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UW Today issued a press release today announcing our new director for the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies, Simon Stevenson.  Simon  joins the Runstad Center from the Henley Business School, University of Reading in the UK where he had been Professor of Real Estate Finance & Investment and Director of Masters program in Real Estate Finance. He previously held positions at Cass Business School-City University London and University College Dublin. We are looking forward to having Simon on board in the fall!  Read the full story here along with his bio here.

 

Are we planning realistically for growth in our cities?  Shannon Affholter, executive director of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, Russ Hokanson, chief executive officer of the Seattle King County Association of REALTORS®, and our own Peter Orser contributed an op-ed piece to the Seattle Times exploring this question and other issues that cause home-price inflation, read the full article here.

 

 

 

Amy Hartman, MSRE class of 2017 and Runstad Center Affiliate Fellow, has just completed her first year of the Masters program, and is quickly approaching her first anniversary as a graduate intern at Heartland LLC, a Seattle-based real estate advisory and investment firm. Previously, Amy had worked at an investment brokerage firm, where she underwrote existing product. When she was accepted to the Runstad MSRE program, she actively sought new learning opportunities in both her school curriculum and work experience. According to Amy, “Learning and completing projects in class is important, but it helps a lot to work on real projects. While the Runstad Center provides education applicable to your career, as an intern, you learn things within the context of the real world.” During her interview at Heartland, she expressed her desire to learn more about development project underwriting. As a result, Amy’s primary project focus at Heartland was Scott Redman of Sellen Construction’s family legacy project, 9^th & Thomas. Heartland was tasked with providing capital advisory services to the Redman family, and is also the project asset manager. This past year, Amy was responsible for underwriting this development project and is learning the role of an asset manager. “It is exciting to see a project through from idea to implementation,” she says, “In the asset management role, I also get to work closely with the project long term and see the building constructed.”

Having completed her first year and looking forward to her second, Amy offers incoming MSRE candidates the following advice: “Go into the Runstad program and understand the resources – there are a lot! There is a ton of community support and so many ways to get involved: research opportunities, fellowships, internships, etc. Ask to work on projects you want to get that practical experience.”

What is corporate real estate ? Well first it is one of the Runstad Centers three options for specialization in the Masters of Real Estate Program. It is a unique offering not readily available from any other National Program. CoreNet is a major supporter of this academic discipline and has defined Corporate Real Estate Service as follows…

Corporate real estate is the real property used by a company for its own operational purposes. It provides corporations with a productive environment to house employees, manufacture and distribute products, and provide services to the market. Corporate real estate touches all classes of property, land and buildings such as office facilities, data centers, manufacturing facilities, logistic centers, corporate headquarters, distribution facilities, retail stores and hotels. Historically, corporate real estate professionals focused on managing the physical property for the business. They were charged with acquiring, maintaining, and disposing of real estate throughout the “lifecycle,” or useful life, of any property.

Certainly, those functions still remain at the core of corporate real estate. However, the business landscape is changing and the role of corporate real estate continues to evolve. Now more than ever, corporate real estate professionals are charged with partnering with the business and adding strategic value. More corporations are now viewing real estate as a strategic asset and corporate real estate as a strategic function. As a result of that shift, a new skill set is required for today’s corporate real estate executives. They are at the forefront of corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives and are leaders in the innovative workplace design movement aimed at improving worker productivity and wellbeing.

They also play a vital role in creating work experiences that aid in talent recruitment and retention. In competition for skilled people, organizations are vying for top talent in a highly transparent job market and becoming laser-focused on their external employment brand. Executives are embracing digital technologies to reinvent the employee experience, focusing on diversity and inclusion as a business strategy, and realizing that, without a strong learning culture, they will not succeed. Complicating the challenge further, the marketplace is in continuous flux, driven by new products and services, new technologies, and uncertain and unpredictable national and international political and economic shifts. The balance of power is shifting from the employer to the employee.

Years ago, corporations assumed people would work in any place provided; however, many realize that now they must create a “place” where people want to succeed and thrive. This notion has evolved from simply providing a desk and a chair, to a more holistic approach which addresses emotional, intellectual, physical, and virtual needs – among others. Many companies now view catered meals, onsite healthcare, attractive office spaces, modern technology, and flexible work programs as strategic business initiatives. These experiences are becoming part of a company’s culture and ultimately their brand.

