Current residents of a community may wish to minimize changes to the place in which they live and disruptions to the ways in which they're accustomed to living. Alternatively, from the development, they may seek new facilities and new amenities for community use.

In a rental apartment complex that is undergoing renovation and conversion to condominiums, current residents may be concerned for their health, safety and security. They may be upset at having to either buy or move. They may not be clear on what rights they have and on how to exercise those rights.

Prospective new residents of new homes seek residences they can enjoy, that will hold or gain in value over a long time horizon and, if they have children, are near good schools.

Prospective tenants of new commercial spaces seek work spaces where their employees can work productively, enjoyably and conveniently.

Retailers seek spaces that will attract customers and provide them with plenty of convenient parking.

Hotel guests seek lodging and restaurants they will enjoy and that are near their work or vacation destinations.

Real estate developments influence economic development and job opportunities in both the immediate area of development and also in surrounding communities. Public officials may seek to use real estate development projects as engines of economic development.

Community leaders may wish to trade under-utilized public land or development rights to a developer in exchange for building new schools, parks, clinics or other public facilities.

Architects wish to design structures of beauty and utility that fit with their environs.

Real estate developments affect the natural environment in which they are built. They thereby affect opportunities people have to enjoy nature and the outdoors. Within areas of development, environmental groups may wish to protect and preserve natural habitats and provide the public with controlled access to natural environments.

Professional landscapers seek to create open spaces that blend the development with the natural environment and harmonize it with the surrouding community.

Engineers seek to design safety, comfort, efficiency, utility and reliability into buildings.

How a project is designed and engineered determines how much energy the development will consume for decades to come. Public officials and environmental groups may wish to promote green architectural designs, engineering and construction.

Investors and lenders seek to earn attractive returns and minimize their financial risks and exposures. Many seek to associate themselves with projects that communities and environmentalists embrace.

To preserve their expected profit margins, construction contractors and sub- contractors try to build structures quickly, safely and economically.

At the Aurora Companies, we strive to maximize the utility, benefits and satisfaction that our developments bring to all of these people and to everyone else our projects touch.

To achieve this goal, we have established principles that we require our employees to follow. We have established principles that we require architects, engineers, contractors and subcontractors whom we hire to follow.

Through a process of consultation and collaboration, we and the architects, engineers and consultants whom we hire work with community residents, community groups, prospective tenants, environmental groups, public officials, regulatory bodies, investors and lenders to design and build homes, commercial spaces and hotels that benefit everyone whom each of our projects touches.

We respect the ideas and concerns of everyone whom our developments affect. In our conversion and renovation projects, we do our best to smooth the relocation of anyone that a project displaces.

Throughout every development project, we invite everyone affected by our designs and implementations to communicate with us through community meetings, at public hearings, by phone and via email.

We believe that through a process of consultation and collaboration, we can arrive at designs for real estate development projects that benefit everyone that a project touches.

We believe that the better every person that a project touches understands the goals and concerns of everyone else the project touches, the better we will be able to make beneficial design tradeoffs. Creative tradeoffs can lead to a design and implementation that benefits everyone.

To promote effective and beneficial collaborations, here we share with you our thinking about real estate development.

Aurora encourages you to envision how projects that we have in the discussion and design stage for your community can improve the quality of your life, improve quality of life for others and preserve, protect and still provide access to the natural environment.

Real estate development takes place within complex legal and regulatory contexts. The better everyone with an interest in a project understands these contexts, the more productive our discussions can be. Here we give you an overview of the ways that our society has established for citizens and other concerned parties to guide, shape and influence real estate development.

If you are a public official or community leader, we encourage you to look around your community and think about how enlightened real estate development might spur economic development in your community and increase your community's tax base. State, city and county governments own a total of 12% of the land in the United States. Think about how you might trade under-utilized public land or the right to develop it for a new school, park, clinic or other public facility. Share your idea with us. We'll let you know what type and scale of development might make your idea economically feasible and how you can push the process along.

If you are the CEO of a company or organization, we encourage you to envision how a new development for your company or for your industry might increase the productivity and work satisfaction of your employees— and add to your profits. If you have a site in mind, talk to us. We can suggest ways to develop your thinking further.

Great real estate development projects come from great ideas, imaginative tradeoffs and a spirit of collaboration. At the Aurora Companies, our job is to combine ideas and shape tradeoffs in ways that produce developments that are economically feasible and benefit everyone. We invite you to collaborate with us.