Real Estate Center Secures New Sustaining Sponsor
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The Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc., formerly a Contributing Sponsor of the Real Estate Center, recently upgraded their level of support to Sustaining Sponsor. As a Sustaining Sponsor, the Inland representative, Roberta (Bobbi) Matlin, who is the senior vice president at Inland Real Estate Investment Corporation, will serve on the Center's executive committee where she will play a vital role in governing the programs and initiatives the Center offers.
The Real Estate Center's success is largely attributed to the expertise and valuable input that the executive committee brings to the table, and we are grateful to be able to incorporate Ms. Matlin's industry knowledge into our programs. In addition, the financial support provided by The Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc. ensures that the Center will continue serving real estate students by providing mentoring, job placement, scholarships and career preparedness workshops so that our graduates will enter the job force with the skills they'll need to be successful.
The Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc. is an industry leader and one of the nation's largest commercial real estate and finance groups. It is a privilege to have them on board as a Sustaining Sponsor.
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New Contributing Sponsor Supports the Center
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 Prior to her impending retirement, Susanne Cannon recruited Avison Young to support the Real Estate Center as a Contributing Sponsor. Avison Young, based in Toronto, Canada, is a real estate services firm that provides value-added, client-centric investment sales, leasing, advisory, management, financing and mortgage placement services to owners and occupiers of office, retail, industrial and multi-family properties.  In 2009, Avison Young opened its first office outside of Canada and chose Chicago as its headquarters. Danny Nikitas, Managing Director and Principal of Avison Young's Chicago office, will be the firm's Contributing Sponsor representative. Nikitas oversees continued growth and development in the Chicago region, taking the lead on recruiting more great talent, continuing to work with clients to develop their real estate issues, and partnering with all of the other Principals to further build the Avison Young Brand in the Midwest. The faculty, staff and sponsors of the Real Estate Center look forward to collaborating with Avison Young in 2015 and beyond.
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Students Awarded Scholarships from Industry Organizations
| In an effort to take some of the financial burden off students as they pursue their degrees in real estate, several industry organizations offer academic scholarship programs for both graduate and undergraduate students studying real estate in the Chicago-land area. Recently, DePaul students benefited from two organizations: the Real Estate Finance Forum and the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR)-Chicago Chapter.
The Real Estate Finance Forum Scholarship fund was created in 2006 to encourage the young women who have chosen to pursue an education in real estate for the purpose of building a career in a real estate related field. This year, REFF awarded DePaul graduate student Kelly Janisch with a $3000 scholarship.
Additionally, the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR)-Chicago Chapter and the SIOR Foundation have awarded scholarships since 1984 with the goal to recognize and reward outstanding academic performance in business and real estate courses and to expose recipients to career opportunities and internship programs available within the Chicago real estate community.
MBA Candidate Will Moss received the $3,000 scholarship and is eligible to attend SIOR-Chicago Chapter business meetings as long as he remains in the academic program. He also attended the SIOR Holiday Luncheon on December 5 at the Glenview Club where he was recognized as one of the scholarship recipients.
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Director of the Real Estate Center Retires from the University
|  Susanne Cannon, the Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Endowed Director of the Real Estate Center, is slated for retirement as of the end of December 2014. Cannon founded the Center in 2002 as the premier resource for real estate education in the Midwest. In the years that followed, Cannon raised millions of dollars to support the Center's faculty, student services, and scholarship programs. As an educator, she played an important role in preparing the future leaders of the real estate profession to enter the workforce with the necessary skills required for success in the industry: analytical thinking, negotiation, problem solving and knowing what it takes to make smart investments and close a big deal. The impact Cannon has made on the Chicago real estate community is measured by the number of DePaul real estate alums who make up the marketplace. DePaul alums can be found across the city and suburbs representing major national firms as well as smaller local enterprises.
Cannon's ability to connect the industry to the classroom came as a result of the many partnerships she established over the years with real estate organizations and companies across the board. As her tenure draws to a close, several of these partnerships have recognized her hard work, dedication and accomplishments over the years.
On November 21, the Chaddick Institute, as part of its Terminal Town banquet celebrating 75 years of travel in Chicago set aside a portion of the program to introduce Cannon and recognize her contributions to Chicago and the development community over the years. Joe Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute, said, "No one, in my opinion, has done more for DePaul's urban mission in the last 15 years than the work Susanne has done at the Real Estate Center, so her retirement will create some soul-searching among all of us "urban advocates."
Additionally, at the annual holiday party, the Real Estate Investment Association (REIA) appointed Cannon a Director at Large for Life in appreciation of all of her efforts to support REIA during her tenure at DePaul and her collaboration with their leadership in co-hosting the annual REIA/DePaul Summit.
