ULI Panel To Advise Puerto Rico on Hurricane Resilience

The Urban Land Institute to Advise Toa Baja, Puerto Rico on Hurricane Preparedness and Resilience

POSTED ON NOVEMBER 29, 2018 BY JUSTIN ARNOLD

https://americas.uli.org/advisory-service-panels/toa-baja-puerto-rico-resilience-advisory-services-panel/

Nationally Renowned Panel of Land Use and Urban Planning Experts to Visit Area December 3-7.

For more information contact Adam Greenfader at adam@agandt.net.

WASHINGTON (November 29, 2018) – A group of nationally renowned land use, real estate, and urban planning experts representing the Urban Land Institute (ULI) will be providing strategic recommendations and advice next week to the municipality of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, on how to best improve preparedness for extreme weather events and ensure all residents benefit from investments in resilience.

ULI is a global, multidisciplinary real estate organization whose work is driven by 42,000-plus members dedicated to responsible land use and building thriving, sustainable communities. The ULI representatives, convened through ULI’s renowned Advisory Services program, will be visiting Toa Baja, Puerto Rico from Sunday, December 3 through Friday, December 7. The panel will provide strategic advice on resilience, economic development, housing, and land use protocols. Items to be addressed include:

  • implementing land use processes to mitigate environmental risks,
  • securing access to partnerships and investment opportunities, and
  • leveraging competitive economic advantages and drivers to ensure all residents benefit from improved resilience.

During the week, the panelists will tour the study area and spend two days meeting and interviewing stakeholders from the public and private sectors, including Toa Baja Municipality leadership and Mayor “Betito” Marquez. After carefully analyzing the site and completing the interviews, the panelists will then frame their recommendations and draft a presentation that will be made to the public at the end of the visit.

 

The panel’s upcoming visit was initiated when the Urban Land Institute Advisory Services team was invited by ULI SE Florida/Caribbean, Puerto Rico’s Builder’s Association and the municipality of Toa Baja leadership in late August 2018 to discuss the opportunity to provide technical assistance to enhance the community’s economic and climate resilience. The team received context of Hurricane Maria and Irma’s impacts as well as a guided tour of areas the municipality identified in need of reinvestment.

“This is a unique opportunity to showcase a community that represents a microcosm of the entire Island of Puerto Rico,” said ULI Foundation Governor and ULI Puerto Rico Co-Chairman Ricardo Alvarez-Diaz, who is chief executive officer and president of Alvarez-Diaz & Villalon. “Our goal is to take the panel’s recommendations and implement them not only in Toa Baja but throughout the whole island.”

The chairman of the panel is ULI Life Trustee James DeFrancia, president of community development at Lowe Enterprises in Denver, Colorado. “We are excited to bring the expertise of our members to Toa Baja,” DeFrancia said. “The strength of the Advisory Services program lies in ULI’s unique ability to draw on the substantial knowledge of members representing all aspects of the real estate industry. The independent views of the panelists bring a fresh perspective to land use challenges. The advisory services program is all about offering creative, innovative approaches to community building.”

DeFrancia will be joined on the panel by Sarah Sieloff, executive director, Center for Creative Land Recycling, Oakland, California, who will serve as vice chairman, and panel members Michael Bloom, department manager, sustainability practice, R.G. Miller Engineers, Inc, Houston, Texas, Trini Rodriguez, principal, ParkerRodriquez, Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, Thomas Roth, principal, Grass River Property, Coconut Grove, Florida, Don Edwards, chief executive officer and principal, Justice & Sustainability Associates, Washington, D.C., Chris Calott, LaLanne Chair – R.E. development, architecture and urbanism and associate professor of architecture, University of California, Berkley, California, Jessica Boehland, senior program officer, environment, The Kresge Foundation, Detroit, Michigan, and Bob van der Zande, director of residential markets, City of Amsterdam, Metropolitan Region.

