UW Real Estate Club Spring Trip: Boston

On March 14-16, twenty-five students from the Real Estate Club (and Club adviser Sharon McCabe) headed east to tour the Boston market. The trip started with a networking event at The Hampshire House (you may know it as the Cheers bar) on Wednesday night, where students were able to interact with local area alums in addition to those in town for the PREA conference. We were also able to host some prospective students that lived in the area.

Thursday morning started with meetings at Jones Lang LaSalle and the Boston Redevelopment Authority, providing students with an overview of the Boston market. We then moved on to a property tour of One Federal, a Class A office building undergoing a $19M renovation, that was organized by alum Brian Berry. Afterwards, students lunched at the historic Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market before heading off by bus to East Cambridge. Peter Calkins of Forest City walked us through his company's collaboration with MIT in developing a unique mixed-use research park serving the city's life science industry. From there, the bus tour continued throughout the city, viewing new developments as they made their into the Seaport district. Alum Jake Maliel set up a tour of One Marina Park Dr. with CBRE, a newly completed building overlooking the Boston harbor. We learned about the area's goal to become the 'Innovation District,' highlighted by Vertex's 1.1M square foot lease signed in the area last year. After finishing the tour, the group met local alums for a seafood dinner at Legal Sea Foods -a Boston institution.

Friday morning started right where we left off, touring the Liberty Hotel. This unique redevelopment project was completed in 2007, after serving nearly 150 years as a Suffolk County jail. Students then got on 'The T' to tour the newly renovated Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Alum Paul Gilbert, an overseer of the Museum, organized the tour of the $100M+ expansion, discussing in detail the design and financing of the new building.

The trip proved to be a great success, and many students were able to stay in town for the weekend's St. Patrick's Day festivities. Much thanks to Jill Hatton and Bob Schneiders for being intimately involved in the planning process, in addition to alums Kevin Wall, Peter Tedesco, Bruce Guenther, Jeff Herscott, Laura Miller, and Jason Rothenberg and Graaskamp Executive Director Mike Brennan for attending the week's events.

Density & the city

Reporting from MIPIM 2011:

What does density mean for a city--"for better or for worse"? Density itself, or the lack of it, can have an impact. The global population shift from suburban to urban centers means suburban populations are shrinking. Some German cities, for example, have lost 30 percent of their population in two decades. The effects of this shrinkage on the real estate market include high vacancy rates combined with severe drops in value. To address the problems, German suburbs investing in infrastructure, revitalization techniques and even demolishing vacant units. Going forward it will be important to take into account this relocation, the resiliency of plans and the sustainability of projects when considering how to plan for the density within a city.


Our coverage of the sessions at MIPIM continues tomorrow, so bookmark the Wisconsin Real Estate Viewpoint and follow us on Twitter @UW_GraaskampCtr. And be sure to visit MIPIM World blog for video and other exclusive content.

MIPIM 2010: What makes a city successful?

Wisconsin Real Estate MBAs report from MIPIM 2010:

Panel: Spotting the Trends: Shaping the Cities of the Future

City success is typically not predictable. There are too many variables to be able to predict the long-term financial viability of a city, and trends have led many to wrong conclusions pertaining to the futures of numerous cities. However, successful cities do have common characteristics. Location, connectivity and space, standard of living, distinctiveness, values, power, and environmental performance are all shared by cities viewed as being “world cities” or “smart cities.” Smaller scale cities which flourish ("smart cities") have a specific niche position in the market even though their place in the global markets are not as large as "world cities." Further, these two types of cities usually exhibit a depth of artistic, architecture, cultural endowment, openness to international population flow, and maintenance of effective leadership. Likewise, planning and continuing to deliver city infrastructure for sustainable growth is an overall theme when comparing successful cities.

London, Montreal, and Hong Kong illustrate the importance of these characteristics in the makeup of a successful and dynamic city. To maintain their status as world cities, London must revitalize its outer suburban areas, incorporate special events to attract people to less popular areas, further invest in public spaces, and maintain its commitment to the "green" transition. Montreal will need to work on its existing public transportation deficiencies, focus on sustainable development and the quality of neighborhood life, and recognize the importance of a cultural sector in order to position itself as a smart city. Lastly, Hong Kong must prioritize efficient land utilization, optimization of infrastructure, and revitalize portions of its existing urban area as it attempts to balance itself as a blend between a world and smart city.

For more coverage of MIPIM 2010, visit our partner CREOpoint.com.