In this issue...

• Strategies Conference Recap
• Hunt, Pennington-Cross Interviewed on MKE Forward Podcast
• Alumni Website Launch
• Golden Eagle Gala, November 8
• Faculty Research
• Students' Fall Activities
• Final Thoughts: Hiring, Rankings, Instagram

Strategies Conference Recap

The 8th annual Marquette University Real Estate Strategies Conference was held on Thursday, September 12, 2019. More than 350 people were in attendance to explore the theme, “The Future of the Workplace.”

The day kicked off with a riveting panel exploring ideas around how workplaces are changing, the best workplace setup to support productivity, how co-working is growing and what that means for how people work, how investors should think about both amenities and services that are offered through their properties, and how buildings are being developed to help with the future of the workplace. Interesting takeaways included:

• The term "co-working" is too general of a term to really define this space. Co-working can mean a lot of things, but in all cases it is meant to be a flexible solution for space users
• No more than 15% of the total office square footage will likely be made up of co-working spaces in the future
• Lenders like BMO Harris are wary to lend on properties that include more than 20% of their leasable square footage in a co-working environment
• Office is entering it's own "amenity war" environment in some ways, similar to what the multifamily world has gone through during this cycle
• Aside from amenities, services are becoming critical to successful office environments (office becoming more like retail)
• Open office environments got mixed reviews - they're cheaper and look cooler, but panelists admitted not everyone loves them
• All of the panelists believe we have more than 18 months before the next economic recession/slowdown

Following the panel, Pat Goepel, CEO at Asure Software, presented on how technology, data, and artificial intelligence are being used to measure how companies are using space and where they can find efficiencies. Key takeaways:

• Companies aren't doing a good enough job of measuring their space utilization with currently available technologies
• Cheap sensors can easily be deployed and combined with artificial intelligence to track usage in different parts of a property and advise ways to make improvements
• Companies like Barclays have deployed this technology to the result of $45 million in reduced space needs and lease obligations

Finally, keynote speaker Mary Ludgin, Senior Managing Director & Head of Global Research with Heitman, delivered a stellar presentation on the state of the market from the firm’s perspective ($43bn in AUM) and what trends they’re seeing around the future of the workplace. Highlights included:

• Cap rate compression in the U.S. is reaching its limits, although industrial cap rates continue to decline steadily
• After a pullback in supply, apartment fundamentals continue to look solid; however, the pace of deliveries across all asset types is increasing slightly, possibly another signal of us reaching the end of the current expansion
• Online retailers are moving to brick and mortar locations at an increasing rate, a fascinating trend
• Office parks, especially in suburbs, need to reinvent themselves or be redeveloped to stay competitive
• Medical office buildings are still a great investment and will remain one, while self-storage, which in some places is oversupplied, will continue to offer great cash flow with low operating costs

Copies of our speaker presentations can be found on the conference recap web page. 

A special thanks to all the sponsors who made this event possible, including: BMO Harris and Wintrust as Platinum Sponsors, Gold-level sponsors including Associated Bank, CBRE, CD Smith Construction, Conor Commercial, Mid-America Asset Management, and Phoenix Investors. Blue-level sponsors included Colliers, First Weber Realtors, Mandel Group, Ogden & Company, and von Briesen & Roper, s.c. Thank you as well to our many wonderful table sponsors.

Save the date! The 9^th annual Real Estate Strategies Conference will be held on Thursday, September 10, 2020.

Hunt, Pennington-Cross Interviewed on MKE Forward Podcast

Dr. Anthony Pennington-Cross and Director Andy Hunt were interviewed by the MKE Forward Podcast (via Colliers Milwaukee) on the topic of productivity in open office environments.

The interview was a result of hours and hours of research on workplace productivity, which related to the 2019 Strategies Conference theme of “The Future of the Workplace.”

The episode, titled, “Open Office: A Complete Failure?” is described as follows:

As companies and organizations look at their workplaces, more and more are looking at their space through a strategic lens, seeking to improve productivity, collaboration and even culture. As a result, the prevalence of open office concepts has increased across the globe. But, do they work? Are open workplaces increasing worker productivity and collaboration? Tune in to hear from Dr. Anthony Pennington-Cross and Andy Hunt from Marquette University’s Center for Real Estate, as they discuss the research and findings of renowned economists from around the world.