The assignment for Toa Baja is part of a series of advisory panels being supported by a generous grant from The Kresge Foundation to advance the Institute’s promotion of urban design and development practices that are more resilient and adaptable to the impacts of climate change. With Kresge’s support, ULI is leveraging the substantial expertise of its members to provide guidance on community building in a way that helps to preserve the environment as well as boost prosperity and foster a high quality of life.

Now in its 71st year, ULI’s globally renowned advisory services program assembles experts in the fields of real estate and land use planning to participate on panels worldwide, offering recommendations for complex planning and development projects, programs and policies. Panels have developed more than 700 studies for a broad range of land uses, ranging from waterfront properties to inner-city retail.

Past sponsors of ULI advisory service panels include: federal, state and local government agencies; regional councils of government; chambers of commerce; redevelopment authorities; private developers and property owners; community development corporations; lenders; historic preservation groups; non-profit community groups; environmental organizations and economic development agencies.

NOTE TO REPORTERS AND EDITORS: Members of the public and media are invited to a reception on Monday, December 3rd, from 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm at the Centro Las Dos Fuentes, 867 Carr Rio Hondo, Toa Baja, PR. The panel will provide its recommendations at a public presentation on Friday, December 7th at 9:00 am at the Centro Comunal Rafael “Pipo” Negron Calle Aetria Ingenio in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico.

About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the institute has more than 40,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.

 

 

Sponsor thanks:

 Kresge Foundation, ULI Southeast Florida,  Puerto Rico Builders Association.

For more information: adam@agandt.net

 

Financing Puerto Rico’s Recovery: The Largest Reconstruction Program in Modern U.S. History

Financing Puerto Rico's Recovery: The Largest Reconstruction Program in Modern U.S. History

 

The rebuilding of Puerto Rico following Hurricanes Irma and Maria represents far more than a disaster recovery effort.

It has become one of the largest public investment programs in modern American history and a once-in-a-generation opportunity to modernize the island’s housing, infrastructure, economy, and long-term resilience.

Recognizing the unprecedented scale of this transformation, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College (CUNY) and the University of Puerto Rico Graduate School of Planning convened a conference bringing together public officials, planners, developers, financial institutions, and economic development professionals to explore how federal recovery programs could be leveraged to create lasting economic growth.

For AG&T, the discussion reinforced an important principle:

Recovery funding should not simply replace what was lost.

It should create a stronger Puerto Rico.

A Historic Investment

In the years following Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Puerto Rico became the recipient of one of the largest federal reconstruction commitments ever made to a U.S. jurisdiction.

Federal funding has supported the rebuilding of schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, airports, ports, electrical infrastructure, water systems, housing, public facilities, and community resilience initiatives.

Equally important, these programs created opportunities to combine public funding with private investment to accelerate long-term economic development.

Rather than viewing disaster assistance as an isolated funding source, many projects began leveraging multiple federal and local programs to improve financial feasibility and maximize community impact.

Building a Comprehensive Capital Stack

One of the central themes of the conference was understanding how different federal programs could work together.

Successful projects increasingly combined grants, tax incentives, private equity, debt financing, and public-private partnerships to create sustainable investment structures.

Among the most important programs discussed were:

Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR)

The CDBG-DR program became one of the primary funding mechanisms supporting Puerto Rico’s long-term recovery.

Unlike traditional disaster assistance, CDBG-DR provides flexible funding for housing, infrastructure, economic revitalization, planning, and community development projects designed to strengthen resilience while improving quality of life.

These investments continue to transform communities throughout the island.

Opportunity Zones

Puerto Rico contains one of the highest concentrations of federally designated Opportunity Zones in the United States.

The program provides significant federal capital gains tax incentives for long-term investment while encouraging private capital to participate in redevelopment efforts across economically distressed communities.

Combined with Puerto Rico’s local tax incentive programs, Opportunity Zones created a unique investment environment unlike anywhere else in the United States.

HUBZone Program

The federal HUBZone program was designed to increase contracting opportunities for businesses operating in historically underserved communities.

