Dynamic change, generation to generation, often accelerates with a spark. In the case of the Urban Land Institute – St. Louis (ULI), the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, 10 years ago and the landmark Ferguson Commission report sparked a profound shift in the delivery of ULI’s mission in our community.
This was an opportunity for those with the biggest stake in our future – ULI’s younger members – to take the lead in expanding and refining the mission of the organization. It ultimately led to ULI having its youngest and most committed local leadership team ever.
The release of the commission’s report galvanized ULI leadership. At the time, Ann Althoff and Chip Crawford were ULI chair and chair for mission advancement (vice chair), respectively. Both were Boomers from Forum Studio (now Lamar Johnson Collaborative or LJC). Kacey Cordes – a Gen Xer and vice president, affordable housing, at US Bancorp CDC – was on the ULI leadership team and had read all 189 calls to action in the Ferguson Commission report, strategically highlighting where ULI could assist.
“I know some will say ‘that’s not your lane,’ but this organization has the expertise to address some of the Commission’s recommendations related to real estate,” Cordes said.
ULI’s mission to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide calls on the real estate industry to innovate and embrace new ideas to benefit our cities. Althoff was leading ULI with an eye on the promise of our region, connecting people across generations. Crawford led with a practice of venturing out on ideological “thin branches,” pushing beyond comfort zones, to explore all possibilities.
Together, they recognized the opportunity Cordes presented with the Commission’s report – an opportunity for ULI to dig into its history and the real estate industry’s past harmful practices, join with new partners in this work, and begin to repair those harms in St. Louis.
Working alongside ULI’s leadership was Kelly Annis, ULI St. Louis executive director since 2012. Annis was a quiet constant among ULI’s leaders, supporting the shifts to expand its work and mission.
What followed was a deep dive into the racial disparities in city building and a focus on three of the Commission’s calls – prioritizing transit-oriented development, building healthy affordable housing, and stabilizing middle-market neighborhoods. With a passionate membership full of urban planners, financiers, architects, real estate developers, legal and accounting professionals, and builders, ULI identified where it could help.
This passion sparked ULI’s Equitable Communities Initiative, which became the foundation for some of its most impactful work today. Led jointly by Crawford and Cordes, this initiative bridged generations, provoked important conversations about race and equity, and generated an enthusiastic response among ULI’s next generation.
A look at ULI St. Louis’ leaders shows the youth of the leadership, including those leading and serving committees. (Photo courtesy of ULI St. Louis.)
With the assistance of the Clark-Fox Foundation, ULI created a community development ecosystem map, which sparked conversations with place-based organizations and those traditionally disconnected from land use decisions. Another map, this one geographically based, detailed TIF districts, public transit routes, greenways, and commercial developments and layered in demographic data, which exposed the historic land use inequities in our region. The maps helped ULI, its partners, and friends host challenging conversations about where and how investment in has occurred and where and how it should occur going forward.
“We began thinking differently about the concept of optimizing a return on investment for development,” noted John Langa, vice president, economic development, Bi-State Development. Langa, a veteran of the industry, co-chairs ULI’s Technical Assistance Panels (TAP) with Cristen Hardin, a young planner at PGAV, to help communities tackle specific land use challenges.
Development works best when investments are optimized and the community benefits from the work. Blending racial equity with real estate development was a new concept for many in St. Louis real estate circles, and ULI recognized the need to engage in deep conversations, meet people – real estate professionals and community members – where they are, to find a path forward together.
That path launched two new ULI education programs – UrbanPlan and the Real Estate Diversity Initiative (REDI). UrbanPlan puts high school students in the role of developer, where students navigate community requests, municipal requirements, and investor returns. REDI engages women and professionals of color in the fundamentals of real estate development in a real-project scenario in the community.
Taught by ULI members and partners, both programs deepen ULI’s connections into the community and help ensure that the progress in St. Louis’ neighborhoods can be led by the people living there. Both programs were also gaining traction in other US cities, but the work in St. Louis that intentionally centered racial equity became a new standard for ULI nationally.
Nandan Kelotra, 32, participated in the 15-week REDI program in 2020 after joining Trivers Architects as an associate. With a master’s degree in architecture and construction management from Washington University, “REDI introduced the real estate ecosystem, including financing, to me,” said Kelotra. “As a multi-family designer, I can now identify ways to optimize a project with design that takes the pro forma into account and makes the development better for the community it serves.”
Kelotra’s enthusiasm for REDI and astute approach caught the attention of ULI’s leaders, prompting a request that he serve as a REDI design mentor. Following three years as a mentor, Kelotra now chairs the REDI program.
