Capping off the day, ULI Philadelphia ended the Annual Real Estate Forecast 2021 with a panel discussion titled “Development Outlook”. The panel was moderated by Anne Bovaird Nevins, President at PIDC, who was joined by Tony Ewing, Principal at Shift Capital, Mike Wojewodka, Senior Vice President and Partner at MRA Group, and Leslie Richards, General Manager at SEPTA.

The intent of this panel was to explore some of the some of the long-term impacts of the pandemic, as well as the national and local reckoning around racial inequity and systemic racism for the city and the region, specifically how these two topics intersect with real estate development and our local economy here in the greater Philadelphia region. Anne was intentional about moderating the conversation in a way that was focused on collective growth, as opposed to pitting the city versus against suburbs, or developers and businesses against community residents. She instead challenged the speakers and the audience to focus on Philadelphia’s path to a “win-win” rather than focusing on individual efforts to develop parts of the city.

SEPTA has been hit particularly hard during the pandemic. COVID-19 has negatively affected ridership, as they have lost more than 115 million passengers since March 2020, roughly 70% of the ridership. Translating that to revenue, the company is losing about $1,000,000 per day and it is seems to be getting worse as we see cases continue to rise around the holidays. Fortunately, SEPTA was able to receive over $600 million in CARES act money which has kept them afloat during the pandemic, however at the current rate this capital will only last until the end of 2021. Leslie says without another HERO’s Act or form of state funding that SEPTA will remain in a tough spot and thus must make tough decisions moving forward. She ended on a positive note explaining that her and her employees are ready to handle what may come their way and assured the public that SEPTA is still providing safe, and quality transportation service to those communities who need it the most.

SHIFT understands the importance of convenient access to public transportation, both for employees and their employers. By studying successful case studies around the country, they have come to understand the relationship between real estate development and its direct on individual community residents. Shift recognizes that they have a social responsibility to develop projects in a way that uplifts communities rather than tear them down. The organization initially saw a wave of development coming north from Center City Philadelphia. Instead of capitalizing off of this wave, Shift centered their mission and the Kensington community at the core of their development model and it truly shows.

MRA Group’s main focus is on healthcare and the life sciences. These specific industries have seen explosive growth over the last few years and there is no indication that it is slowing down any time soon. The city currently ranks between number 4 and 8 nationally (depending on the publication) as a hub for this industry. Due to the increasing number of venture capital firms and funding available for various scientific startups and organizations, MRA has been able to grow into a dominant player in this space. They currently have an additional 1.6 million dollars in the pipeline of additional acquisitions within the city limits and the surrounding suburbs.

A common theme among all the speakers’ revolved around access to transportation to both the city and region as a whole. Additionally, all three panelists placed an emphasis on intentional development and the role that real estate development plays in creating and maintaining social equity. The focus was truly on how multidisciplinary real estate professionals can all contribute in meaningful ways so that all communities collectively receive the resources that they need. They are all extremely hopeful of the near future and believe that once we are out of this circumstance that we will come back better and stronger than ever,

ULI Philadelphia would like to thank our speakers for sharing some of their development outlook given the current circumstances that we have experienced in 2020 and our event sponsors, who made this program possible.

See below for links to additional recaps from the Annual Real Estate Forecast 2021:

Contributed by Joel Amin. Joel is one of the 2019 ULI Etkin Johnson Scholars. He currently owns a social impact real estate investment firm Wilminvest and serves as Underwriting Analyst for Cinnaire.