Blog & Resources

Developers obsess over rates, rents, and construction costs. But in 2026, one variable increasingly separates winners from losers: time. Permit time. Review time. Re-submittal time. Hearing time. Because time is carrying cost—and carrying cost is margin. That’s why a quiet shift matters: cities are piloting AI-assisted permitting and plan review to reduce backlogs and accelerate housing delivery. What AI can actually do (and what it can’t) AI is not a magic stamp that approve

If NYC is rewriting rules citywide, Chicago is running a different experiment: fix downtown by changing what downtown is for. The Loop’s office-heavy identity is being rebalanced, and LaSalle Street is ground zero. Chicago’s LaSalle Street initiative has been framed publicly as a vision and an implementation pipeline—explicitly acknowledging that downtown needs more residents, more mixed-use, and a better public realm. Why conversions are the new downtown development Office t