Listen on Apple Podcasts 

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Stitcher

Alumni Website Launch

The Center for Real Estate has partnered with the Real Estate Alumni Marquette (REALM) Network to launch our first-ever alumni networking platform. The idea for this network has been a work in progress for many years, and we’re thrilled to be able to finally offer it as an integrated part of the Center’s value-add to our students, alumni, and the industry.

Who can join? Anyone who meets the following two criteria is considered a “Marquette real estate alumnus:”

• Graduated from Marquette University
• Currently working in real estate

Check out the website today: www.marquette.edu/realm

Member benefits include:

• exclusive access to a database of other Marquette alums all throughout the country
• monthly email updates on what’s going on with alums
• connections with new alums for deal-making and information-sharing
• alumni-only networking events
• job postings at every level of the industry, and
• much, much more

Huge thanks to several people to making this website a reality, including Andy Sinclair, Kathryn Sugrue, James Raveret, Mike Wanezek, David Martin, David Krill, and Chris Korjenek.

Celebrate Marquette Real Estate! The Inaugural Golden Eagle Gala is November 8th

Join the REALM Network and the Center for Real Estate for the inaugural Golden Eagle Gala. The event will be held on Friday, November 8, 2019 from 7 – 10 p.m. at Good City Brewing, located in Milwaukee’s “Deer District” next to the Fiserv Forum (home of the Milwaukee Bucks and Marquette men’s basketball).

The event, which will serve as an annual party and fundraiser for the real estate program at Marquette, will include several exciting things in a fantastic and fun environment:

• Live and silent auctions (see items here)
• Live band
• Specialty-brewed beer just for our event*
• Open bar including Good City Beer, wine and cocktails
• Heavy hors d’oeuvres
• Photos with the Golden Eagle mascot

Everyone is welcome for this party, including spouses and friends, employers and industry partners, and all supporters of real estate education.

Click here for more information: https://alumni.marquette.edu/realm-gala-2019

*Beer courtesy of donation of malt and hops from alumni Perry Vieth, Ceres Partners

Research Corner - APC, Cashman with busy year

Congratulations to Dr. Anthony Pennington-Cross, Bell Chair in Real Estate, and Dr. George Cashman, Associate Professor, on several exciting accomplishments over the last several months:

• Dr. Pennington-Cross presented papers at two top-tier symposiums this fall, traveling to Cambridge (United Kingdom) and Washington, DC. The University of Cambridge hosted the Real Estate Finance and Investment Symposium in late September, where Dr. Pennington-Cross presented the paper, "Mortgage Losses Under Alternative Property Disposition Approaches: Deed in Lieu, Short Sales, and Third Party Sales," (Biswas, Fout, Pennington-Cross. The following week he presented at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), serving as the lunchtime speaker at the symposium honoring the life of Dr. Giang Ho, his co-author on his widely-acclaimed subprime mortgage research.

• Dr. Cashman received his fifth-straight "best paper" award from the American Real Estate Society (ARES). He also received two 2019 manuscript prizes for his papers "The Cost of Financial Flexibility: Information Opacity, Agency Conflicts and REIT At-the-Market (ATM) Equity Offerings" (Cashman, Harrison, Howton, Scheick) and "Short Selling and Options Trading: A Tale of Two Markets" (Cashman, Harrison, Sheng).    

Students With Busy Fall 2019

Our students have had a busy fall going on site tours, networking with professionals, and discovering more and more about what it means to become a leader in the real estate industry. Thank you to all the professionals and alumni who have helped make this a great semester. Some highlights:

• September 3 – First Real Estate Club Meeting, Discussion on Getting Jobs in Real Estate
  • Special guests: Tim Donovan, Bus Ad ’18, Midloch Investment Partners; Kevin Reardon, Bus Ad ’18, Physicians Realty Trust; Mike Slinde, MLG Capital
• September 10 – Site Tour, BMO Tower high-rise development,Irgens and Colliers, Milwaukee, Wis.
  • Thanks to Mike Wanezek, Bus Ad ’09, Colliers, for organizing the tour

