Uncategorized Archives - Page 11 of 13

Lunch with the Runstads

Last Thursday Jon and Judy Runstad sat down to lunch with our second year MSRE students. This has become an annual tradition, where students have the opportunity to share their experiences in the program as well as their plans for the future . Thanks so much Jon and Judy!

UW Team Wins Bank of America Low-Income Housing Challenge!

An inter-disciplinary College of Built Environment graduate student team organized by the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies won the 24th Annual Bank America Low-Income Housing Challenge on May 14th in San Francisco.

In the largest competition in the 24 years since Bank America started the Challenge an initial group of 10 University teams was reduced to eight for the round of regional competition judged by experienced affordable housing developers, architects and financial partners.

Four finalists representing Cal Poly, UCLA and UC Berkeley as well as UW were then invited to the final round in San Francisco where they defended their proposals in front of a six person panel of experts.

The UW team was composed of seven students, including Ben Broesamle and Sam Yimparsit Masters of Science in Real Estate, Zi Cai and Genevieve Hale-Case Master’s of Urban Planning, Mohammed Al-Humaid and Raymond Sayers Master of Architecture and Martha Sassorossi Masters of Public Policy Evans School.

The group of seven showed extraordinary teamwork in developing a proposal for a 69 unit affordable housing development in the Wedge neighborhood of Tacoma Washington. Jurors commented that the UW team presented the most feasible proposal of the four finalists and clearly demonstrated the high level of team work necessary to successfully develop affordable housing in both their oral and written presentations.

Competing for only the second year in the competition, the team benefited from the experience of last years team as well as the cooperation of Professor Mike Pyatok whose Affordable Housing Design Studio served to provide the site and partners that the team was able to work with to develop a realistic project as well as an outstanding design. In addition the team led an outreach program that interacted with neighborhood residents and community organizations.

Juror comments indicated that the UW team won in all judging factors including design, financial feasibility, program and community engagement.

Special thanks are due the Tacoma Housing Authority and the Salvation Army of Tacoma who served as Project Developer and Sponsor as well as Stephen White of Vitus Company for generously sponsoring the student’s travel expenses to San Francisco for the second year in a row.

AP Hurd to address Carbon Accountability at CoreNet luncheon

A Runstad Center faculty member and Affiliate Fellow, AP Hurd, is speaking at the monthly CoreNet luncheon. AP is President and Chief Development Officer of Touchstone as well as the author of The Carbon Efficient City, which shows how regional economies can be aligned with practices that drive carbon efficiency.

Governor Jay Inslee’s recent signature legislation, the Carbon Pollution Accountability Act, is merely one example of state and national legislation aimed at curbing carbon emissions through economic controls. As concerns about global climate change increase, new policies that put a price on carbon emissions will impact corporate business strategies. AP Hurd will lead a discussion exploring the implications of new carbon accountability policies on the corporate real estate industry.

CREW & Runstad Center Present: Built Environments Career Panel

This Thursday, April 16th, the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies is partnering with CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) to bring you a diverse panel of speakers talking about their careers. Whether you’re in planning, finance, construction management, design, HR, engineering, philosophy or… any discipline, the industry has something for you. How about customer service, project management, research, green building and sustainability… there are endless possibilities for you to explore and apply your interests in real estate! Please join us! Kindly RSVP

Built Environments Career Panel
Thursday, April 16th 2:30 – 4:30 pm
University of WA, Gould Hall Court

Moderator : Julie Eisenhauer, Clark Nuber

Panel

Lacey Ahlf / Skanska – Construction Management
Elena Arosteguy / Madison Marquette – Property Management
Cris Gunter / Callison – Architecture
Cleita Harvey / Urbis Partners – Brokerage
Angelia Wesch / Oles Morrison – Law
Jenelle Taflin / PacLand – Engineering
Rebecca Bloom / Vulcan Real Estate – RE Development/Finance

As The Pendulum Swings

We continue our series of blog posts from our Runstad Center Affiliate Fellows class of 2015, who have just returned from their travels to Santiago, Chile, and Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba, Brazil. Here, Joe Ferguson shares his thoughts about balance and moderation with regard to public housing incentives.

I have always found it discouraging when I see our government push policy too far in one direction in response to a problem and then watch it years later swung back the other way without any legitimate progress to speak of. It reminds me of the diet craze when most of us have realized that we could or should lose a few pounds, so we decide that we are going to completely cut out gluten or maybe sugar or maybe we decide to eat like a caveman or put large amounts of butter in our coffee in the morning. I commend the few that realize a life style from these methods to improve their health, but for the rest of us it seems inevitable that we return to the same eating habits as before and possibly even more indulgent given the fact that we’ve been deprived for so long. Consciously I know that the real answer is balance and moderation, but corporate marketing campaigns remind me that this is not how our society is structured. This is a first-world problem, and one in part that Chile is experiencing.

