Dan Cohen, Founder and Principal
Work Experience | Education | Speaking | Civic
We incredibly appreciate Dan Cohen’s overall professionalism, deep technical knowledge, and willingness to leverage his key relationships, as well as how consistently responsive he has been to our demanding budget and schedule.” - Dr. Alan Villavicencio, VAV Real Estate
Through the course of Dan’s two decade career he has worked in development, land planning, politics, urban design, affordable housing, permitting and entitlements, and environmental planning, amongst others. The common thread has been his passion for creating lasting pieces of the built-environment that contribute meaningfully to the public realm, tread lightly on the natural environment, and are financially successful.
Prior to founding UIG, Dan spent a number of years with Catellus Development, the mixed-use, retail, and land development division of Prologis, a Fortune 500 REIT. Dan was the Director of Planning for the San Francisco Mission Bay project and then Vice President of Planning and Development, where he had national responsibility for land acquisition, project design and planning, entitlements, and marketing of commercial properties.
Earlier in his career, Dan worked for esteemed national planning and design consulting firms where he managed theВ entitlements and environmental planning for dozens of large private and public-sector residential, commercial, civic, and retail developments. Dan also served as the senior land use advisor to a Los Angeles City Councilman.
- B.A. in History and Political Economy, University of California, Berkeley
- Master’s of City Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Takenaka Komuten Fellowship (large architecture/construction company in Tokyo)
Dan is a frequent lecturer and instructor on the topics of mixed-use, transit-oriented development, and sustainable development. He has spoken at conferences throughout North America, including ULI, USGBC, NAIOP, and Globe. He has also been an instructor, lecturer, and reviewer at the University of Colorado School of Business and the School of Architecture and Planning, as well as Colorado State University Pueblo.
Dan has served since 2011 as member of the Boulder County Planning Commission and was appointed in 2012 to the board of the Boulder Urban Renewal Authority. Dan has also played leadership roles with multiple professional organizations, including the Urban Land Institute, US Green Building Council, NAIOP, and SPUR. Dan is a former board member of the Northwest Business Center Metro District and was the co-founder of USGBC’s LEED-Neighborhood Development Committee.