Students touring BMO Harris tower with alum Mike Wanezek of Collier

• September 12 – 8^th annual Marquette Real Estate Strategies Conference, Alumni Memorial Union, Marquette (Recap & Presentations)
  • Thanks to conference speakers Mary Ludgin with Heitman (Keynote), Pat Goepel with Asure Software, and panelists Jason Geer of Invesco, Josh Jeffers of J. Jeffers & Co., Kim Liautaud of BMO Harris, and Scott Marshall of CBRE/Hana
• September 15 – IAMC Conference Student Session: Site Selection Panel (and lunch), HiltonCityCenter, Milwaukee, Wis.
  • Thanks to Bill Jenkins, Bus Ad ’77, with Thermo Fischer Scientific for organizing the panel
• September 26 – NAIOP Developing Leader & Marquette mentor program kickoff and DL 101 Series event, 330 Kilbourn building, Milwaukee, Wis.
• October 2 – Site Tour, former JC Penny distribution center, 2.2 million SF, Wauwatosa, Wis.
  • Thanks to Kurt Jensen with Phoenix Investors for helping organize the tour
• October 14-16 – NAIOP CRE.Converge Conference 2019, Los Angeles, Cal.
  • Included site tours of Fox Plaza (office building in the movie “Die Hard”) and Santa Monica’s world-famous pier
  • Thanks to alums Tom Kneafsey, Bus Ad ‘61, Sarah McPherson, Bus Ad ‘16, Paul Monsen, Bus Ad ‘14, and Jim Neyer, Eng ’61, for spending time with our students and organizing tours and dinners

Students touring Fox Plaza, a.k.a. Nakatomi Plaza, the office building featured in the movie, "Die Hard"

• October 23 – Real Estate Intro Night networking and careers event, Wisconsin Club, Milwaukee, Wis.
• October 25 – Careers in Finance and Real Estate event, Alumni Memorial Union, Marquette
  • Thanks to panelists Trish Connolly, Arts ’07, Peter Foran, Stephanie Karolich, Bus Ad ’15, and Robert Mueller, Bus Ad ’09

 L to R: Jack Jensen (student moderator), Foran, Mueller, Karolich, Connolly

• November 7-8 – Harold E. Eisenberg Foundation 13^th annual Career Day event, Standard Club, Chicago, Ill.
  • Site tours of McDonald’s new worldwide HQ building downtown and the boutique Hotel Zachary
• November 8 – Inaugural Golden Eagle Gala, Marquette Real Estate party and fundraiser, Good City Brewing, Milwaukee, Wis. (Open to Professionals – Register Here)
• November 15 – BizTimes Commercial Real Estate and Development Conference, Italian Community Center, Milwaukee, Wis. (Open to Professionals – Register Here)
• November 21 – Site Tour, Kinetik Apartments (mixed-use development, including new food hall), Bayview neighborhood, Milwaukee, Wis.
• December 5 – 3^rd annual “Judgement Day” internal student case competition (part of REAL 4120: Cases capstone class), Milwaukee, Wis.

Final Thoughts – Hiring, Rankings, Instagram

• Hire our students for jobs/internships! – We’d love to get your job and internship postings on our careers website, known as “Handshake” | To register, check out our instruction page here, or feel free to contact Karen Rinehart (Director, Business Career Center) at karen.rinehart@marquette.edu or Andy Hunt (Director, Center for Real Estate) at andrew.hunt@marquette.edu). Andy sends out weekly emails to all real estate majors hiring the open jobs and internships, and we’d love to feature your opening.
• Rankings – for the 5^th year in a row, we were ranked by U.S. News & World Report in their “Best Undergraduate Real Estate Programs in the U.S.” annual rankings, widely-considered the pre-eminent ranking system for real estate programs in the nation. Coming in at #12, Marquette’s real estate program is the highest-ranked undergraduate program at Marquette University, the second-highest ranked real estate program in the Midwest, and the fifth-highest ranked program among private institutions.
• Instagram – the Real Estate Program (Center for Real Estate and REALM) have a new Instagram account. Find us on Instagram at username Marquette.RealEstate (https://www.instagram.com/marquette.realestate/)