Students Archives - Page 2 of 7

New Undergraduate Initiative in Real Estate

Thanks to a generous endowment from the Jacobi Family and Windermere Real Estate the University of Washington is launching a series of undergraduate classes in real estate. The Director of the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies, Professor Simon Stevenson, who also holds the John and Rosalind Jacobi Family Chair, described the initiative as an important part of the long-term development of the Real Estate program at UW.

“The development of an undergraduate minor is exciting in many respects. It will complement the well established MSRE program and will also open up real estate and the associated career possibilities to UW’s undergraduate student body. The first class started this quarter and from a standing start it already has over twenty students enrolled. The Intro to Real Estate class will be followed by a Market Analysis course in the Spring Quarter. As more courses are rolled out over the next two years this will develop into a fully-fledged minor in real estate. Everyone in the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments would like to extend our thanks and appreciation to Windermere Real Estate and the Jacobi family for their support and help in developing this exciting initiative”.

2017 CoreNet Recipients

On Tuesday, CoreNet recognized the 2016-17 scholarship recipients at their January luncheon. Congratulations Eric Jacobs, Lori Shannon, Adam Boyd, Matthew Ricci and Tak Stewart.
We are so grateful to the CoreNet Seattle Chapter for their continued support of our students.

corenet-luncheon-scholarship-awardees-2017 — Eric Jacobs, CoreNet University Relations liason Scott Carter, Lori Shannon, Adam Boyd, Matthew Ricci

Runstad Center Mentors

Runstad Center mentor Joe Polito recently took his mentees on a project tour of Tilt49. Tilt49 is a mixed-use residential and office property, under construction in the Denny Triangle. The project includes 11 floors of office with 31,000 SF floor plates, a 7,000 SF deck on level 9 and a lobby featuring food retail and other “pop-up” retail spaces. Kristen Jensen from Touchstone, Kyle Paulsen and Ian Knowles from Mortenson Construction lead the tour. Our mentors are an invaluable resource for our students, providing career path advice and hands on exposure to real world projects. Click here for the bios of all the 2016-17 Runstad Center mentors.

group-photo — Kristen Jensen of Touchstone, MSRE Candidate Taryn Rehn, MSRE Candidate McKenzie Darr, Ian Knowles from Mortenson Construction, MSRE Candidate Fred Levine, MSRE Candidate Luqi Chen, Runstad Mentor Joe Polito from Touchstone, and Kyle Paulsen from Mortenson Construction

The ULI Fall Meeting, a great networking experience

MSRE Candidate Eric Jacobs recently attended the ULI Fall Meeting and shares his thoughts/fears on networking, a necessary skill in the world of real estate...

“Networking” has always been a bit of a scary word to me. It conjures up images of awkward conversations, exchanging business cards with strangers and trying to “sell” oneself. Those aren’t situations where I tend to be comfortable. The ULI Fall Meeting promised to be chock full of those sort of interactions so I had a certain amount of trepidation going into the week.

Thankfully, with the help of the MSRE staff and my friends and classmates, I never felt the need to put myself into awkward situations. Instead, I was able to “customize” my networking experience into situations where I felt comfortable and confident in my ability to put the best (and most genuine) version of myself forward.

Starting the week off with a tour worked well as it allowed us to meet people in a relaxed setting, whether watching longhorn steer being herded down a Ft. Worth city street or sampling a variety of Texas whisky at a cool outdoor bar. I made friends in a relaxed setting with natural conversations about who we are, what we did, where we were from and our differences and similarities. As other people from the group were doing the same we were constantly being introduced to new and interesting people.

As the week went on, different events were set up during the day where we met local real estate leaders and essentially got to grill them for helpful information. We could ask as many questions (or as few) as we felt comfortable. It was another great way to get to know contacts who could be a big help now, or down the road.

Finally, our last night in Dallas we headed out to a northwest networking event. Our little crew of Washingtonians piled into a random limo, jumped onstage and sung with a local bar band for a song or two and generally engaged in the sort of good-natured shenanigans that create lifetime bonds.

