Join ULI San Antonio for our Leadership Luncheon on September 22nd with Jim Heid, author of BUILDING SMALL: A Toolkit for Real Estate Entrepreneurs, Civic Leaders and Great Communities. 

 

Small-scale, incremental, real estate development offers a growing alternative to more conventional approaches. Small Scale development helps create more authentic places, acts as a magnet for new investment, helps attract talent-based employment, all while fostering a more resilient local economy. This in turn helps communities better differentiate themselves when seeking new investment in an increasingly competitive landscape. For its virtues, however, entrepreneurial real estate developers working to ‘build small’ face jurisdictional and capital inertia that impedes bringing this approach to scale. Drawing on extensive research, using case studies, interviews with over 100 developers and first-hand knowledge gained from tours through 15 cities and his own personal projects, author and developer Jim Heid articulates what small-scale development means, why it is essential to communities of every size and location, and how entrepreneurial developers and community leaders can help remove the obstacles to small – resulting in more successful projects and more enduring communities.

 

 What Early Readers are Saying
"The dynamics of successful communities were changing prior to the pandemic, now those changes are accelerating. How those changes happen depends on the community leadership and the partnerships that form between government and the real estate community - the developers, the financial institutions, and the agencies that regulate design and development. Jim Heid brilliantly captures all the moving parts of the development process that need to be coordinated, changed and re-tooled to turn loose the entrepreneurial spirit necessary for great communities to grow."
Tom Murphy Senior Fellow, ULI; former three term Mayor of Pittsburgh

“Not only does small-scale development meet the needs of the community, it helps weave stronger bonds amongst neighbors and bring economic vitality to cities - small and large. This is one of the most inspiring and practical books I’ve read in a long time. This is a book you put on your desk to read and reread again and again, until it is dog-eared and the corners turned down on the most important pages.”
Molly McCabe, Founder, Hayden Tanner and Co-Founder, Lotus Project

 

**Get 20% off the purchase of Building Small ahead of the luncheon! Use code BLDSMALL20 during the ULI Bookstore sale here. Offer ends 10/1/21. 

 

ABOUT OUR FEATURED SPEAKER 

Jim Heid, FASLA
UrbanGreen® Advisors
CRAFT Development / Healdsburg, CA

 

Jim is a real estate developer and strategic real estate advisor focused on the tools and techniques that lead to a more sustainable built environment. His consultancy - UrbanGreen® - advises government agencies, real estate companies and legacy landowners across the globe. In 2017, Jim founded CRAFT, a real estate company focused on incremental development and intentional place-building.  He currently has three projects under development in his hometown– an 8 unit Cottage Court with 4 accessory dwelling units, a 5,000 SF lifestyle driven coworking business, and a 7,000 SF mixed use complex.

An active member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), Jim has participated in over 15 Advisory Service Panels, most recently Chairing a panel looking at Tower Renewal in Toronto, Canada (2019), and deep dive into Napa’s Oxbow District (2018).  He writes and speaks regularly on sustainable design, resilience, and the value of small scale, incremental development.  

 

His recent book – Building Small: A Handbook for Real Estate Entrepreneurs, Civic Leaders and Great Communities – provides a detailed look at the why and how of fine grained development based on national research and Forums over 15 cities. The book articulates why small scale development provides a more economically resilient and socially impactful approach to building and regenerating communities, than more common institutional methods.

 

Trained as a landscape architect at the University of Idaho, Jim went on to receive a Masters in Real Estate Development from MIT as way to more effectively integrate economics, development and design thinking.

 

 

Edward A. Cross II
CEO
Vicinia

 

From 2009 thru 2020, Ed was the Chief Executive Officer of San Antonio Commercial Advisors, a Cushman & Wakefield Alliance office. SACA was a full service commercial brokerage company specializing in leasing, sales and site acquisition.  Previously, Ed was first employed in Houston by Ernst & Young in the Tax & Audit Departments before beginning his real estate career in 1980 with Kirksey Development Company. After moving to San Antonio in 1985, he joined Embrey Investments where he was Senior Vice President and a Partner in its commercial division. In 1998 he left to form Cross & Co and in 2011, San Antonio Commercial Advisors was created.  Ed was an active commercial broker representing such clients as AT&T, Amazon, Microsoft, PWC, Clear Channel Outdoor and Broadway Bank.

Cross has been involved in the development or ownership of over 2 million SF of office and industrial properties in and around San Antonio, including Trinity Plaza 2, Northbrook Business Center, Boerne Gateway, Cornerstone Industrial 1, 500 & 520 McCullough and the current redevelopment of the Borden Dairy Complex.  He has developed nearly 1,000 apartment units including the Arbors Apartments in Boerne and the Vistana and 1221 Broadway in downtown San Antonio. He is currently developing Vicinia, the first new urbanist, transit- oriented land development in San Antonio. Vicinia is located just outside loop 410 at Military and consists of 97 acres that will contain a mix of commercial, retail and housing once completed. (www.viciniasa.com)
 

Cat Hernandez
Development Services Administrator / Zoning
COSA Development Services Department

 

Catherine Hernandez is the Development Services Administrator over the Zoning Section in the Development Services Department.  In this position, she oversees all functions within zoning, including the rezoning and plan amendment process, Board of Adjustment process, zoning verification, non-conforming uses, and project review within zoning districts that have design standards.   Catherine has been with the City of San Antonio since 2000 and has worked in the planning and community development field for over 15 years.  

 

 

 

Zac Harris
Project Developer
One80 Solar

Zac is the Director of Project Development for One80 Solar based in San Antonio. One80 Solar focuses on development, design, engineering, construction, and long-term monitoring of commercial and industrial solar power plants throughout the country. Zac contributes to overall company vision and strategy and stays up to date on the latest market trends including new policies, products, and services that can help serve our communities and all One8o Solar clients. Zac works with the design and operations teams to create power plants that meet the client’s financial and design goals while also cultivating relationships, sales activities, and opportunities in the marketplace.

 

Prior to One80 Solar Zac managed his own company in the project management and owner’s representative industry. He actively managed projects from ideation through project turnover. Zac developed and maintained long-term relationships with owners and architects while supporting all facets of development, design and construction. He
continues to develop niche neighborhood commercial development projects.

 

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