MSRE ’13 student Eric Hadden writes in with another report from our students’ recent trip to Chicago for the ULI 2013 Fall Meeting.  Read on to hear all about their trip to 155 Wacker, Chicago’s newest office tower.

 

As a part of last week’s ULI events, Runstad Students received an exclusive invite to tour Chicago’s newest office tower, 155 North Wacker. Our hosts from John Buck Co. took us behind the scenes of this Class A+ office tower and explained the process of developing this project in the middle of the Great Recession.

From blocks away, it is apparent that 155 North Wacker is exceptional, as it rises above the structures around it. The grand entry is designed to bring the outside in and the inside out, and many of the design elements and materials run through the building to the street. Another notable characteristic of the building was the level of highly visible security. In addition to a full-time security staff monitoring the building’s entries, access cards were needed to enter the elevator lobby. Runstad Center Board Chair Lisa Stewart joined us on the tour and noted that this is unique to some of the larger office markets in the country.

The grand entry and high level of security speak to the building’s Class A position in the market, but the building includes a “checklist” of other amenities that allow it to compete in this sector of Chicago’s office market:

•       Secured Entry
•       White linen table restaurant
•       Café
•       Sundry Store
•       Below-grade Parking
•       Conference Center
•       Fitness Center

After exploring the building’s lobby, we went up a level to the high-tech conference center that was available for tenants to reserve. This was included as an amenity for building tenants, but it is operated in a way that makes it financially self-sustaining. On the same floor was another one of the buildings amenities – the fitness center. The center provided members with all the services found in a typical fitness center but with the added convenience of being in the building.

The tour finished in one of the few vacant spaces, which gave us a chance to hear a little more about the life of this project and future projects that John Buck Co. has in the pipeline. Bringing a million square foot office building to Chicago in the recovery stage of a recession was no small feat. The hardest part was lining up tenants while also trying to line up capital (a chicken and egg scenario), but John Buck Co. was able to secure tenants and financing for a 2007 construction start.

Moving forward, the company has plans for another office tower on the site across the street. We were told that the market can likely only support two more projects like this, and with three in the planning stages, it is a race to see who get there first. The last to the get there will likely have to put their project on hold until demand grows.

The tour was insightful and a great addition to our activities in Chicago. A big thanks to Suzanne Cartwright, Matthew Simo, and John Buck Co. for making the tour happen and to Lisa Stewart and Cleita Harvey with Urbis Partners for joining.

 

On Tuesday, November 26 from 1:00 – 2:00 in Gould Room 440, the Runstad Center will host a brown bag with Amy Sallin and Sam Ogle of the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship at the UW Foster School of Business.  Sam will be presenting the Entrepreneurship Certificate program which a number of MSRE student peers and predecessors have used their interdisciplinary electives to complete.  Amy will be discussing the Business Plan Competition which is held each year during Spring Quarter.  MSRE students have competed and done very well –  Chris Bajuk won the competition two years ago with his Urban Harvest plan, and last year a team of students made it to the round of 16 with Elemental Hotels, a micro-hotel concept.  All CBE students with an entrepreneurial bent are encouraged to attend – this is a great chance to learn more about the opportunities here at the UW to support your aspirations.  See you there!

The Runstad Center sent several students from the MSRE class of ’14 to Chicago last week for the 2013 ULI Fall meeting.  Guest blogger Louisa Galassini writes in about their tour to the Roosevelt Square neighborhood, below. 

Public Housing Redux: Roosevelt Square

The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) was founded in 1937 and is currently the largest owner of rental housing in Chicago, providing housing to over 50,000 people. Despite this, the history of pubic housing in the city is marred with violence and controversy. In the 1950’s and 60’s, the CHA developed 11 high-rise buildings concentrated in poverty-ridden areas. The height and design of these projects made them difficult to monitor and fueled dangerous and violent behaviors in their residents.

In response to the problems, Dorothy Gautreaux and several other CHA residents filed a lawsuit against the CHA for isolating their developments in areas of concentrated poverty. The suit took 30 years to come to resolution, but in 1996, the case of Gautreaux v. Chicago resulted in a takeover of the properties by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and a consent decree to redevelop the housing projects.

In order to revamp this public housing, Mayor Daley helped establish the “Plan for Transformation” – a redevelopment at the site of former public housing towers in Chicago’s Near West Side. The plan was built with the concept of mixed-income housing, providing 1/3 public housing, 1/3 affordable, and 1/3 market rate units, and currently stands to become the largest public housing redevelopment in the country.

Related Midwest was selected as the master developer for this new “Roosevelt Square” neighborhood. The project spans 135 acres, with 4,441 housing units to be completed in 6 phases. There is a 45/55 mix of rental and for sale housing, serving income ranges of 60-120% AMI in addition to Section 8 housing and market rate units. The original timeline anticipated completion in 2020, but the recession in 2008 caused major delays and currently only 500 units have been completed.

