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MSRE New Student Orientation Week

New MSRE students dove into their school year on Monday, September 19, 2016 with a week-long orientation that took them from the University District to Bellevue, Pioneer Square, Downtown, to Kent.

“The Runstad Center has multiple goals for its’ week long orientation program for students. We want students to begin their studies with inspiration from the best projects and most engaging leaders in the industry. We want students to connect with the industry from the get go – to learn about the industry organizations and how they can participate in them; to meet the advisory board members, mentors and our alumni so they can call on them as resources throughout their time with us,“ says Suzanne Cartwright, Associate Director of the Runstad Center.

During this week, the MSRE Class of 2018 met with faculty and professors to learn about the robust curriculum and elective offerings provided by the Runstad Center, and were introduced to real estate community networks, including ULI, NAIOP, CoreNet, and CREW. This ambitious week also had the students visiting some of the most prominent projects in this region, notably the new Amazon Headquarters, the Spring District, and the new Weyerhaeuser Headquarters.

Taryn Rehn, MSRE Class of 2018, said, “It was an action packed orientation week filled with inspiring speakers, events, and tours. We got a rare tour of Amazon headquarters wherein the Director Global of Real Estate and Facilities described how their workplace design strategy supports the dynamic company culture… Part of the reason I chose the Runstad program was the involvement of the greater Puget Sound real estate community. This extraordinary level of support became evident as dozens of industry leaders offered presentations, did facility tours, and attended welcome events.”

Orientation week also allowed the new students build rapport with each other. As Suzanne puts it, “…we want them to build esprit du corps among themselves – to appreciate the diversity of perspectives and experiences that each student brings to the class – and to create a community of learners, an atmosphere of safety within which risks can be taken. An intimate graduate seminar program located in a dynamic, progressive city deserves no less!”

The Runstad Center is built on incredible industry support. This busy week allowed the next generation of real estate leaders to meet with well over 80 established real estate professionals.

“The Orientation Week is something that really sets this program apart… and it absolutely started the academic year off on the right foot… I was very impressed with the individuals who donated their time to meet with us all around the city. We met executives, developers, construction managers, property managers, brokers, and the list goes on and on. Their willingness to share their expertise and insight with us was very much appreciated,” said Will Mentor, MSRE Class of 2018.

“Local real estate professionals met with us in mentorship groups and one on one. Not only are they willing to be available while we’re in the program but they wholeheartedly want to be a helpful resource. They’ve made a long term commitment to the success of the Runstad program and its’ ability to produce future industry leaders. I was impressed by their generosity, being willing to volunteer time out of their busy schedules… Overall it was a fun, memorable week and set a very positive tone for our studies at the Runstad Center,” added Taryn.

A City to Love

Runstad Center Affiliate Fellow, Joe David, concludes our series of blog posts documenting the 2015-16 Fellows’ experiences in Auckland, New Zealand last spring.

The 2015-2106 Runstad Center Affiliate Fellows had the privilege to spend a week in late March exploring the city of Auckland, New Zealand – A community which is grappling with many of the same opportunities and challenges that Seattle currently faces in the midst rapid population growth.

Our group spent seven non-stop days meeting with private developers, architects, transportation planners, utility planners, real-estate associations, community activists, and city officials. The goal was to learn as much as possible about the role that the right-of-way could play in fostering community spirit, advancing sustainable planning, and promoting mass transit. It was our belief that these areas of inquiry could unlock the opportunities that the public realm presented. This scope was intended to help us focus our efforts so that we could return with well-articulated recommendations for our own community.

We succeeded in learning about those specific aspects of Auckland’s streetscape, but more importantly, we discovered a city that had gone to great lengths to break down these very silos – instilling a holistic visionary approach to city building. We discovered a city with a clear vision for itself, a streamlined governance structure to implement that vision, city agencies that were empowered to take calculated risk, and a culture that used mistakes as an opportunity to learn and quickly advance. Vision, financing, love of place, economics, culture, history and vibrant city living are all nested together as one multi-pronged strategy.

The Fellows have returned to Seattle with clear examples of how a community facing similar challenges of population growth has rallied to create “the most livable city in the world”. We present ideas for how Seattle and the region can learn from this example and harness the cultural, economic, creative potential of its own streets.

To view the Fellows recent presentation at Impact Hub Seattle, click here, we also have some lovely photos of the event here

Photos from the 2015 Runstad Center Affiliate Fellows Presentation

Recent Runstad Center Research

The Runstad Center released the Washington State Condominium Report this past July, which examines the current Seattle market and six other western cities, focusing on construction of new condominiums. Read more about this study from the author David Leon, MSRE Candidate 2017, as well as a link to the full report here

In August, Peter Orser wrote a forward for a recent feasibility study conducted by Collision RTKL focused on mass timber construction, a relatively new technology that could deliver a sustainable solution to urban growth challenges. The full study can be found here

The 2nd Quarter Washington State Housing Market Report showed increases in sales and growth, although the number of new building permits is down compared to last year. Read the full market summary here

Welcome MSRE Class of 2018!

New MSRE students dove into their school year on Monday, September 19, 2016 with a week-long orientation that took them from the University District to Bellevue, Pioneer Square, Downtown, to Kent.

The Runstad Center is built on incredible industry support. This busy week allowed the next generation of real estate leaders to meet with well over 80 established real estate professionals.