When I got home I thought about the great time I had before realizing, much to my chagrin, I had been networking the whole time. Oh well. Thank you so much to the staff and sponsors that made this trip possible for all of us!

The M-Line Trolley

While at the Fall 2016 Urban Land Institute Meeting in Dallas, I encountered an unexpected and delightful transit mode. The nostalgic M-Line trolley links the downtown Dallas Arts District with the trendy shops, galleries and bistros of Uptown, including West Village, where you can transfer to or from the more modern Dallas Area Rapid Transit rail service at the Cityplace/Uptown Station. An additional connection to DART Rail is available with the completion of an M-Line extension along Olive Street through Klyde Warren Park to near St. Paul Station. It reminded me of the waterfront streetcar that vanished from Seattle’s waterfront a decade ago.

Pike Oliver
Runstad Center Faculty

Investing and creating communities to love

Pike Oliver continues his impressions from this year’s ULI Fall Meeting with a summary of Sarah Filley’s session.

One of the more interesting presenters at the Urban Land Institute 2016 Fall Meeting in Dallas was from Oakland, California. Sarah Filley cofounded Popuphood, which she said, “invests in entrepreneurs with hearts of gold to create communities we love.”
Ms. Filley explained “Cities like Oakland are the most vulnerable to recession, where it hurts the most and lasts the longest,” she said. In 2011 Oakland’s downtown had 35 percent retail vacancy. But there was an active monthly arts festival drawing 25,000 people on a single day. The idea of Popuphood was to connect artists with vacant retail space.

Filley’s initiative aggregated very small businesses and concentrated them on a single block, using redevelopment funds to provide them with six months of free rent. The approach of curating local independent retail tenants to catalyze local economic development began to transform the downtown, block by block.Popuphood continues to offer three-month to five-year leases to micro entrepreneurs, helping activate and reposition downtown properties. As a result, the value of properties housing these small retailers and pop-ups has doubled over the last five years. “These buildings have gone from vacant to vibrant,” Filley said. Popuphood has proved that micro entrepreneurs can have major economic impacts.

To watch a video of Sarah’s presentation click here

Sell or hold?

Faculty member Pike Oliver joins the students this week in sharing his experiences at the 2016 ULI Fall Meeting…

Several Runstad students attending the 2016 Urban Land Institute Fall Meeting in Dallas, saw John McNellis, a principal with McNellis Partners, a northern California–based developer, share his perspective on one of the most difficult real estate decisions—sell or hold, as captured in his excellent how-to-do-it book, Making It in Real Estate (Washington, DC: Urban Land Institute, 2015). A video of that presentation is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2PnevX5QG0

McNellis tells you how to get started as an entrepreneurial real estate developer, sharing practical tips and advice from his wealth of experience over 35 years in real estate development. He entertains with witty anecdotes, and wisdom on how to take advantage of opportunities and avoid pitfalls. Offering humorous insights, the book covers the ins and outs of how to get financing, working with architects, brokers, and other professionals, how to make a good deal, and win approval for a project.

For those looking to get into the real estate business, McNellis advised trying to take a 20-year approach to your career. “Do you want to work for the biggest company that’s constantly in the headlines, or do you want to focus on building economic independence? Are you doing the night classes and other hard work to get to where you want to be?”

Timing the market has never been part of his strategy. “We view ourselves like farmers; we plant, sow, and harvest each year,” said McNellis. McNellis outlined why he has always taken a “value add” approach, “buying junk and selling antiques,” rather than a merchant builder’s approach of selling fast at lower margins. But he also admitted, “We’ve lost money every which way you can.”