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Digital Manufacturing, Urban Agriculture and E-Commerce: Driving Innovation in Industrial Real Estate
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On Friday, December 12, 2014, the Real Estate Center and Chaddick Institute brought together a panel of experts to discuss the latest trends in re-purposing old industrial real estate for modern innovative uses. The conference focused on three areas of interest: 1. The Future Supply Chain: Think 3D for Manufacturing, Warehousing & Retail
KC Conway, Senior VP-Credit Risk Management at Sun Trust Banks, Inc. Conway presented on the impact of transportation corridors (freightways) and 3D printing on industrial and other real estate. He emphasized the likely dire impact on Southern California industrial real estate from the combination of the failing highway system; new Panama Canal and dramatic increases in shipment through the Suez Canal; expansion of Seattle and Vancouver shipping; and the St. Lawrence Seaway. These forces will increase our reliance on intermodal train shipment, and three coasts are likely to benefit from these changes: the Gulf Coast (Houston and Mobile) the East Coast (Georgia, Baltimore, South Carolina) and the Great Lakes, or "Fourth Coast" (Cleveland and Chicago). With 70% of the population of the US living roughly east of the Mississippi, and nearly all the rail service there, he predicts that Chicago is positioned to benefit more than nearly any other region from the changes in how and where we import and export our goods. He also presented data and information on the rise of 3D printing for producing cosmetics, prosthetics, jet engines, auto parts, shoes, and medication at local or regional production facilities that will challenge existing land use patterns and zoning codes. It sounded like science fiction but he and other futurists believe that the technology will be more important than the internet.2. Viability of Indoor Farming
Mark Thomann, Chief Executive Officer, FarmedHere, LLC FarmedHere bills itself as the largest vertical farm in the United States utilizing 90,000 square feet of a once abandoned warehouse in Bedford Park. A combination of technology, community investment and location create what CEO Mark Thomann believes is the perfect combination for orchestrating a sustainable and profitable enterprise that can eventually be duplicated around the world. According to Thomann, using LED lights to grow increases the yield by about 30% and saves energy both of which lend to an increased rate of return on their investment. In addition, FarmedHere uses an Aquaponic growing system: soil-free stacks of plant beds are grown in water supplied from tanks of hormone-free tilapia. The controlled environment (consistent lighting and even temperature) combined with the nutrient rich water from the fish tanks has a significant impact on crop productivity-without the use of pesticides or other chemicals. The 100% organic products that FarmedHere produces are available in local stores within 24 hours of harvesting, and that is appealing to consumers and vendors alike. In addition, FarmedHere gives back to the community by working with social agencies such as Windy City Harvest to hire underserved youth and train them for what Thomann believes will be a viable future in vertical farming. FarmedHere is literally making new life in a former industrial plant by building on existing resources and seeking advancements in technology to generate a product consumers want to buy.
3. The New Intersection of Real Estate, the Supply Chain and OminiChannel
Karl Heitman, President, Heitman Architects and
Brendan Kelly, Principal, Avison Young
The presentation addressed the current state of the industrial real estate market and the recent effects of web influenced retail. With the onset of e-commerce retailers like Amazon, Zappos, Wallmart, Alibaba, and many others, next day -direct to consumer delivery expectations has been a "game changer" for the industrial real estate markets.
The supply chain has had to transform itself through innovation disrupting traditional real estate offerings. Supply chain buildings have evolved from regional distribution centers operated by 3rd party logistic groups 20 years or more ago, to sophisticated and highly automated fulfillment centers with a high throughput distribution center component in 2013.
Advancements in digital modeling have revolutionized real estate design and procurement. Virtual 3D facility prototyping and optimization enables the integration of design, site selection, construction, and post occupancy facility management within a single platform. Data modeling from this new platform advances conventional building cost per square foot metrics to precise cost per palette inventory analysis, linked to collaborative C-Suite operational dashboards projecting 5-10-15 year operational scenarios.
View more photos here.
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Karl Heitman, Brendan Kelly, Mark Thomann, Mark Weglarz and KC Conway
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Associated Bank Sponsors Student Attendance at ULI Dinner
| As a Sustaining Sponsor, Associated Bank's representative, Greg Warsek, invited seven students to attend the ULI Lifetime Achievement Award Dinner at the Four Seasons on December 4. This major event brings together real estate industry professionals to celebrate the contributions of one outstanding icon in real estate. This year's recipient was Neil G. Bluhm, founder and managing principal, Walton Street Capital, LLC; a founder and president, JMB Realty Corporation; and, founder, Rush Street Gaming.
The event gave students an opportunity to practice the networking and fine dining skills they've learned in the Center's supplemental career preparedness workshops.
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Join the Conversations on the Real Estate Center Social Networking Websites
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You no longer have to wait for our monthly newsletter to be up to date with the Real Estate Center. The Real Estate Center has recently joined the social networking movement on both Facebook and LinkedIn. Join these groups to receive up to the minute information about the Real Estate Center.
 
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