Tony gave a brief history of development activity stemming from WWII to the present, highlighting how and why the development community has grown over that time period. Tony's experience leading a large development company has provided him a long-term perspective of how development priorities have morphed over the years, and an compelling story for the future.
The massive number of military personnel returning home from WWII created a huge need for affordable housing, which led to the Master Planned Community. MPCs paved the way for suburban housing developments and led to urban sprawl.
Tony mentioned that the population will grow by 30 million people by 2025, and 100 million by 2050, while new housing is expected to grow by less than half that rate. That means that over 75% of new developments will have to be Greenfield. Markets that are full will need to be redeveloped which is quite costly. Markets that have expansion opportunities will need to expand in a way that meets market needs.
The needs of the demographic of those looking to purchase housing in the future want to live "downtown", but most inner-city redevelopment is quite costly. This leads to a new class of "Urban Suburban", which is a very large suburban development centered around a smaller urban area where the residents can congregate. This Urban Suburban development gives the residents the feeling of being in a small downtown area, or town square, while keeping costs low due to being located farther away from the larger town center.
For the "urban" portion to be successful, however, it needs traffic commensurate with an actual urban environment, meaning it likely needs to be visible from a nearby thoroughfare or highway, or needs to be located within sight of an area that draws a high amount of traffic.
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