Dallas’s affordable and mixed-income housing plan

MSRE Candidate 2017 Alastair Townsend discusses what he took away from a session on Dallas’s affordable housing issues at the 2016 Urban Land Institute Fall Meeting…

Among major cities, Dallas’ poverty rate is the third worst in the nation.^[1] 38 percent of children in Dallas live in poverty, the highest rate among the 10 largest US cities.^[2] Judging by what was discussed at this ULI panel discussion, Dallas seems to have failed to address the issue of housing affordability in this era of growing poverty and acute income inequality. Dallas’s Affordable and Mixed-Income Housing Plan, it turns out, is a recently-mandated effort triggered by the city’s contravention of federal fair housing policies. The panelists were a group of people at the center of making this change.

Dallas’ Office of Economic Development Director Karl Zavitkovsky openly admitted that Dallas was late to implement policies to address the quality and availability of affordable housing for low-income families. It seems that the city is only now enacting policies that are tried and tested in other cities.

The city has used TIF (tax-increment financing) to fund redevelopment, although Zavitkovsky said their use is limited in terms of housing. The city does not account for affordable housing units created within the TIF districts.^[3] The city has also enacted voluntary inclusionary zoning. However, developers typically opt for making payments, rather than incorporate affordable units in their developments. Turning these funds into affordable housing units appears to have been a struggle for the city. Zavitkovsky also mentioned the use of home-improvement rebates of $5,000.

While the downtown and north of the city has boomed, the south, where most low-income and minority neighborhoods are focused, has been neglected. The city’s own housing policy was proven to perpetuate racial segregation between northern and southern Dallas. After it blocked a mixed-income development in a predominantly white downtown census tract, the developer appealed directly to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), alleging discrimination. HUD investigated and judged that city officials had indeed unfairly denied federal housing funds in order to make the project unfeasible and maintain the racially segregated status quo. In a letter, HUD stated,

“There is overwhelming evidence reflecting a need for affordable housing for the low-income strata (at or below 50% AMI) in the City of Dallas. As discussed, there is an overrepresentation of minorities and persons with disabilities at this income level. Furthermore, the Central Business District and Downtown Connection TIF District [the site of the project] are overrepresented by white, non-disabled residents. Lastly, the average rents in the Central Business District and Downtown Connection TIF District are not affordable for persons at the 30% or 50% income strata. In addition, the evidence indicates that there was a need for affordable housing to be available in Dallas in an equitable manner and that there was in particular a need for affordable housing in the downtown area for which TIF and Section 108 financing should be resources.”^[4]

Facing fines in the tens of millions, Dallas was forced to settle the dispute by promising to lead development of a regional 10-year housing plan and to overhaul its housing department. Dallas has turned to the ULI’s Advisory Services Panel (headed by Tony M. Salazar who was also one of the panelists) for help. The council’s recommendations included creating a Chief Executive Officer of Housing and Community Investment; creating a housing trust fund with defined revenue sources; expanding incentive and inclusionary programs; leveraging existing city assets, mostly land; and better managing the housing voucher program to ensure the vouchers get used and don’t just expire. The ULI panel also highlighted Dallas’ opaque and inconsistent entitlement approval process, because it misses opportunities to trade upzoning for affordable housing.

With the benefit of greater background knowledge in hindsight, this ULI panel discussion was probably an attempt to assist their client and the conference’s host city to air their dirty laundry and move beyond the recent housing discrimination controversy. After admitting it needs help, Dallas’ admission of culpability is the next step to reforming their housing policy. The City of Dallas seems to have taken this necessary step on their road to recovery with the help of the ULI as both its publicity platform and sponsor.

^[1] James, L. (2014, August 15). COUNCIL BRIEFING. Briefing presented at Mayor’s Task Force on Poverty before City Council, Dallas. Retrieved October 29, 2016, from https://dallascityhall.com/government/Council Meeting Documents/2014/Poverty_Task_Force_082014.pdf

^[2] Hallman, T. (2016). Dallas has the highest child poverty rate among big cities, and city hall isn’t sure how to change it | Dallas City Hall | Dallas News. Retrieved October 29, 2016, from http://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas-city-hall/2016/09/07/dallas-highest-child-poverty-rate-among-big-cities-city-hall-sure-change

^[3]Dallas’ TIF Affordable Housing. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2016, from http://buildlouderdallas.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/February-2014-Dallas-TIF-Affordable-Housing.pdf

