COLUMN: Carmel Hopkins

Having a chapter of the Urban Land Institute spurred Las Vegas to the big time.

ULI members are the cream of the crop of the real estate industry, and include land planners, architects, home builders, city and state officials, engineers and journalists.

The local chapter is a huge addition to the national, and is extremely active with members such as Dan Van Epp of The Howard Hughes Corp., Robert Lewis of Lewis Operating Cos., and Brad Nelson of Lake Las Vegas Resort.

One of the highlights of ULI is an annual series of seminars at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Believe it or not, Las Vegas -- thanks to the ULI -- was in the vanguard of smart growth with a series of seminars a couple of years ago that attracted movers and shakers from around the valley.

This year's series, scheduled June 5-6 in the Moyer Student Union, will address "Sustainable Development: Myths & Realities." An intermediate workshop on "green" ratings will precede the seminars. That workshop is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 4.

Here's what the session's brochure states about Sustainable Development: "sustainable, sustainability, green, high performance, less use of energy and resources. It has many meanings and interpretations. This session's thread is to bring a higher awareness and deeper understanding of the subject of sustainable development and to break down current paradigms that sustainable development is expensive and not mainstream."

Clear as mud, isn't it?

Here's who should attend: developers, builders, design professionals, lenders, economic development officers and others in the development community; and planners, regulators, elected officials and others involved in commercial and residential development.

Robert Lewis, ULI chapter president, informed me that sustained development is the latest land planning buzzword and is as relevant as smart growth is to Las Vegas.

"ULI is about education, and we hope Las Vegans will take advantage of the opportunity to learn about sustained development," he said.

Lewis believes that we can learn the cost benefits of building green, of things such as orienting buildings for maximum light and minimum utility use.

Sustained development concepts could help developers cater to sophisticated buyers who are willing to invest more in the short term for long-term savings.

"We're facing limitations on our resources, so this really makes sense," Lewis said. "I've always admired The Howard Hughes Corp., which was on the leading edge at Summerlin with topics such as water conservation."

He said it makes sense to realize the importance of topics such as water: "Howard Hughes realized, `with 22,000 acres to develop, we can't afford to run out of water (imagine the mess) -- you've got 15,000 acres done and you can't develop the rest of your land.'"

Anyone interested in attending the workshops or seminars should call (800) 321-5011 to preregister by Wednesday. Registration at the door will be a bit more costly.

Carmel Hopkins, real estate product manager for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun, can be reached at 380-4574. Her e-mail address is Carmel_Hopkins@ lasvegasnewspapers.com. Snail mail is P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.

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