The Real Estate Center and REIA have been jointly hosting conferences for the past ten years ranging in topics from capital markets to technology's effects on the real estate industry.  Always on the cusp of the latest trend, this year's conference focused on Crowdfunding.

Real estate entrepreneurs have always looked for access to capital but have been limited by securities regulations. Today, thanks to the passing of the JOBS Act, groups can now use the Internet for these projects.  This conference brought together a group of real estate professionals who are using Crowd Funding to define their own futures and benefit their businesses.



Co-Moderators:
E. James Keledjian, Chairman/CEO, REIA and Principal, Pathway Senior Living, LLC and
Susanne Cannon, Chairman, Department of Real Estate, The Real Estate Center at DePaul University

Panelists:
Jack Donenfeld, Lawyer and Entrepreneur, Leon I. Walker, Managing Partner, DL3 Realty LP, Scott White, Chief Operating Officer, Mainstream - Developer and Operator of Long-term Care Facility, Anthony J. Zeoli, Senior Associate, Ginsberg Jacobs LLC

Susanne Cannon, Jim Keledjian and Charlie Wurtzebach

 

Bisnow hosted an event on November 18 to recognize the women in commercial real estate who have made the biggest impact and who have the most influence in the industry, and Susanne Cannon was on the list of impressive women.   The event took place at Trump International Hotel and Tower.  Here is the write up that appeared in the event program about Cannon:

 

Owners of industrial properties are employing remarkable strategies to transform otherwise vacant spaces into vibrant centers for advanced manufacturing, urban food production, and high tech warehouse and distribution facilities. In Chicago and other cities, century-old industrial buildings once seemingly doomed to demolition are becoming bustling hubs for digital technologies and e-commerce.

The tenants include not only Internet giants such as Amazon, but also local brick-and-mortar retailers and package delivery companies responding to the call for same or next day delivery of products ordered online.

High value crop production is also taking root as the demand for locally produced, organic food grows. In addition, the prospect of 3D printers producing shoes, auto parts and medications custom manufactured on-premises while consumers wait, has implications for global trade, not to mention local zoning.

But a lot of questions surround these new strategies, including: What does all of this mean for the future of industrial real estate? And are these trends sustainable? Can they provide a new economic engine for the industrial heartland and for communities that once provided viable employment? Or are the impediments too great for the movement to spread to the most disadvantaged neighborhoods?  What can developers and municipal leaders do to "drive innovation"?

Speakers include:

K.C. Conway  Senior Vice President  Credit Risk Management  SunTrust Banks, Inc.

Karl Heitman President  Heitman Architects

Brendan Kelly  Principal Avison Young

Mark Thomann  Chief Executive Officer  FarmedHere, LLC.

Join us for a vibrant morning discussion of this fascinating new twist in industrial real estate.