Omar Blaik of U3 Advisors

Omar Blaik, CEO of U3 Advisors and recipient of the Edmund Bacon Urban Design Award, has spent his career helping anchor institutions transform struggling neighborhoods into thriving urban districts. In this episode, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace explore why markets rarely fix distressed neighborhoods on their own, how strategies like “buy local, hire local, live local” can create new urban vitality, and why anchor institutions should care deeply about the communities that surround them. Along the way, Omar reflects on why the best cities deliver joy not just in private spaces, but in the public realm we all share. Closer is a conversation hosted by Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace about the strategies that make cities more social—and why that may be the smartest investment in the urban toolkit.