Investing in America's urban rebirth

A return to cities creates opportunities:

After some 50 years of decline, many U.S. cities are showing signs of rebounding as city centers are rebuilt and more people are attracted back to core urban areas.

Knowing what parts of a city will return, and how best to capitalize on such changes, presents opportunities for investors.

This three-part special report examines a little of what happened to pull people and development away from cities, what's attracting them back, how shrewd private investors are spotting trends and what institutional investment and redevelopment projects have done to bring some cities back to life.

Part 1, "Why cities shrink... and grow," takes a look at what happened to a few of America's once-great burgeoning cities that left them empty and run-down. Pittsburgh, Pa., is one city that experienced booming growth in the 19th century and saw that growth disappear in the five decades after World War II.

Part 2, "Local knowledge key for small investors in urban areas," examines why in shrunken cities, local knowledge is even more important for small investors looking to take on urban projects. Ilya Snyder, a "microdeveloper" with the Karras Brothers Company credits much of his success to intimate, block-by-block knowledge of Detroit's downtown. Snyder helps to unravel the puzzle of investing in downtowns.

Part 3, "Redevelopment and institutional investment in shrunken cities," looks at the government subsidies, public-private partnerships, huge investment cooperatives and decades-long planning processes that go into redevelopment efforts. There's no guarantee of success, yet sometimes the results are spectacular. This part takes a close look at Baltimore's Inner Harbor as one example.

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