For Puerto Rico, expanding participation in federal procurement represented an opportunity to retain more reconstruction dollars on the island while strengthening local businesses and creating employment.

Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC)

Affordable housing remains one of Puerto Rico’s greatest long-term challenges.

The LIHTC program continues to serve as one of the nation’s most successful public-private financing tools, attracting private capital to develop affordable housing while supporting resilient community development.

New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC)

The New Markets Tax Credit program encourages private investment in economically distressed communities through federal tax incentives.

With the vast majority of Puerto Rico qualifying under NMTC criteria, the island possesses significant opportunities to leverage this program for mixed-use developments, commercial revitalization, healthcare, manufacturing, education, and community facilities.

USDA Rural Development Programs

Many of Puerto Rico’s rural municipalities continue to benefit from USDA financing programs supporting housing, water systems, renewable energy, business development, and community infrastructure.

Although historically underutilized, these programs offer valuable financing opportunities for projects outside the island’s major metropolitan areas.

Beyond Recovery

One of the most important lessons emerging from the conference was that reconstruction funding should not simply restore damaged assets.

It should improve them.

The conversation emphasized resilient infrastructure, sustainable development, renewable energy, affordable housing, economic diversification, and stronger public-private partnerships as essential components of Puerto Rico’s future.

Rather than rebuilding yesterday’s economy, the island has an opportunity to create one that is more competitive, more resilient, and better prepared for future generations.

AG&T’s Perspective

For more than three decades, AG&T has worked at the intersection of real estate, hospitality, infrastructure, finance, and economic development throughout Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.

Our experience has consistently demonstrated that successful development depends not only on great projects, but on assembling the right capital stack.

  1. Federal grants.
  2. Tax incentives.
  3. Private equity.
  4. Institutional capital.
  5. Development finance.
  6. Strategic partnerships.

When thoughtfully combined, these tools have the ability to unlock transformational projects that would otherwise remain impossible.

Puerto Rico’s reconstruction has demonstrated what can be achieved when government, private industry, nonprofit organizations, universities, and investors work together toward a shared vision.

The rebuilding effort continues today, but its greatest legacy may not be the billions of dollars invested.

It will be the opportunity to create a stronger, more resilient, and more prosperous Puerto Rico for generations to come.

Puerto Rico’s Turning Point: Looking Beyond the Crisis

In 2018, less than a year after Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the headlines focused almost exclusively on destruction, migration, and uncertainty.

At AG&T, we saw something different. While acknowledging the immense humanitarian and economic challenges facing the island, we believed Puerto Rico was entering a period of profound transformation. The combination of federal reconstruction funding, economic reform, tax incentives, private investment, and long-overdue infrastructure modernization created the foundation for what could become one of the island’s most significant economic renaissances in decades.

That perspective was featured in an interview with Bisnow South Florida, where Adam Greenfader discussed Puerto Rico’s long-term outlook, the rebuilding process, and why the island’s greatest opportunities still lay ahead.

Several of the themes discussed in the interview have proven remarkably accurate. Puerto Rico experienced one of the largest reconstruction efforts in modern U.S. history, supported by tens of billions of dollars in federal investment for housing, infrastructure, utilities, schools, healthcare facilities, and resilience projects.

  • Tourism reached record levels.
  • Luxury hospitality investment accelerated.
  • New residents, entrepreneurs, family offices, technology companies, and investment funds relocated to the island, strengthening sectors ranging from real estate and finance to life sciences and technology.

The discussion also anticipated the growing importance of Puerto Rico’s tax incentive programs, Opportunity Zones, and the island’s role as a gateway between the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

At the same time, many of the challenges identified remain part of Puerto Rico’s ongoing conversation, including housing affordability, infrastructure modernization, energy resilience, insurance costs, population dynamics, and creating economic growth that benefits all Puerto Ricans.

AG&T’s Perspective

For more than three decades, AG&T has believed that Puerto Rico’s future extends far beyond disaster recovery. The island possesses exceptional long-term advantages, including its strategic location, U.S. legal and financial framework, highly educated bilingual workforce, manufacturing base, expanding hospitality sector, and unique tax and investment incentives.

