Newsletter - 2018 Q3

In this issue:

From the director

Andy HuntIt is my privilege to be writing to you, our incredible program supporters, as the second director of the Center for Real Estate. I rejoined the center in November 2017 after Dr. Mark Eppli recruited me back to Milwaukee from Denver, and I’m thrilled to be back. As you might remember, I worked for the CRE from 2010–14, but I have also served as a commercial broker in Minneapolis, a regional property manager in Denver, an analyst with the publicly-traded REIT Prologis in Denver, and an acquisitions professional for a family office near Boulder. Great experiences, all, but I’m delighted to be back home at Marquette.

As many of you know, Dr. Mark Eppli retired as the Robert B. Bell, Sr. Chair in Real Estate after an incredible 16-year career. His list of achievements while at Marquette are numerous, including establishing the real estate program, creating the real estate major, founding the ACRE program for training minority men and women to be real estate professionals, establishing the Center for Real Estate and serving as its director, and even serving three years as interim Keyes Dean of Business Administration. Mark put Marquette real estate on the national stage, hiring incredible people like Dr. Anthony Pennington-Cross, serving as a speaker and promoter at national events like the NAIOP CRE Converge conference and NAI Global webinars, and helping the program achieve a top 10 U.S. News and World Report ranking for the past three years. We are forever grateful for Mark’s impact on the lives of thousands of students, alumni and professionals, and we wish him the very best during the next chapter of his career as he returns to his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin. Mark was named professor emeritus, so you can continue reach him at mark.eppli@marquette.edu.

I’m excited to share that the center is on a path for growth and continued excellence. With increasing enrollment and financial support, we have been able to model ourselves after some of the top programs in the nation. First, we’ve separated the top administrative and academic roles — going forward, the director will drive center operations, and the Bell Chair in Real Estate will lead academics and research. This move will make us more efficient, effective and better able to grow the program and respond nimbly to the ever-changing marketplace, all while staying true to our Catholic, Jesuit mission.

Please enjoy the great news below — we have several exciting changes, including new board members, faculty and courses; alumni and student success stories; and some exciting events. I look forward to working with you all on this next chapter for Marquette Real Estate. Thank you for your continued support and God Bless!

Sincerely,

Andy
Andrew D. Hunt, Bus Ad ’08, Grad ‘13
Director, Center for Real Estate
Marquette University

Six new board members join the CRE Advisory Board

The Center for Real Estate is pleased to announce six new advisory board members for the 2017–18 academic year:

Stephanie Dremonas, executive officer, PM Realty, Inc.

Dan Letter, managing director — capital deployment, west region, Prologis

Kevin Newell, president and CEO, Royal Capital Group, LLC

Manny Vasquez, vice president of business development, NAI Pfefferle

Perry Vieth, president, Ceres Partners

Scott Yauck, president, Cobalt Partners, LLC

Please join us in welcoming these new board members to the center!

New board members

ACRE breaks ground on new ‘2.0’ class

Biz Magazine coverThe ACRE program took an exciting step forward in 2017 with a new 10-member, alumni-only class billed as “ACRE 2.0.” The class was designed to help participants prepare an actual city-owned property in Milwaukee for development.

Applications are now being accepted for the fall ACRE program. Details are included in the application packet on the LISC Milwaukee website. The deadline for applications is Aug. 15, 2018.

Read more about ACRE in the latest issue of Marquette BIZ magazine. This feature story highlights the amazing work some of our ACRE alums have accomplished since the program’s inception in 2005.

Professor Cashman awarded tenure

George CashmanThe center is pleased to announce that Dr. George Cashman was awarded tenure at Marquette University following the spring 2018 semester. Dr. Cashman has been an accomplished researcher and teacher during his time at Marquette, and we could not be happier for him. This spring he also created and taught the new Real Estate Modeling course, which focused heavily on Argus training for our students. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Cashman — he can be reached at george.cashman@marquette.edu.

Upcoming events

  • Tuesday, Aug. 14 — Marquette/NAIOP co-event – Development Showcase Series featuring Marquette University and Near West Side developments, Milwaukee | More info
  • Thursday, Sept. 6 — Annual Real Estate Strategies Conference, Milwaukee | More info
  • Tuesday, Sept. 12 — REALM Network site tour with student Real Estate Club – 7seventy7 high-rise apartment tour with Northwestern Mutual, Milwaukee | More info
  • 15–17 — NAIOP CRE Converge Conference, Washington, D.C. | More info
  • Friday, Nov. 9 — A Decade of Excellence – 10-year celebration and awards event, Milwaukee | Information to follow
  • Thursday, Dec. 6 — Student “Judgment Day” – Marquette case competition event, Milwaukee | Contact us for more information

Alumni spotlight

Patrick ObrienPatrick O’Brien, Bus Ad ‘11
Director, Beitler Real Estate Services | Founder, Moher Properties
Chicago

LinkedIn Bio

 

What originally brought you to Marquette University and the commercial real estate program?

