Adrian Ellis recently moderated the session Investments in the Arts, Entertainment and Open Space — Catalysts for Urban Redevelopment at the CREW Network Fall Leadership Summit in New York.

Session speakers reflected on the growing trend of arts districts and urban parks breathing life back into under-utilized urban sectors. The panelists explored examples of the success of this development trend, what key cities did, how they got the right players on board and the funding to make it happen. How does this affect the real estate market? How can cultural centers contribute to a city and how can they drive demand for higher commercial real estate values in and around these sectors?

This was a very interesting discussion about the interaction between culture and real estate development in three places: Dallas (Klyde Warren Park and the Arts District); Cleveland (Playhouse Square) and Brooklyn. The story of the Playhouse Square Foundation - told by the Foundation's General Counsel Patricia Gaul - whilst not new, is still pretty remarkable...a multi venue performing arts center that, when it did not spark adjacent development in the manner intended, simply undertook it itself, addressing the physical, financial and organizational issues methodically and imaginatively, and ending up a major owner of residential, office, retail and parking assets, and so sparking the downtown revival that was originally intended.

Highlighted projects: Klyde Warren Park and the Dallas Arts District, the Playhouse Square project in Cleveland and the New York City Highline, the Hudson Yards and DUMBO, Brooklyn.

MODERATOR: Adrian Ellis, AEA Consulting

SPEAKERS: 
Kim Vincent Butler, Hall Group
Patricia Gaul, Playhouse Square Foundation 
Jared Della Valle, Alloy