Joseph B. Rose is a leader in planning and real estate development in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. As President of Rose Urban Strategies Mr. Rose unites his expertise in public and private development to create value in real estate where private investment opportunities align with public purpose.
As Chairman of the New York City Planning Commission and Director of New York City’s Department of City Planning for eight years during the administration of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Mr. Rose was the public official with primary responsibility for development activity throughout the city and undertook a broad range of strategic initiatives. Mr. Rose commenced the policy of rezoning large areas of the city to spur housing production which resulted in the tripling of the city’s annual housing creation and established the growth oriented planning agenda pursued with enthusiasm by subsequent mayoral administrations. Mr. Rose began the planning for the expansion of the Manhattan business district to the Far West Side and conceived the plan to connect the area to public transportation with the extension of the #7 Subway line and introduced the concept of funding the project with revenues from future adjacent development. Mr. Rose also created a successful comprehensive plan for the preservation of the Broadway Theaters within the context of the theater district’s redevelopment utilizing a new approach to transferable development rights. Mr. Rose was the principal public official responsible for planning and negotiating the transactions for the redevelopment of Columbus Circle, including the creation of the Time Warner Center, the establishment of the performance complex for Jazz@Lincoln Center, and the reconfiguration of the traffic patterns and design of the circle itself. Other projects in which Mr. Rose played a central role were the establishment of the Hudson River Park, the construction of the new Museum of Modern Art, the development of baseball stadiums in Coney Island and Staten Island, and the creation of a permanent home for the Alvin Ailey Dance Company.
Before his tenure at City Planning, Mr. Rose worked as Executive Director of The Citizen’s Housing and Planning Council and was Special Assistant for Urban Affairs to United States Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He served three terms as chairman of the Community Board for Midtown Manhattan (CB#5).
As a private sector real estate developer Mr. Rose has partnered in a wide range of office, residential and recreational properties throughout the United States. While General Partner at The Georgetown Company, among other projects Mr. Rose initiated and led the development of the iconic and award-winning IAC Building, Barry Diller’s waterfront headquarters that catalyzed development in Manhattan’s West Chelsea and was Frank Gehry’s first building in New York City.
Mr. Rose devotes significant time to not-for-profit endeavors. He is the founding chairman of the Advisory Board of the Rose Center for Public Leadership, a joint program of the Urban Land Institute and the National League of Cities that works with mayors and city governments across the country to support excellence in public land use decision making. Other non profit endeavors he has created include The Hilltop Cares Foundation, The Center for Educational Enrichment at The Gateway School, and The Midtown Children’s Project. Among the boards on which Mr. Rose serves as a director, trustee or officer are: The Urban Land Institute, The Madison Square Park Conservancy, The Flatiron/Chelsea Business Improvement District, and Hudson River Park Friends. Joseph Rose is a member of the Dean’s Council of the Yale University School of Architecture, the Fellows of Davenport College at Yale, and The Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. Rose was Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and a Visiting Scholar at NYU’s Robert Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He has lectured at The Harvard School of Design, The Yale School of Architecture, Princeton University, NYU Law School, and The Urban Land Institute. His publications include articles in The Public Interest, The New York Times, The New Republic, The City Journal, and The Journal of the American Planning Association.
Joseph Rose is a graduate of Yale University and did his graduate work in the Department of Government at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.