I wanted to major in business and go to college in a major city that was close to home. Both my parents were in lending, my grandfather was a home builder and I always liked the sales aspect of real estate. A friend brought me to a Real Estate Club function and I gravitated toward it immediately.

Marquette’s Center for Real Estate focuses on internships, applied learning and job placement. Did you participate in any internships, Real Estate Club events or competitions while at Marquette?

I had two great internships at Marquette; one with a general contractor in Milwaukee and the second was with a property management group that managed over 5,000 units throughout the Milwaukee area. The Real Estate Club was an amazing experience. Our trips to Pabst Farms and the Eisenberg Foundation were great learning experiences. The case competition in the Twin Cities was the best, though, because we were able to be a part of a deal from the very beginning and really learn and understand how a transaction works.

What was your first job after graduating?

I started at Marcus & Millichap in their multi-family investment group. I ultimately wanted to end up in development and thought brokerage was a good place to start. Marcus had a great training program and a major presence in the Chicagoland area, where I ultimately wanted to be located. My cousin had a friend who was working there — I met with him; it sounded like a great opportunity and they had one slot open in their apartment team in Rosemont and I landed the position.

Currently you are a director at Beitler Real Estate in Chicago. What are some of the significant assignments you have worked on?

We actually just closed a tenant rep brokerage deal for a 60,000-sq. ft. law firm in the Central Loop.  Before that I worked on a mixed-use development deal that included a dual branded 240-room Hyatt Place and Hyatt House hotel, 300-unit apartment complex and a retail center along the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities. My recent leasing assignments include the office building at 208 South LaSalle Street (350,000 sq. ft.) and 11 South LaSalle Street (330,000 sq. ft.) — both buildings were transitioned from office to hotel use. We also sold The Shoppes at Millennium Station where [Marquette alumnus] John Feeney of The Boulder Group was our representative on the transaction.

What current developments are you working on?

We recently won an RFP for a mixed-use project in downtown Madison, WI, (Judge Doyle Square). The project consists of a below-grade 560-car public parking ramp, which broke ground this past October, a 45,000-sq. ft. medical office building on one block, and a 252-room hotel tower next to a 204-unit apartment building on the other block.

We’re also working on a similar project in Lansing, Michigan, that was also an RFP. We are building the City of Lansing a new city hall and converting the old city hall into a select service hotel.

What do you do away from work?

I’m actually coming up on my 4-year anniversary with my wife, Ellie, who I met at Marquette (she’s an innovation design engineer in Northwestern’s simulation department). Ellie just started a grain-free granola company, Hungry By Nature, that has really taken off, and we just moved into a duplex in Andersonville on the north side of Chicago.

In addition to your career at Beitler and Hungry by Nature, you also started a fund buying multi-family properties on Chicago’s south side. Please tell us more about Moher Properties.

I started Moher Properties, LLC about two years ago. Over the past several years I have learned a lot and wanted to start my own business owning and rehabbing houses and apartments. About a year ago I bought a house at auction that was in need of a total gut rehab. I raised capital for the project from family and friends, flipped it about eight months later; it was a tremendous success. I just closed my second fund and am now buying apartment buildings on the south side of Chicago to fix, lease and manage (I currently own and manage 38 units). My hope is to continue to raise capital and acquire more assets, ultimately owning the entire south side!

For more information about the REALM Network, please check out their second quarter newsletter or email REALM President Andy Sinclair at asinclair@mlgcapital.com.

Students

Our Marquette students continue to get better and better every year. Highlights from spring 2018 include the following:

  • Student case competition results: A student team took 1st place at the Harold E. Eisenberg Foundation Real Estate Challenge case competition on April 14 in Chicago, defeating other undergraduate teams from Notre Dame, Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, St. Louis University and Ohio State. Team members included Keegan Barrett, Allison Benedetto, Luis Herrera and Hannah Thiry. A short video of the winning announcement can be found online. Congratulations also to our other student team, which took 2nd place at the NAIOP Minnesota Real Estate Challenge on April 19 in St. Paul. Team members included Stephen Gillespie, Graham Martens, Courtney McMahon and Matthew Mueller.
    2018 case teams
  • Job placement hits 100-percent for seventh straight year: Student placements have occurred at the following prestigious employers: Archdiocese of New York, Best Buy, Capital One, CBRE, Colliers, Cushman & Wakefield, DBRS, Deloitte, Dominium Development, Imperial Realty, J.P. Morgan, Kiewit, Mandel Group, Millennial Development, MLG Capital, Northwestern Mutual, PACE Equity, Physicians Realty, PwC, Prologis and Walker & Dunlop
  • Conference trips: This spring our students attended several conferences nationwide, including ICSC RECon, the CBRE Multifamily Conference and the DePaul Collegiate Real Estate Conference. Many thanks to the professionals who were instrumental in helping our students navigate through these events.

    ICSC group
    ICSC ReCon 2018 group in Las Vegas
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