^[4] Sweeny, G. L. (n.d.). LETTER OF FINDINGS OF NON-COMPLIANCE 1600 Pacific LP v. City of Dallas [Letter written November 22, 2013 to The City of Dallas]. Retrieved October 29, 2016, from http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/HUD_Dallas_Fair_Housing_11-22-13.pdf

The evolution of Bishop Arts District

Today MSRE Candidate Adam Boyd shares his impressions of the Bishop Arts District in Dallas…

Dallas is an odd city with some cool areas. The Hyatt Regency—basically an island between the prison and some train tracks—was not in one of those areas. But luckily Ubers are cheap there. The first evening in town, another student and I took a Lyft (also cheap) to the Bishop Arts District. Our Lyft ride was like a segment out of the film Slacker—our driver had started a consulting business which had a business plan to generate “infinite revenue” for its clients by convincing them that they were “priceless.” The Bishop Arts District was originally developed in the 1920s as warehouses and shops, but the area eventually fell into decline. Then in the 1980s, many of the storefronts were purchased by a local, Jim Lake, who saw a bargain. Lake brought in a police storefront to bring a sense of safety to the area. Over the years, renovations were made to make the area more walkable and murals and brick pavers gave the area its unique feel. Today it is filled with independent shops and restaurants that spill onto the street. Live bands perform on the sidewalks—including one of the best cover bands I’ve ever heard. I highly recommend a trip to the Bishop Arts District for anyone who wants a small town feel in the big city.

Innovative ideas from Dallas

Today we begin a series of blog posts from our second year MSRE students, who recently attended the 2016 Urban Land Institute Fall Meeting in Dallas. One of the many benefits of an education at the Runstad Center is the unique opportunity to travel to a national conference and have exclusive access to a number of prominent figures in the industry, which is funded through generous donations from the Runstad Center Advisory Board. Evan Wong, MSRE Candidate 2017, shares his experiences in Dallas…

Following our ULI Young Leaders Group tour in Ft Worth yesterday evening, things were moving rather slowly for me in the morning. I woke up at 7 am (5 am PST) to get some work emails out and ran down to the café for an espresso where I ran into two of my MSRE compatriots, Brendan Mason and Amy Hartman also on their laptops in the lobby. Laughs were shared and pleasantries were exchanged as we bleakly looked on into our computer screens; our minds a bit fatigued but we were determined to get our school assignments completed and work emails sent.

It’s still relatively early in the trip, but the best thing about Dallas so far has been the weather. 85 degrees and partially sunny with a slight breeze throughout the day. Not the best suit weather certainly, but the conference rooms were frigid and I guess it kind of balanced out. I haven’t gotten to explore to much of the city given our dense schedule, but I did manage to sneak away to Klyde Warren Park on Monday for a few minutes of serenity and relaxation.

On Tuesday morning, we met with Hal Ferris, founder of Spectrum Development and Molly McCabe of ULI’s Responsibility Property Investment Council. Molly is a firm proponent of triple bottom line investing, which emphasizes a focus on profits, people, and environmental sustainability when evaluating real estate returns. It’s an interesting concept, and one that I just previously heard about earlier this quarter at The Evans School in Joaquin Herranz’s Public Policy 566: Community Economic Development class. Joaquin however stresses a quadruple bottom line approach, adding creativity as the fourth factor in the equation. It’s so exciting to see concepts that we learned about in the classroom being applied to the present in the real estate industry.

Following our meeting with Molly and Hal we then met with Scott Matthews of Vulcan to give us the State of the Union for Paul Allen’s development powerhouse. While they are known for their development of the Amazon campus and reinvigorating South Lake Union it was interesting to hear about the entitlement and community feedback process that they are currently going through for 23^rd & Jackson in the Central District. Like all accomplished development companies, Vulcan takes community engagement very seriously and is actively working with all parties involved to develop a project that matches the needs of the community with Vulcan’s underlying ideals towards development and revitalization.