Among U.S. cities, we see an increasing interest to develop or renew urban mixed-use centers in response to demographic and lifestyle trends, but what is the premium these projects provide to investors? Portman Holdings recently collaborated with Harvard University to conduct a study that evaluated this query.

The study, Are There Investment Premiums for Multi/Mixed-use Properties? — which included empirical testing and case study analysis — confirmed mixed-use development is profitable and helps to create healthy, vibrant communities. (For the purpose of the study, we defined “mixed-use development” as projects with multiple uses that were undertaken by one developer.)

Empirically speaking

The empirical component of our study examined property information from apartment, office and retail properties. The researchers pulled quarterly property data from the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries. The data was run