Real Estate
Real Estate Club Celebrates – the Spring BBQ
After another successful year, the Real Estate Club celebrated last night with its annual Spring BBQ at Franklin Street’s He’s Not Here. Over 70 Club members, faculty, and friends gathered together for local BBQ, Blue Cups, and Bluegrass music – courtesy of Prof. Dave Hartzell’s band, the Hartzell Breakers. The Spring BBQ served as a thank you to the faculty and staff at CRES for all their hard work during the year, as well as a send-off to the 2nd Years and outgoing leadership team as they join the ranks of influential alumni in the Real Estate industry. While the Class of 2013 leaves some big shoes to fill next year, the Class of 2014 looks forward to carrying Read More
UNC Kenan-Flagler alumnae thrive in real estate careers
UNC Kenan-Flagler has been a leader in real estate education for 40 years, developing students’ knowledge and technical skills so they can build successful careers in real estate. Today a growing number of women MBA students are attracted to the field – and thriving. “Historically, real estate has been a male dominated industry – that’s changing, just not rapidly,” says Deb Anderson (MBA ’90), executive director of the Leonard W. Wood Center for Real Estate Studies, which bridges the worlds of academia and industry for students, faculty and alumni. “It’s a smaller niche and hard for women to break into, but there are not huge barriers to women and the marketplace is open to them.” Read more of their story….
Highwoods Office Visit – A Conversation with Leadership
On Monday afternoon April 22nd, members of the Real Estate Club visited with Highwoods Properties (NYSE: HIW) in their Raleigh offices. CEO Ed Fritsch (BSBA ’81), Chief Strategy and Administration Officer Kevin Penn, and Justin Parker (Corporate Strategy & Investments) hosted nearly 20 students to discuss the Highwoods business model and strategy, as well as macroeconomic trends affecting the industry. The interactive discussion touched on Highwoods four core tenets (Portfolio, Balance Sheet, Communications, and People), its operation in ‘Best Business Districts,’ and management theme of “Right People, Right Seats,” among other topics. The conversation continued Tuesday in Professor Hartzell’s Real Estate Process class, with Highwoods leadership presenting a case study of Tampa’s Independence Park, acquired by the firm in spring Read More
UNC Case Competition Focuses on Real Estate Development
In an intense yet rewarding competition, MBA students studying real estate at top business schools come together for UNC Kenan-Flagler’s annual Real Estate Development Case Challenge. Over two days, participating teams spend hours racing to compile the best data, draw detailed site plans and develop a comprehensive concept for the real estate case assigned. Combined with the opportunity to present to industry leaders serving as competition judges, students in the case challenge emerge having experienced the pressures of an actual real estate development situation. Read the full story…. 2013 Industry Judging Panel Back row: Christian Chamberlain, Ryan Dearborn, Sylvia Gross, Trish Healy, Eric Bergwall, Gordon Merklein, George Kayle, Chris Calato Front Row: Tom Gibson, Brandt Bowden, Kevin Penn, Mike Read More
ARGUS – Four Years and Counting
Hard to believe we have completed our fourth ARGUS Certification class. As in years past, we had a great turnout for this class from both the MBA and BSBA real estate students. This year, the class was a true challenge as we battled snow, ice and generally poor weather to complete the three very full days of instruction. Close to 40 students took the certification class. In addition, we fielded a five-member team for the 2013 ARGUS Competition. The case solution must be submitted on March 22nd and the winning schools will be announced on April 26th. From left to right, Laura Solie, Patrick Lim, Ed Lammas, Austin Bratton and Kathryn Howlett.
Another Texas Challenge Finish for UNC!
Greetings from Chapel Hill – A message from Dave Hartzell… Just wanted to share some good news to all alumni and friends of the Real Estate Program at Kenan-Flagler. On Thursday, November 29, our Kenan-Flagler team took third place in the 2012 Real Estate Case Challenge hosted by the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. This was our second year of reaching the finals of this competition after our first place finish in 2011. As I told the team, they have made all of us extremely proud of their efforts, and the recognition reflects very well on our real estate program and the Center for Real Estate Development. The team members were all second-year MBA students, Read More
Real Estate Club Attends Private Equity Real Estate Summit
Even the snow in New York City could not keep four of our 2nd year Real Estate Club members from traveling to the city to attend the PERE Summit on November 8th and 9th. With the help of the Center for Real Estate Development, Josh Cooke, Ryan Fraser, Steve Martin and Brendan McCarthy took part in the Annual PERE Summit in New York. This conference presented a tremendous opportunity for students to network with executives within the real estate private equity industry, as well as hear some very interesting presentations on the state of the industry and the overall economy. Professor David Hartzell and Associate Director of the Career Management Center, Jim Spaeth, also joined the group on the trip. Read More
Financial Modeling Class – A Rite of Fall for Real Estate Students
Fast becoming a rite of fall for our real estate students, the financial modeling class we offered this past weekend geared our students up another notch in their financial acumen. The Center for Real Estate Development hosted Josh Kahr and his financial modeling class, inviting all first-year MBA students, along with Executive MBA and undergraduate students interested in real estate. The two-day course expands the skill set of our real estate students by preparing them for spring courses and competitions. It moves from basic functions to cash flow analysis to discussions on repositioning assets and funds. Cases are a big part of day two and give a real-world application to new found or rusty financial skills. Our busy students give Read More
Update On Our Real Estate Investment Funds
It has been a great fall semester so far for the UNC Kenan-Flagler Real Estate Investment Funds (REIF). The student fund managers have been very active sourcing new deals, underwriting potential investments, and managing the day-to-day operations of REIF. To date, the student fund managers have sourced and underwritten more than 40 potential commercial real estate investments during 2012 including multifamily, office, retail, hospitality, student housing, mixed use, and other property types. This excellent deal flow is a result of maturing relationships with existing co-investment partners as well as current fund manager efforts to identify and develop new co-investment relationships. This success has led to a number of attractive investment opportunities for REIF in the past few months. We have Read More