Host Keith Shortall was joined by :

Drew Sigfridson (incoming president of MEREDA)

Chris Leinberger- a Visiting Fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institute and president of LOCUS, a national transit-oriented development advocacy organization, and

Patrick Venne, a land use attorney, planner & author from Lewiston-Auburn.

There’s still time to register for the event on May 17th.  You may do so here:  www.mereda.org!

With gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon and home foreclosures continuing with no end in sight, more and more people are ditching the suburbs and moving to the city. While that trend is great for downtown businesses and landlords, it can leave city leaders scratching their heads about where to put everybody and how to move them from point A to B.

That will be the focus of the Maine Real Estate & Development Association’s spring conference on May 17, “New Urbanism: Creative Models for Innovation and Growth.”

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What might future towns and cities throughout Maine and across the country look like? Get a  preview of  MEREDA’s Spring Conference, ‘New Urbanism: Creative Models for Innovation and Economic Growth’.

Host Keith Shortall will be joined by :

Drew Sigfridson (incoming president of MEREDA)

Chris Leinberger- a Visiting Fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institute and president of LOCUS, a national transit-oriented development advocacy organization, and

Patrick Venne, a land use attorney, planner & author from Lewiston-Auburn.

Don’t forget to Register at www.mereda.org!

This conference is virtually a must for real estate professionals to better understand what is facing Maine cities, and what other urban areas around the country are doing to creatively address the re-urbanization of America.

When: Thursday, May 17, 2012

1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.  |  5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m Reception

Where: DoubleTree by Hilton (formerly the Wyndham Portland Airport Hotel) 363 Maine Mall Road South Portland, ME

For more information or to register for the event, please visit: www.mereda.org

This conference is virtually a must for real estate professionals to better understand what is facing Maine cities, and what other urban areas around the country are doing to creatively address the re-urbanization of America.

Who:    Christopher Leinberger, Visiting Fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institute and president of LOCUS, a national transit-oriented development advocacy organization.

Lara Hodgson, co-founder of Insomnia, an Atlanta-based firm specializing in investment, development and management of complex and innovative “world-changing” projects.

Patrick J. Venne, Esq., JD/MCP, Land Use Attorney, Planner, and Author

John M. Rohman, P.E., CID, Maine Certified Interior Designer & Professional Engineer

Alex Jaegerman, City of Portland Planning Division Director

When: Thursday, May 17, 2012

1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.  |  5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m Reception

Where: DoubleTree by Hilton (formerly the Wyndham Portland Airport Hotel)
363 Maine Mall Road
South Portland, ME

For more information or to register for the event, please visit: www.mereda.org

Trichloroethene. Dichloreothene. Tetrachloroethene. These terms were not covered in Real Estate 101. But they should have been and, in the not too distant future, they probably will be.  Continue

The New York Times
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR – November 25, 2011

“The Death of the Fringe Suburb”
By CHRISTOPHER B. LEINBERGER

Joining us are nationally recognized special guests, land use strategist, teacher, developer, researcher and author, Christopher Leinberger, a Visiting Fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institute and president of LOCUS, a national transit-oriented development advocacy organization, and Lara Hodgson, co-founder of Insomnia, an Atlanta-based firm specializing in investment, development and management of complex and innovative “world-changing” projects.

Local experts Patrick J. Venne, Esq., JD/MCP, Land Use Attorney, Planner, and Author, John M. Rohman, P.E., CID, Maine Certified Interior Designer & Professional Engineer, and Alex Jaegerman, City of Portland Planning Division Director will discuss “New Urbanism” trends and challenges in Maine, exploring how established patterns of development and investment are changing.  Panelists will share examples of what other communities around the state are doing to address the re-urbanization of their city centers.

The conference will be held on May 17, at the DoubleTree by Hilton (formerly the Wyndham Portland Airport Hotel) in South Portland from 1:00-5:00 pm with a social hour from 5:00–6:00 pm.

The conference is sponsored by: People’s United Bank, Mainebiz, Building Solutions, Pierce Atwood, LLP, City of Gardiner (Libby Hill), SMRT, PDT Architects, and GrowSmart Maine.

For more information visit www.mereda.org.

As we exit the winter season and enter the spring of 2012, we notice trends in commercial real estate all over the state of Maine which show signs of life. These signs point to positive changes in direction, giving us confidence we are finally coming out of the recession-era holding pattern for commercial real estate. One segment of the market that appears to coming back stronger than the others is retail. Around the state retail sites that have been idle for the last several years are now finally showing some signs of life.  Continue

In 1986, Rick became a litigation assistant working on complex litigation with Jenner and Block in Chicago and, in 1990, was hired as a litigation assistant with the McLane Law Firm in Portsmouth, NH. He became the Planning Coordinator for the Town of South Berwick in 1996 and in 1997 was hired as a Special Assistant to Senate President Mark Lawrence. He subsequently served in this same capacity for Senate President Michael Michaud, before becoming Michaud’s Chief of Staff. He then served as Chief of Staff to Senate President’s Beverly Daggett and Beth Edmonds. With 11 years in the Senate President’s Office, Rick knows the legislative process and the workings of state government. As a consultant with Eaton Peabody Consulting Group, Rick is recognized in the Statehouse as being a skilled consensus builder who is well versed on the major public policy issues of the day. His experience in state and federal budget and finance is particularly strong along with the topics of economic development and transportation.

Rick is a Director and Fundraising Chair for the Kennebec Messalonskee Trails, which builds and maintains recreational trails in the Waterville/Winslow area. He and his wife Michele own and operate Ledgewood Farm, a small boarding stable in Winslow.

According to Shelly R. Clark, Business & Operations Manager of MEREDA, ”Eaton Peabody has been a longtime supporter of MEREDA and we are excited to work with Rick at both the board level and as a participant on our Legislative Affairs Committee.”

For further information, please feel free to contact Shelly R. Clark at 207-874-0801 or visit www.mereda.org.