While in Santiago, a city representing approximately half of Chile’s 16 million people, we have learned of the country’s significant achievement of providing formal ownership housing to the majority of its population on the way to their goal to cover their entire housing deficit by 2020. The institutional framework established by the previous military regime (or dictatorship depending who you ask), provided an effective voucher system for

private industry to answer the call for housing. Amazingly, this goal and its underlying policy Over the past 14 years, approximately 100,000 units per year have been built. This is especially impressive given our country’s inability to address our own homeless population with anything but stale band-aids as solutions. Self-admittedly, Chile’s approach has not been without its problems and certainly lessons have been learned given the extreme segregation and lack of public goods provided for low-income communities. Unfortunately, the pendulum swung too far and private investment provided the necessary quantity of housing, but without a balanced regulation and thus the majority of the units are poor quality and communities were created with sub-standard living conditions. The government has recognized this and has recently begun an effort to renovate or redevelop most of the social housing it delivered during this period.

However, the effectiveness with which the volume of units were delivered under multiple government leaders is something to take note of and my hope for the United States is that we can focus on effective incentives for private investment in affordable housing. We can ensure cost-effective solutions and require quality product while improving our effectiveness and hopefully resist the urge to start over every time there is an election.

Bellevue Room Rental Ordinance Approved

The Bellevue City Council has approved a permanent ordinance to limit single-family homes from becoming boarding houses, and allowing rooming houses in designated multi-family districts. Listen to Dr. Stephen O’Connor comments on KUOW about the Council’s decision.

CREW Seattle & Sound/Runstad Center Present: UCREW

Are you interested in the real estate industry? If yes, this event is for you. If not, this event is also for you. Because whether you’re in planning, finance, construction management, design, HR, engineering, philosophy or… any discipline, the industry has something for you. How about customer service, project management, research, green building and sustainability… there are endless possibilities for you to explore and apply your interests in real estate!

So, don’t hesitate. CREW Seattle & Sound has partnered up with The Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies to host a fantastic event UCREW: Interested in Commercial Real Estate?, to be held on Thursday, April 16th, from 2:30-4:30 pm in the Court of Gould Hall. This event features an interactive panel session with high-profile speakers representing a wide range of fields, along with professional networking as well as opportunities for job shadowing and mentoring! RSVP now.

While CREW seeks to promote the advancement of women in the industry, this event is by no means only for ladies. Anyone who is a supporter of the mission is welcomed!

MSRE Info Sessions 4/7 & 4/21

Interested in applying to the Master of Science in Real Estate program?

We will be holding two info sessions in April. Please join us for an informal conversation about the MSRE program and application process. Current students and alums will be on hand to speak about their experiences in the program as well as Runstad faculty and staff. This is a great chance to get answers to your questions and probe the opportunities that real estate can add to your education and career.
Please RSVP: bestm2@uw.edu

Tuesday, April 7th
11:30 am
University of Washington Seattle Campus
Gould Hall, room 102

Tuesday, April 21st
5:30 pm
1111 3rd Ave, 10th Floor
Seattle, WA 98101

Affiliate Instructor Search

The University of Washington’s Department of Urban Design and Planning and the Runstad Center are seeking an affiliate part-time instructor for the MS in Real Estate commencing in September 2015. The individual selected will be teaching the course titled: “Leadership in the Built Environments” in the autumn quarter of 2015. Interested applicants should submit their material by May 4th, 2015 to sdermisi@uw.edu Detailed information about the position can be found here.

2015 NAIOP Real Estate Challenge

This year’s Real Estate Development Studio course was once again run in conjunction with the Pacific Northwest NAIOP Real Estate Challenge. Our team of twelve students competed against students from the University of British Columbia to craft a development proposal for a portion of the original Rainier Brewery site located in the Georgetown Neighborhood of Seattle and owned by Sabey Properties. The competition focused on redeveloping the portion of the site containing the 100+ year old Malt House Building. It was an extremely challenging site due to the functionally obsolete nature of the space, high costs to modify the existing improvements, and constraints imposed by zoning, building code, and historic preservation regulations.

Our students came up with an innovative strategy to redevelop the site into a mixed-use property including a Brew Hall and a large self-storage component, which their research revealed was the only use capable of generating an acceptable financial return on the site. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to convince the judges that their proposal best met Sabey’s criteria – and UBC was declared the winner of the competition and awarded the Bob Filley NAIOP Cup. Nonetheless, Al Levine and I are both proud of the effort the team put forth this year and would like to thank all those who gave advice and feedback to the students. We will do our best to bring the Cup back to UW next year!