Our work has consistently focused on helping connect these strengths with responsible private investment while promoting resilient, sustainable, and inclusive economic development.

The interview below captures an important moment in Puerto Rico’s history when rebuilding was just beginning and the island’s future remained uncertain.

Looking back today, it serves as a reminder that meaningful transformation often begins long before the results become visible.

The following article originally appeared in Bisnow South Florida and is reproduced here with permission/summary for historical context.

Puerto Rico After The Hurricanes: Investors And Bitcoin Cowboys Are Circling

By Deirdra Funcheon as Published in Bisnow South Florida

Puerto Rico has been desperate for aid that has been too slow and insufficient following hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. But a few on the island say the attention followed might ultimately be a net positive for the commonwealth. “The bottom line is that Puerto Rico in the next two to three years is expected to see strong growth — 3 to 3.5% of GDP,” said Adam Greenfader, principal of Miami-based AG&T Development and Advisory Services. “It hasn’t had growth in 12 years. A depression is defined as negative economic growth for three quarters, so for all intents and purposes, Puerto Rico has been in a depression for 12 years.”

Greenfader married into a family that facilitates Section 8 housing throughout Puerto Rico. He then became a developer there himself. Currently, he serves as the liaison to the Puerto Rico Builders’ Association and the chair of the Urban Land Institute’s Caribbean Council. Greenfader points out that while last summer’s hurricanes devastated the commonwealth, jobs had already been scarce for more than a decade as the government faced a crippling debt crisis, owing $123B and declaring bankruptcy last spring. Though an estimated 150,000 Puerto Ricans fled to the U.S. mainland after the hurricanes, between 60,000 and 70,000 residents had already been leaving each year of the crisis. Puerto Rico’s current population is about 3.5 million, down from a peak of about 4 million, Greenfader said.

Turnaround efforts began years ago. Reforms enacted in 2012 enticed businesses and high net worth individuals to relocate to Puerto Rico by taxing corporate profits at a flat 4% and eliminating taxes on dividends, interest and capital gains for anyone who resided at least half the year in Puerto Rico. For anyone selling a company or large amounts of stock, these measures could result in saving millions of dollars on taxes. Famously, Putnam Bridge Funding CEO Nicholas Prouty invested more than $100M and relocated his family. Billionaire John Paulson bought several hotels. Michael E. Tennenbaum founded Caribbean Capital & Consultancy Corp. Goldman Sachs and various hedge funds moved in and bought distressed mortgages for pennies on the dollar. 

Greenfader said that about 1000 high net worth individuals moved to the island, and about 200 are coming each year. Cottage industries sprung up to cater to these ultra-wealthy.  Then last year’s hurricanes blew through, knocking out power and killing 64 people directly and 4,645 in total, according to Harvard University. Though the U.S. government responded painfully slowly, $18B in aid has been approved from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and billions more are expected, Greenfader said.

Recovery is slow, but happening. Tesla built a solar array to power a children’s hospital. Doctors are being offered tax incentives to stay in Puerto Rico. Private insurance companies have started to pay claims, so 60% of hotels are now operational, Greenfader said. He believes that when the economy improves, exiles will move back. 

Publicity around the hurricanes certainly brought attention to the commonwealth. Immediately after the hurricanes, only about half of Americans knew that Puerto Rico was part of the United States; that number has since risen to 76%. Following the disaster, dozens of cryptocurrency entrepreneurs relocated to San Juan to buy hundreds of thousands of acres of land, take advantage of the tax structure and set up a “crypto utopia.” Greenfader suggested there is more opportunity for economic recovery: Puerto Rico’s tourism industry makes up only 6.5% of gross domestic product, whereas on many Caribbean islands, that figure is 50% or more. That is by design, he said; in the 1950s and ’60s, laws were structured to keep out the Mafiosos who ran Cuba. It could be increased substantially. 

