top of page
ECONOMIC INFRA GROUP
Explore Explainers & Weekly Insights
Stacked Intelligence


The Zoning Supercycle in Action: NYC’s “City of Yes”
New York City’s City of Yes is the clearest live example of a zoning supercycle in a major global market: a multi-year rewrite of citywide rules that turns “a little more housing in every neighborhood” into a structured, long-horizon pipeline of density, mixed-use, and infrastructure investment. In December 2024, the City Council approved City of Yes for Housing Opportunity , billed by state and city leaders as the most pro-housing zoning proposal in NYC history. The plan is
3 days ago2 min read


South Africa’s $1.5 Billion World Bank Loan: Resilience by Unblocking Rail, Ports, and Power
The World Bank approved a $1.5 billion Infrastructure Modernization Development Policy Loan (DPL) for South Africa—concessional budget support designed to attack the country’s most binding growth constraints: failing freight rail, congested ports, and a power system still digging out from years of rolling blackouts. Structured as a development policy loan, the financing is not tied to a single megaproject. Instead, it backs a package of structural reforms that can unlock priv
3 days ago2 min read


Refinancings Aren’t Failing—Capital Stacks Are: The 2026 Playbook for CRE Resets
The 2026 real estate story isn’t “distress” in the Hollywood sense. It’s something more operational and more widespread: capital stacks that were optimized for a different rate regime now need surgery. Owners who treat refinancing as a single transaction will lose time and optionality. Owners who treat it as a reconstruction —sequencing liability management, incentive layering, and covenant redesign—will create a new basis and a viable hold. The maturity problem is not abstra
3 days ago2 min read


Resilience Is Underwriting: Insurance Pressure, BRIC Uncertainty, and Microgrid-Backed Deals
Resilience used to be a design conversation. In 2026 it’s a financing conversation—because insurers, lenders, and buyers are pricing climate volatility into terms and valuations. FEMA’s BRIC program has been a key resilience funding channel historically, but recent reporting has underscored significant uncertainty. In December 2025, AP reported a federal judge ordered the restoration of billions of dollars in canceled disaster mitigation funding connected to BRIC, after the a
3 days ago1 min read


Citywide Text Amendments Reprice a City Faster Than Any Megaproject: The “City of Yes” Effect
Big infrastructure projects change cities slowly. Citywide zoning text amendments can change cities overnight—because they rewrite the feasibility baseline everywhere at once. That’s why “City of Yes”-style packages have become one of the most investable policy signals in real estate: they’re not a single development approval, they’re a system upgrade . New York City offers a timely case. In late 2025, the city pointed to the adoption of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity a
3 days ago2 min read


Local Law 97 Is a Capital Event: Underwriting Carbon Penalties, Retrofits, and C-PACE in 2026
In cities with building emissions mandates, carbon isn’t an ESG concept—it’s a line item. New York City’s Local Law 97 (LL97) established emissions limits for large buildings, with financial penalties for exceeding limits. One widely cited figure is $268 per ton of CO₂e over the limit tied to 2024 energy usage and emissions. That means LL97 is not merely a compliance obligation. It is a capital event —because it changes operating costs, capex needs, tenant negotiations, refi
3 days ago2 min read


Ports + Rail Are the New Urban Industrialism: Financing Freight Corridors in 2026
The industrial economy is reorganizing around reliability: resilient supply chains, domestic manufacturing, and lower-carbon logistics. That puts ports and rail back at the center of U.S. growth—and makes freight corridors a serious capital markets story. On ports, the Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) continues to deploy major funding, with FY2025 funding availability framed at $500 million . The scale matters because port upgrades ar
3 days ago1 min read
Talk to Our Experts
Get in touch to book a consultation
bottom of page