MSRE students compete in the Corenet Global Academic Challenge

MSRE Candidates Hang Yin, Mingzhe Wang, Youyang Wang, and Zi Cai

Four Runstad Center students participated in the 2nd Annual CoreNet Global Challenge, in which student teams from universities around the world apply their education to one real-world issues facing companies around the world: how to attract, retain and motivate the next generation of knowledge workers. Putting themselves in the position of a consulting team to a large, multinational corporation, Hang Yin, Zi Cai, Youyang Wang, and Mingzhe Wang, developed an approach that fully reflected the diversity and experience of their team. “…We identified several key questions that we can investigate and address in the final competition, such as: in many organizations, leaders make decisions on what kind of space/culture one organization should have. However, is there a way to improve so that employees can make decisions on space or culture, or if there is a mechanism for leaders to better understand what their employees truly want,” reflects Hang. The team was advised by CoreNet Washington members and faculty advisor Kelli Leith.

Hang adds, “I think this competition provides us a good opportunity to stretch our thinking on how to make an organization more attractive. More specifically, we spent time doing research, narrowing down our topics, discussing and providing our answers, and networking and asking for feedback during this competition. Considering none of us had opportunities making corporation strategy directly, we thought that this competition made us a really valuable experience.” While the team’s submission was not selected for the final round in Philadelphia, their application will still be considered for the CoreNet competition in Shanghai in 2017. In preparation for this potential, the Runstad team will be looking at the Philadelphia winners’ proposals, and reflect on potential upsides to include in their own proposal.

Commercial RE Certificate Student Profile: Celeste Lenon

Celeste Lenon has enjoyed a multifaceted career, having worked in architecture, technology and finance. Her collective experience led her to her current role as COO of MG2, an international architectural and design firm headquartered in Seattle. MG2 is well known for their robust portfolio in retail, food and beverage, and hospitality, and in Seattle, they are currently working on the Altitude Hotel and Residences, and Tower 12 in Seattle. Celeste is responsible for improving company processes, and oversees accounting, marketing, human resources, IT, and program management. As COO, Celeste fully recognizes the importance of understanding the diverse industries her firm interacts with, which led her to enroll in this year’s UW Commercial Real Estate Certificate Program. “Being very data driven, I want to understand the full process so that we can be a better partner to developers by understanding what drives them.“ The CRE program’s multidisciplinary curriculum was of great appeal to Celeste, who hopes to bring what she learns in the program back to her team. “We can make better decisions if we are more informed and can get ahead of the curve.”

Outside of MG2 and the CRE program, Celeste enjoys taking cooking classes and tending her garden, and spending time with her three kids and two horses.

3rd Annual Runstad Center Leadership Dinner

The 2016 Runstad Center Leadership Dinner brought the Seattle real estate industry together in a memorable evening celebrating the many successes of the Runstad Center. We honored George Rolfe, beloved professor of many students and alumni, celebrating his retirement with a collection of selfies and George-isms. Peter Orser announced the establishment of an alumni fund, led by five Runstad alumni who recognize the importance of the Runstad Center program in creating future real estate leaders. The keynote speaker, Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer of Microsoft, gave an energizing talk that focused on our established history of innovation, pressing issues that Seattle is currently facing, and provided thoughtful suggestions about how the real estate community could implement long term solutions.

“The night was also a huge success for the Runstad Center, raising over $200,000 for Runstad Center operations, which will provide for our student programs and additional scholarships. Thank you to everyone who attended and supported the 2016 Runstad Center Leadership Dinner!!” -Peter Orser

Here are some photos from the evening, you can see even more here

Urban Land Institute Regional Cascadia Conference 2016

The Urban Land Institute Regional Cascadia Conference of 2016 was hosted in Vancouver, BC this year over the weekend of June 22nd. The Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies was represented by Ka-Chung Kwok (Class of 2017) and Alastair Townsend (Class of 2017) as attendees to this event. The following post is Ka-Chung’s impressions of the conference. The Runstad Center Advisory Board’s generous donations helps to send students to one regional or national conference while earning their degree.

This conference was initiated by keynote speaker Mark Gilbreth – Founder of Liquidspace – a company that leverages mobile technology and social networking to capitalize on shifting needs of modern workplace tenancy. Based on a business model often referred to as “AirBnB of office space”, Liquidspace aims to activate structural vacancies caused by the traditional long-term multi-year leasing model. Mark’s keynote provided insight into the future of commercial office space brokerage as one that is becoming multi-faceted, real time data-driven and collaborative in nature between traditional brokerages with new technology driven participants. He predicts that by 2020 fifty percent of all office space transactions will be online.

A Panel discussion titled “The 21st Century City” then followed involving Real Estate experts and policy makers from Vancouver (Councillor Raymond Louie, Marc Josephson – Grosvenor Americas), Seattle (Garbriel Grant – Spectrum Development) and Portland (Lisa Abuaf – Portland Development Commission). This discussion compared and contrasted the recent growing pains found common to all three cities – rapidly escalating real estate prices, shortage of affordable working-class housing, and the complexities in providing effective Transit oriented developments. Each city took different approaches in crafting their policies with some common goals – Increasing affordability of housing, expanding transit options, and densification of the urban core. There are also some very unique factors – While Seattle is faced with a severe shortage of condominium supply for first-time home buyers due to the development risks associated by the Washington Condo Act; the reverse effect is happening in Vancouver where there is a shortage in supply of rental units.

The second half of the ULI conference focused on Site tours of notable upcoming development projects and recently completed projects in Vancouver. Highlights include Telus Garden and the Central post office adaptive reuse project in the downtown Core, Marine Gateway Transit oriented development along the Canada line, Brewery District in Westminster BC and the Downtown Eastside Urban Renewal project.

Why the Runstad Center matters

On October 13^th The Runstad Center held its 3^rd Annual Leadership Dinner where we introduced our newest video describing “Why the Runstad Center matters!” It’s a great overview of the Center’s people and programs and definitely a must see if you are interested in an advanced degree in real estate. Check out the full video here