Shirlington Library and its adjoining plaza in Arlington, Virginia, after the area Shirlington Library and its adjoining plaza in Arlington, Virginia, after the area's successful redevelopment. Photo by Tony Webster, used under Creative Commons licensing.

Real estate is changing rapidly: within a generation, most nonresidential properties will either be redeveloped or abandoned. And that has the potential to be good news: successful redevelopment can lead to job creation, higher investment return, and increased stability in tax bases. But redevelopment takes money. In Foundations of Real Estate Development Financing: A Guide to Public-Private Partnerships, real estate analyst Arthur C. Nelson offers a guide to building private-partnerships that can make redevelopment a reality.