Property Lines
Property Lines is a column by Curbed senior reporter Patrick Sisson that spotlights real estate trends and hot housing markets across the country.
Comments, tips, and suggestions on where Property Lines should head next are welcome at patrick@curbed.com.
Could Bakersfield become a California boomtown?
Local entrepreneurs want to turn a boom in new businesses into an urban renaissance.
How riverfront recreation can reboot rural communities
In Eagle, Colorado, a new whitewater park aims to spur development and create a new destination.
Today’s offices are taking design cues from hotels—and homes
In-demand amenities for a competitive market tout food, fitness, and community.
Want to understand U.S. real estate trends? Look to Florida
In central Florida, sprawl, supercommuters, and seniors fuel growth.
How global cities are going green
8 policies U.S. cities can follow to help cut emissions.
How civic tech can steer development and create smarter cities
Civic-minded techies are finding ways to digitize, demystify, and improve local government.
The rent’s ‘too damn high’ in rural America, too
In many ways, the housing crisis in rural areas is just as serious as the one in the country’s largest cities.
In the apartment amenity arms race, service and technology win out
"Everybody has a rooftop grilling area or a dog park," but renters want app-centric convenience and a bond with their neighbors.
Will San Francisco’s housing market be overwhelmed by IPO millionaires?
As Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, and Slack finalize plans to go public, real estate braces for impact
In Texas, high-end renters spur urban luxury boom
It’s not just about new jobs, it’s about lifestyle options.
Reversing the rural brain drain with remote working
With a new network of rural tech hubs, the Rural Innovation Initiative wants to kickstart small downtowns
Can Chicago’s Lincoln Yards, a neighborhood built from scratch, work for the whole city?
The $6 billion plan to revitalize an old industrial district raises question about who benefits from such big projects.
As Boise booms, a city faces the curse of ‘Californiacation’
In the fast-growing Idaho city, residents grapple with challenges of growth and new arrivals
In coworking era, pricey urban real estate does double duty
Restaurants-turned-offices, pop-up retail, and shared kitchens underscore demand for flexible space.
Can a legacy e-commerce brand help revive brick-and-mortar retail?
EBay believes its e-commerce boot camp can help boost beleaguered storefronts.
Big cities courting big tech helped define 2018
Amazon HQ2 brought out huge concessions from cities—and little effort to rein in tech’s power.
As cities confront climate change, is density the answer?
Plans to increase urban density may foreshadow how cities respond to efforts to cut emissions.
Why do all new apartment buildings look the same?
The bland, boxy apartment boom is a design issue, and a housing policy problem
Can Minneapolis’s radical rezoning be a national model?
Here’s what a plan to tackle climate change, density, and affordability looks like
Can Los Angeles become a tech capital?
As LA’s tech scene matures, old industries such as entertainment and aerospace are new again
If California’s the future, why are so many leaving?
A sobering study shows how life in the Golden State continues to get too expensive.
What the Amazon HQ2 cities can learn from Seattle
Now the nation’s biggest company town, Seattle has been changed by the retail and tech giant
As top innovation hub expands, can straining local infrastructure keep pace?
Cambridge’s Kendall Square, a global center for biotech and tech firms, faces housing and transit challenges.
Why ‘micropolitan’ cities may be the key to rural resurgence
A development expert says small cities and towns can be catalysts for lagging rural counties.
San Antonio, the nation’s fastest-growing city, sees downtown rebound
A 300-year-old capital of Latinx culture on the cusp of change.
Climate change and the coming coastal real estate crash
It could rival the bursting dot-com and real estate bubbles of 2000 and 2008.
Booming postindustrial neighborhoods often overlook polluted past
In former factory districts, postindustrial authenticity comes with potential for hidden pollution
How vacation homes went from private escape to investment opportunities
How the Great Recession and sites like Airbnb unleashed the profit potential of second homes.
Memphis downtown boom fueled by riverfront city’s rich history
Adaptive reuse of breweries, bakeries, and warehouses have brought new life to Bluff City.
9 cities with smart ideas to improve transportation
From planning for walkable neighborhoods to autonomous transit, how some U.S. cities plan to upgrade public transit.
Universities, chasing the startup economy, reshape urban real estate
Entrepreneurship and enlightened self-interest have changed how schools invest in urban real estate.
How a ‘reverse Great Migration’ is reshaping U.S. cities
Chicago and other major metros face black Americans’ departure for the suburbs and the South.
Cannabis, coworking, and the marijuana-industry land rush
Legal weed is a land-hungry business, and with predictions it might be a $75 billion business by 2030, there are plenty of opportunities in real estate.
Can high-profile park projects, catalysts for development, play nice with neighboring communities?
Advocates and planners wrestle with the challenge of pairing new urban amenities with equitable development.
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Will LA’s ‘no-build’ Olympics spur Southern California’s next building boom?
Like 1984, plans call for using existing structures. But will the games supercharge an already hot real estate market?
In Portland, a neighborhood designs its own solution to displacement
Right 2 Root, a community-created plan, offers a blueprint for pushing back against displacement and disinvestment
Why do young parents move away? Our cities aren’t designed for kids
Families need right-sized housing, accessible parks, and affordable childcare
Toronto’s new wave of development looks for community, not just condos
As its skyline evolves, Canada’s largest city seeks more transit-oriented development.
How a multibillion-dollar downtown development boom is reshaping Tampa’s waterfront
A brand-new neighborhood offers the city a chance to "reinvent itself."