Furthermore, the island has long had a mishmash system of collecting property taxes, partly because so many homes are built informally or illegally — “People get a paycheck, buy [a] few beers, invite their friends and family over to build a wall at a time,” Greenfader said — and partly because the tax code hasn’t been revised since 1950s. “A property worth a million dollars might pay no more than $2K, $3K in taxes for a year,” Greenfader said. A better system of collecting taxes could be implemented to make the government more solvent.  Although he is optimistic, Greenfader acknowledged the challenges.

While Puerto Rico is a diverse society, where rich and poor have long mixed freely, the influx of people taking advantage of the tax breaks is “adding an upper class the island never had before,” he said, and there has been some blowback. Workaday employees are facing pension cuts and austerity measures as Puerto Rico grapples with its debt. Currently, according to Democracy Now, 55,000 residents are in foreclosure and the government is turning to privatization as the solution for economic woes, which will enrich investors but hurt the working class. In a Bloomberg article Monday about the search for someone to buy the country’s beleaguered electric company, which goes so far as to ask potential buyers how they would like to be regulated, a Puerto Rico resident said, “We are tired of people coming here to get rich and take advantage of us.”  Some grass-roots organizations have taken shape to resist Wall Street — forces that author Naomi Klein explores in a new book, “The Battle for Paradise: Puerto Rico Takes On the Disaster Capitalists.”

Greenfader noted that insurance premiums will likely continue to rise, and the Jones Act, a shipping law that requires goods to stop in a mainland port, makes commodities expensive. Whatever economic policies prevail, at least new construction on the island should be more resilient. Greenfader said builders already adhere to codes that mirror Miami-Dade’s, which were made stronger after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. They use reinforced concrete and no wood. Going forward, he said, there is a commitment to using more sustainable designs, particularly in the energy space, such as solar power arrays and micro electric grids. Today, about 10,000 customers in Puerto Rico who lost electricity after last year’s hurricanes are still without power. 

Read more 

Thirty Years of Connecting Capital and Opportunity

Thirty Years of Connecting Capital and Opportunity

For more than three decades, AG&T has believed that successful economic development begins by bringing the right people together.

Throughout our history, we have worked closely with government agencies, economic development organizations, institutional investors, developers, hospitality companies, financial institutions, and industry associations to strengthen Puerto Rico’s relationships with the U.S. mainland and the international investment community.

One example of that commitment was the Caribbean & Latin America Investment Summit, organized in collaboration with the Puerto Rico Builders Association and the administration of Governor Ricardo Rosselló. The summit welcomed more than 200 investors, developers, family offices, institutional capital groups, and public-sector leaders to San Juan to explore Puerto Rico’s growing opportunities in hospitality, infrastructure, mixed-use development, manufacturing, and economic development.

The event attracted significant national and international attention while reinforcing Puerto Rico’s position as one of the Caribbean’s most compelling destinations for investment under the U.S. flag.

Building on that momentum, AG&T continued its efforts to connect Puerto Rico with institutional capital by partnering with Bisnow, one of the world’s leading commercial real estate media and event platforms, to organize the Caribbean Hospitality Investment Summit in Miami.

The objective was not simply to host another conference.

It was to create a meaningful dialogue between the public and private sectors, bringing together government officials, hotel brands, developers, lenders, institutional investors, and industry leaders to discuss the future of Caribbean hospitality and tourism.

The distinguished speaker lineup reflected the caliber of those conversations and included leaders from Hilton, Apple Leisure Group, Kimpton Hotels, Dream Hotel Group, the Inter-American Development Bank, Trust Hospitality, McConnell Valdés, Sion Capital, and the Puerto Rico Builders Association. Together, they examined topics including hospitality investment, resort development, tourism growth, resiliency, recovery strategies, and the evolving capital markets supporting Caribbean development.

These discussions helped reinforce a broader message that continues to guide AG&T today:

Puerto Rico’s future depends upon strong collaboration between the public and private sectors.