Crawford’s term as ULI chair, with Cordes as vice-chair, helped ULI find footing that appealed to established circles while also attracting next-gen talent. A compelling blend of their leadership styles evolved: pragmatic yet visionary; design-thinking that makes practical sense; and always supportive, collegial, smart, and fun.
This approach drew deep thinkers and doers to ULI in a way not seen before. In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, the two established a cadence of Zoom meetings that were inspiring and insightful, keeping the work of ULI running while also exploring the plans now on the table from St. Louis Development Corporation, Downtown STL, and the newly formed Greater St. Louis, Inc.
Cordes soon took the reins as ULI chair while Crawford remained deeply involved as governance chair. The two added Aaron Williams, the Penn Services professional who was instrumental in launching ULI’s UrbanPlan program, to ULI’s leadership mix as Cordes’s vice chair. Today, all three serve on a national ULI council that studies and advances public private partnerships across the US – work that has translated into their actions across our region.
Professionally, Williams helped build the world’s first fully built smart and sustainable city district – Msheireb Downtown Doha, Qatar. He also completed projects for St. Louis-based BJC Healthcare and Washington University, Ballpark Village, and others. Williams is a community builder and leading voice advancing cultural preservation in communities like The Ville in North St. Louis. His work in The Ville aligned with ULI’s evolving mission, and the three – Cordes, Crawford, and Williams – led the organization through the pandemic with even stronger relationships across the real estate landscape and a super-charged collegial approach that continues to be attractive to the next generation of leaders. In 2022, Williams succeeded Cordes as ULI chair.
“Regardless of age, ULI continually seeks engaged people who are active and effective and really care about all of St. Louis,” noted Williams. That same approach led the organization to tap Christie Brinkman, director, design/build, Castle Contracting and steadfast ULI Programs Committee member, as Williams’ vice chair.
“Chip, Kacey, and Aaron have been the heart and soul of our leadership and evolving mission,” notes Brinkman. “Their inspiration evokes the age-old wisdom, ‘if not, me, then who; if not now, then when.’” ULI’s expanded mission particularly resonated with Brinkman as it aligned with her time on Castle’s Veterans Community Project, a development of small homes for homeless veterans. This summer, Williams passes ULI’s leadership baton to Brinkman.
Hallie Nolan joined ULI in 2019 and dove into the work of the young leaders (those under age 35) locally and nationally. “I joined ULI to better understand how development evolves and identify how my urban planning perspectives can support and positively influence future development,” said Nolan, who is an associate at LJC after working at Trivers Architects.
“Joel Fouss, at Trivers, and Chip Crawford encouraged and helped me explore my ideas. They saw ULI as a place where a progressive vision of urban planning and development can flourish.” Nolan, age 30, has been tapped as ULI’s next vice chair and chair of mission advancement – the youngest ever for that position.
This year, ULI reorganized its 10 member-led volunteer committees to broaden participation from its young leader ranks. Beth Letscher, who succeeded Kelly Annis as executive director in 2023 noted, “There is an unbelievable energy across our committees driving new ideas to the forefront and helping us better serve our community.”
Among those ideas is innovating ULI’s TAP work to be more proactive in identifying development challenges, engaging directly with neighborhood stakeholders, and crafting actionable ideas that communities can take to the market. ULI recently collaborated with Greater St. Louis Inc. and the St. Louis Development Corporation to evaluate the city’s Gateway Mall and its potential as a “more-vibrant, people-centric hub” that spurs more activity downtown.
Among the recommendations for the city’s central business district was to shift instead to a “central social district” focused on drawing people downtown to play, dine, and socialize. The recommendations also centered racial equity, outlining a plan to build Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) equity in the downtown real estate market and provide space for incubating and promoting diverse entrepreneurs and market makers.
ULI is focused on real estate and the built environment – from skyscrapers to home repair and everything in between – yet it is the people, the leaders across generations, and the organizational culture that refines ULI’s mission and influences how the organization shows up today. Communicating and translating that culture from leader to leader is a very thoughtful and intentional practice that ULI continues to embrace from chair to vice chair to members and to the community.
St. Louis stands to benefit from this organization’s leadership and its influence on the real estate landscape. As one of ULI’s leaders recently noted with regard to his professional work and its tie to ULI, “I’m so proud of this team… and the inspiration I get from you to focus on meaningful work!”
Steve Houston is the former ULI-St. Louis communications chair and principal of Compass Communications, LLC.
