transit usage; lot size; building density; density per dollar; walk score; walk score per dollar; presence of single family and small multifamily homes; and housing mix, size and tenure. The results of the regression confirm that diverse communities exhibit a balance of physical factors, including multiple transportation options, moderate density, multiple housing choices, including both single family and detached multifamily homes, as well as a roughly equal proportion of renters and owners, which is influenced by the presence of a mix of housing types. Location to train stations was insignificant, leading to the discovery that bus service is more associated with diverse communities than rapid transit. Additionally, the built environment was much more significant in explaining diversity in the suburbs than in the city, while the diverse communities in the city are likely caused by gentrification taking place around transit nodes. A hierarchy of the influence of urban form factors on diversity was also discovered, with small lots, a moderate density level, and public transit critical in setting a foundation for a mix of housing types and the presence of average sized homes. This study concludes by providing recommendations to improve the diversity of communities, including densifying suburban development, increasing bus service in the suburbs, preserving existing streetcar suburbs in cities, instilling more community control over public spaces in the city, and attempting to change the development of metropolitan regions to follow the balanced pattern of the dense urban suburbs. / by Michael Kaplan. / M.C.P. / S.M. in Real Estate Development

A construção é uma atividade que exige grande volume de mão de obra e de materiais, fato este que provoca uma constante necessidade de eficiência e de eficácia na incorporação imobiliária. O desenvolvimento de parâmetros técnicos para o aumento da produtividade na produção de edifícios na fase de concepção do produto imobiliário tem papel fundamental para alcançar esse objetivo. Esta dissertação apresenta alguns indicadores de produtividade de arquitetura e de estrutura que atuam como balizadores técnicos, com a função de matematizar o projeto, a fim de subsidiar a tomada de decisão na fase de concepção do produto. A pesquisa foi realizada em uma incorporadora e construtora seguindo a metodologia de Pesquisa-ação. Como resultado, obteve-se uma proposta do processo de aplicação de indicadores de produtividade de arquitetura e estrutura ao longo do desenvolvimento do produto imobiliário. / Construction is na activity that requires a large amount of labor and materials; such an environmentdemandsa Constant need for efficiency and effectiveness in real estate development. The development of technical parameters for increasing productivity in the production of buildings in the real estate product design phase plays a key role in achieving this goal. This dissertation presents some indicators of productivity of architecture and structure that serve as technical guides, with the function of mathematizing the Project discussions, in order to subsidize the decision making in the phase of incorporation. The research was carried out in a incorporation and construction company, following the methodology of Research-action. As a resulto f this work, it provides a proposal of a process allowing the application of architectural and structural productivity indicators alongo f the development of the real estate product.