Today’s students are tomorrow’s talent. In order for organizations to attract and retain future talent, more insight is needed. Understanding what experiences contribute to a student’s success can inform what companies might provide to help their employees – and their enterprises – succeed.

Runstad Fellow and MSRE Candidate 2017 Genevieve Hale-Case kicks off a series of blog posts from the 2015-16 Runstad Affiliate Fellows as they share their experiences in the fair city of Auckland…

The Runstad Fellows spent our spring break in Auckland, New Zealand diving deeper into questions of the right of way.  Auckland is a city that in many ways, is strikingly similar to Seattle. It is a city located on an isthmus of about the same age as Seattle. Auckland is a socially progressive city grappling with issues of rising housing costs, a growing population, the expansion of a transit network in a car-dependent city and the threat of natural disaster. In many ways, we felt right at home.

We spent a jam-packed week meeting with numerous members of Auckland Council, Auckland Transport, Auckland’s utility agency, developers, architects, artists and activists. After long days of meetings and tours we would reconvene in the living room of our AirBnB and spend the next several hours processing and compiling our notes from the day.  By about 11pm, we were all so tired we could barely string together a sentence.  Then we’d fall into bed, get up and do it all over again.

Of the many people who very generously gave us their time in Auckland, one in particular made a big impression on us. Darren Davis, a senior transportation planner at Auckland Transport, spent the better part of three days with our group. On our first full day in Auckland, Darren led us on a walking tour of the central city. Even though Darren stands about 5’6”, we had to work to keep up with his brisk pace.  We had to work even harder to keep up with the constant flow of information from his encyclopedic brain. Over the following days, Darren led us on a driving tour of Auckland’s suburbs, through an absolutely packed 3 hour presentation on the past present and future of Auckland Transportation planning, and finally to a happy hour full of the city’s hippest and smartest transit enthusiasts. Darren is a force of nature and we felt so fortunate to spend so much of our time with him.

Since returning, we’ve had a chance to come together in several longer work sessions, always over great food and drink, to distill our very full brains and notebooks into a short list of our biggest take-aways. Of course, you’ll have to stay tuned for the full report but in the meantime, here are a few things we loved and miss about Auckland:

– The flat white: Like a latte but better. The perfect ratio of espresso to milk. And there’s something about New Zealand milk…

– Cycletracks painted hot pink

– An IPA called “Dump the Trump”

– Seeing America’s Cup yachts up close

– Real-time transit maps on board every bus

– Impeccably designed city agency websites

– The car-stacker: straight out of a James Bond movie, a car elevator that dramatically reduces the cost of underground parking by eliminating the cost to condition garage space and using space much more efficiently.

 

Does Seattle need HALA?  Runstad Affiliate Fellow Rick Mohler shares his opinion in the Seattle Times on opponents of HALA , and how forward thinking and collaboration can only help our city. Read his editorial here

 

 

 

Board, staff, faculty, alumni and current students are looking forward to summer 2016! We asked everyone to summarize their summer plans in three words (Some participants’ plans were so big they couldn’t only use three words!). Here is what your fellow Runstad peers are up to…

Laura Huntington, Runstad Affiliate Faculty:

Mentally somewhere else…

Mia Guo, MSRE Candidate 2017 :

Relaxing with family! 🙂

Matthew Ricci, MSRE Candidate 2017:

Sunshine, Wine, Friends

Genevieve Hale Case, MSRE/MUP Candidate 2017:

Internship, thesis, playing

Ed McGovern, Runstad Advisory Board Member and Affiliate Faculty:

Raising private equity

Sofia Dermisi, Faculty member:

“I am heading to Europe for the summer. On the first leg of my trip I will be representing UW/CBE in our new partnership with IREBS/University of Regensburg in Germany. I will also represent the American Real Estate Society as the elected Vice Program chair and UW/CBE at the European Real Estate Society conference in Germany presenting my recent research. Then I will be heading to Greece for some field research on the major migration crisis and the security concerns from mass population flows to Europe.”

Pat McCabe, Affiliate Faculty:

Family, Relax, Travel

Al Levine, Affiliate Faculty:

England w/37 UW students

AP Hurd, Runstad Affiliate Fellow and Affiliate Faculty:

Going to Quebec to spend time at a lake that is so clean you can drink the water. I plan to swim a lot and hone my talents as a baleen whale.