The housing style is notably different from its high-rise counterparts, which have long since been demolished. The community requested traditional Chicago building styles, producing almost entirely 3-flat brick structures in the first phase. With a relatively unchanging ground plane, similar building types and finishes, and a lack of product type the neighborhood is far from dynamic. Limited in how it is able to spend funds, hopefully the CHA can find creative ways to bring vitality to this new development.

 

ULI/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition — Open to CBE Graduate Students – $50,000 Prize

 

Attention students… the ULI/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition is one of the most prestigious academic design competitions in the country. Open only to graduate students, each team selected to participate by the ULI will have two weeks to devise a comprehensive design and development program for a real, large-scale site full of challenges and opportunities. Submissions will consist of boards that include drawings, site plans, tables, and market-feasible financial data. The competition will be conducted from January 13 to January 27, 2014. First prize for the winning team is $50,000, which is divided evenly among each of the team members. Here is the competition website.

The rules state that each team is to be multidisciplinary and comprised of no more than five (5) students from a minimum of three disciplines that grant three (3) different degrees, one of which must be a non-design-related discipline. Given this criteria, we believe that the College of Built Environments is perfectly positioned to compete in this event. Therefore, students from Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Planning, Construction Management and Real Estate are invited to submit their names in nomination to each of their respective department chairs for consideration. Your intention will only be recognized by submitting a one-page resume. Although all are welcome, a first priority will be given to our second-year students. Given the dates of the competition, special permission from either your department chair or individual professors may be required. Since the ULI application deadline for each team is December 9, 2013, your one-page resume must be submitted by November 22, 2013.

We look forward to putting together a winning team! Please direct questions and applications to Stephen O’Connor, Director, Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies (steveoco@uw.edu)

Winter 2014 Housing Policy – flyer and link to registration info

The Runstad Center is pleased to announce a new Winter 2014 Course Offering:

RE 598D Special Topics: Affordable Housing & Development
Wednesdays, 6-8:50 pm
Gould 114
Instructor:  Al Levine, Deputy Executive Director, Seattle Housing Authority (Retired)

Class Overview

This course is intended as a broad introduction to the field of affordable housing, which will guide the student through the affordable housing development process and the policy issues that must be addressed to successfully plan, finance, design, construct and manage affordable housing.

Using Seattle as a contemporary laboratory, the class will examine the Yesler Terrace redevelopment project as an example of a 21st Century approach to affordable housing in the context of smart growth, sustainability and social equity. In the process, students will gain a historical perspective of affordable housing, as well as a current understanding of the programs and issues that Seattle and other major metropolitan areas face in trying to address the shelter needs of low and moderate-income households.

In addition, the relationships of federal tax and budget policy, as well as the role of federal, state, local, non-profit and private sector agencies and participants will be examined.

By the end of the class students will have gained a strong familiarity with the broad range of affordable housing development programs as well as contemporary policy issues related to affordable housing in the United States.  Additionally, an understanding of affordable housing development and finance, as well as the public/private process required to successfully develop affordable housing will be achieved.

About the Instructor:

Al Levine, who holds a Masters degree in Urban Planning from the University of Washington, is the former Deputy Executive Director of the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA). During his tenure at the SHA, Professor Levine was the principal in charge of the Yesler Terrrace Redevelopment Project. A nationally recognized expert in the field of affordable housing policy and development, Professor Levine brings an abundance of knowledge and real-world experience to the subject.

On a sunny afternoon in June, sixteen students celebrated months and years of hard work and dedication to making their dreams of becoming qualified and employable real estate industry professionals a reality.

The theme of the day was transformations and transitions. Not only were the students doing a lot of both but it was also recognized that Runstad’s programs are following that trend as well. Only 3 years young officially, the program, thanks to the feedback and collaboration from its students, is transitioning and transforming into something very special, a highly sought-after and critical real estate education.

Runstad benefactors, Jon and Judy Runstad, brought this to light in their speech to graduates. They recognized the power of a high quality education in today’s complex industry and just how valuable each student is to the future of the profession. Their words also included references to Runstad’s incredible Advisory Board, who, they promised, will remain a trusted resource as graduates move forward into their careers.

Steve O’Connor, Runstad’s Director, echoed Jon and Judy’s sentiments, telling students that his job is to ensure the value of their degrees, and that part of that dedication includes creating connections to the professionals in the community like the Board.

The Class of 2013, in turn, gave Steve a golden hammer as a parting gift. The hammer, they said, represented Steve’s tireless devotion as “the hammer” in helping to transform the program into the exceptional real estate education they have all experienced during their time at Runstad.

Congratulations to each of Runstad’s stellar graduates!