Government creates the policy framework. Private enterprise provides innovation, investment, and execution. Together, they create the conditions necessary for sustainable economic growth.

Over the years, AG&T has continued to cultivate trusted relationships with government leaders, tourism organizations, development agencies, hotel companies, institutional investors, and industry associations throughout Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. These relationships have enabled us to convene meaningful conversations, promote investment opportunities, and help connect regional projects with national and international sources of capital.

As Puerto Rico continues to experience renewed investment in hospitality, infrastructure, manufacturing, and mixed-use development, we remain committed to serving as a bridge between local opportunity and global capital.

That mission has guided AG&T since its founding and continues to define our role in helping shape the future of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.

 

Public–Private Partnerships: Financing Caribbean Growth

Financing the Caribbean: Public-Private Partnerships and the Path to Institutional-Grade Development

At the Caribbean Hotel & Resort Investment Summit (CHRIS) — the region’s premier hospitality investment conference — industry leaders convened to address the question that increasingly defines Caribbean development: how do governments and private capital collaborate to finance transformational projects at scale?

The answer, examined during the panel “Public/Private Track: Financing Opportunities Working with the Public Sector,” reflects a maturing region — one where the most successful developments increasingly emerge from disciplined alignment between government priorities, institutional investment, and local execution.

The Panel

Moderated by Robert MacLellan, Managing Director of MacLellan & Associates, the discussion brought together an accomplished panel of leaders across government, development, hospitality, and international finance:

  • Roland “Andy” Burrows — Chief Investment Officer, Bermuda Tourism Authority
  • Adam Greenfader — Managing Principal, AG&T
  • Warren Newfield — Principal, Kimpton Kawana Bay
  • John Perrottet — Senior Tourism Specialist, World Bank Group

The Conversation

The panel examined how public-private partnerships (PPPs) are unlocking Caribbean investment across hospitality, tourism infrastructure, and mixed-use development.

Topics included:

  • Government investment incentives and how they can be structured to attract long-term institutional capital without distorting market fundamentals
  • The role of development finance institutions — including the World Bank Group and regional lenders — in providing patient capital and technical expertise
  • Innovative capital structures that combine sovereign guarantees, tax credits, and private equity to make challenging projects financeable
  • Lessons from projects across the region — including Bermuda, Grenada, and other markets where public-private frameworks have delivered measurable outcomes

A recurring theme: successful developments require more than capital. They require collaboration among governments, developers, lenders, and local communities — often extending over years of planning, negotiation, and refinement.

What Institutional Capital Wants

The panel highlighted an increasingly important shift in how global capital evaluates Caribbean opportunities.

Institutional investors now expect the same rigor they apply in North American and European markets — transparent legal frameworks, clear regulatory processes, credible government partners, and long-term policy stability. Caribbean jurisdictions that meet these standards are seeing measurably lower costs of capital and stronger deal flow.

The implication is significant: the region’s competitiveness for tourism and infrastructure investment increasingly depends less on individual project incentives and more on the quality of institutional partnerships that surround them.

AG&T’s Perspective

For AG&T, these conversations reflect more than three decades of advising governments, institutional investors, developers, and hospitality operators throughout the Caribbean. Navigating the intersection of public policy and private investment has become an essential component of delivering successful projects — from Puerto Rico’s federal reconstruction programs to Sint Maarten’s luxury hospitality expansion and Bermuda’s institutional-grade destination strategy.

As Caribbean nations continue investing in tourism, infrastructure, climate resilience, and economic diversification, public-private partnerships will remain one of the most powerful tools for attracting capital and creating sustainable long-term growth.

The conversation at CHRIS reflected a maturing region — one increasingly ready to compete alongside the world’s most sophisticated investment markets.

AG&T is a Caribbean real estate capital advisor founded in 1998. Principal-led, AG&T has been involved in over 55 development projects across Puerto Rico, Sint Maarten, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and other Caribbean markets — connecting institutional capital with regional opportunity. Contact us to discuss Caribbean hospitality, infrastructure, and public-private development.