U3 Advisors

10/16/2025

In Forbes, Tulane President Michael Fitts makes a compelling case for how research universities can catalyze the comebacks of still-struggling urban areas, as well as drive long-term economic development on a regional scale. Right now, Tulane is working with a coalition of local partners to invest more than a billion dollars in new construction – including $600 million focused on downtown New Orleans and the renovation of Charity Hospital – which will result in thousands of great jobs. As President Fitts makes clear, the futures of Tulane, NOLA, and Louisiana are inextricably linked – an insight that applies to universities and communities everywhere.

Read more here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelfitts/2025/10/07/how-research-universities-can-power-americas-urban-comeback/?fbclid=PAZnRzaANTzUFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp3h15w6PHx0-ISkIrOmqp6uL_1beNM-1LSCH1TX6dPzfZ9bxBmL2fJF6qpEN_aem_FQURJWV0x_a3sXMgJHomsg

There’s an overlooked engine of revival for downtowns hiding in plain sight: urban-based research universities.

10/15/2025

Progress and possibilities abound in College Park, Maryland, home to the University of Maryland and a place where U3 Advisors has been fortunate to work for years. This article from Maryland Today spotlights just a few of the new residential and dining amenities coming soon to Greater College Park, the $2 billion project to enliven College Park by reimagining and redeveloping areas around UMD’s campus. Congratulations to the many partners who continue to move this work forward, particularly the highly collaborative and visionary leadership at UMD, the Terrapin Development Corporation, and the City of College Park.

Read more here:

Food Hall, International Cuisine, Affordable Housing Among New Developments

07/25/2025

The Tennessee Department of Labor estimates that right now there at least 2,000 vacancies in Memphis for high-demand roles like emergency medical technician and licensed practical nurse. Hire Local, launched by the Memphis Medical District Collaborative (MMDC) five years ago, continues to expand so that more residents can acquire the skills and connections they need to start building their careers in the heart of the city.

U3 Advisors has supported the development of this effort since the beginning, including launching the anchor strategy, forming the Memphis Medical District Collaborative, and convening anchor institutions' leaders around shared hiring goals. We are proud to have played a role in laying the groundwork for this impactful program and to have collaborated with so many dedicated local leaders along the way. Our thanks and congratulations to everyone in Memphis who is in tomorrow's workforce right now. If your community would like to explore how a Hire Local program could support your residents and employers, let us know.

For a Memphis program, finding home-grown professionals to bolster the medical workforce starts at Hire Local. 

07/24/2025

U3 Advisors Managing Director Todd Stern recently took part in the inaugural Revitalize & Innovate Symposium in downtown Rochester, New York. This two-day gathering of visionary urban leaders from around the country focused on emerging models for equitable development, place-based innovation, and community-led transformation. Todd joined Brian Murray of Shift Capital and Brian Mays of Royal Capital to talk about the unique role that anchor institutions play in multi-party redevelopment projects. Our thanks to USC Builds and the City of Rochester for hosting this fascinating and timely conference - we're already looking forward to next year.

Read more here: https://www.greaterrochesterchamber.com/2025/06/11/revitalize-innovate-symposium-to-debut-in-rochester-ny-june-25-26-2025/

07/11/2025

Earlier this spring, local leaders in Pittsburgh broke ground on Arts Landing, an iconic and transformational 4-acre public space that will connect Downtown to the Allegheny River. U3 Advisors is proud to support the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and its many visionary local partners to advance this spectacular project. The Pittsburgh Business Times recently interviewed the Cultural Trust’s dynamic leader, Kendra Whitlock Ingram, on the process that led to Arts Landing and how the arts will breathe new life into this corner of the Steel City.

Read more here:

Arts Landing will include two sites that could be used for future development.

07/02/2025

Ada Chan and Eiwa Colburn couldn’t be from more opposite corners of the country – she grew up in New Jersey, he’s from Hawaii – but they’ve come together in the New York office of U3 Advisors as the firm’s latest pair of summer interns. They shared with us a bit about the paths that led them here, what they’re learning from the projects that are keeping them busy, and where their time at U3 may lead them next.

https://www.u3advisors.com/2214-2/

06/30/2025

For over a decade, U3 Advisors’ New York office has served clients throughout the East Coast and across the U.S.. We’ve recently upgraded our office space there to accommodate our growing team there. You can now find us in Tower 49 at 12 East 49th Street—one of Midtown’s most distinctive architectural landmarks. Next time you’re in New York City, come find us and say hello!

06/27/2025

To our friend Grant Oliphant, building a “cathedral” in an urban setting is less about establishing a place of worship and more about creating the potential for everyone to experience awe. We’ve had the honor of helping Grant and the philanthropies he’s led imagine and build awesome and awe-inspiring places for years, and we’re thrilled to be working with him and the Prebys Foundation on the transformation of San Diego’s Civic Center. Read more about his vision for San Diego’s future in the San Diego Sun.

The Conrad Prebys Foundation CEO, backed by a billion-dollar endowment, is taking aim at a new, positive reality for the city

05/08/2025

For years, San Diego's Civic Center has been an uninviting, dismal, and largely lifeless area of an otherwise vibrant and growing city. To address this long-standing problem, the Prebys Foundation and the Downtown San Diego Partnership asked U3 Advisors to help develop a new vision: one that could transform these underused and disconnected properties into an active, vibrant, safe, and inclusive heart for the entire region. How can we return what's truly civic to the Civic Center? By attracting and developing new housing, performing arts and education spaces, retail, and an iconic new public space -- and integrating these uses in a way that makes them more than the sum of their parts.

Downtown boosters seek to turn a just-released vision for six blocks of city-owned real estate into something more than pretty pictures despite city’s budget woes.

04/25/2025

For years, urbanist and engineer Kate Gasparro has used her podcast, Building Better Cities, to spotlight some of the country's most innovative and exciting city-building projects. We were excited to meet her during a recent trip to San Diego, where we're working with the San Diego Downtown Partnership on a new vision for their Civic Center, and thrilled when she invited us to appear on the podcast. In this episode, U3 Managing Director, Alex Feldman, discusses how the firm's close collaborations with institutional anchors has transformed cities across the country.

Listen here:

Podcast Episode · Building Better Cities · 04/16/2025 · 28m

04/14/2025

We have long believed that Texas A&M University is in a class all its own - so it's wonderful to see them acknowledged as such by Fast Company in the magazine's annual list of the world's Most Innovative Companies! A&M is the only university in the country to be honored with this coveted distinction!

U3 Advisors is proud to be part of the team work on the new Texas A&M Fort Worth - where this innovation capacity will unlock new potential that will benefit their students, faculty, industry partners, and the greater North Texas community for years to come. Congratulations on this well-deserved honor.

Read more here:

Texas A&M is the only university on the list and joins Nvidia, YouTube and EA Sports.

03/19/2025

Our culture at U3 Advisors is always to be looking forward, but we thought it would be a good time for us to reflect on how far we’ve come and where we hope to go next. To celebrate this, we crafted a short video that highlights a bit of our work, in the voices of a few of the people who have made it possible.