The 29th Annual Cornell Real Estate Conference
On October 13th and 14th, real estate industry leaders, professors and students will gather at the JP Morgan Chase Center for the 29th annual Cornell Real Estate Conference. This year’s Conference is themed “The Wide World of Real Estate: Globalization of Investment and Development.” It will undoubtedly be an “amazing opportunity for everyone to get insights from the true experts in real estate and economics concerning the US and global economies” stated Mark Foerster. Mr. Foerster is the C. Bradley Olson Real Estate Faculty Fellow and has been diligently coordinating the event.
He has been working diligently alongside the Conference Planning Chairman, Mr. Allen Smith. Despite Mr. Smith’s duties as CEO of Prudential Real Estate Investors, he still finds significant blocks of time to devote to the Conference. Their combined efforts will be realized in a few short weeks as attendees gather for this industry leading event sponsored by the Cornell University’s Program in Real Estate.
This year’s pre-conference events will commence with a luncheon on Thursday, where attendees will take a look at career trends and strategies in the midst of challenging market conditions. Dr. David Funk, Cornell Program in Real Estate director, and Anthony J. LoPinto, Senior Client Partner and Global Sector Leader of Real Estate at Korn/Ferry International, have been collaborating to deliver the Job Barometer. Following the luncheon, there will be a career panel discussion and employer show case.
The Conference officially kicks off Thursday evening with an opening reception, dinner and Keynote Address by Jonathan Gray, Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Real Estate at Blackstone. Events continue Friday morning as the stage is set with a review of economic fundamentals affecting demand for commercial real estate, at home and abroad, by Mark Zandi, Chief Economist of Moody’s Analytics. Shawn Duggal, from the PRE Class of 2013, stated that he is “particularly looking forward to hearing Mr. Zandi’s view of the current real estate climate and outlook for the future”.
A significant component of the Conference will be the panel discussions. The first panel discussion titled “Global Capital in North America” will focus on understanding of the magnitude of the capital flows and the extent to which international investors are playing a role in North American real estate markets. The second panel discussion, “International Investing” will focus on where substantial equity might be deployed, how investors deal with fiscal and political uncertainty in more volatile markets abroad, and investor sentiment about these markets.
As the group transitions to a lunch event, Abby Joseph Cohen, President of Global Markets Initiative at Goldman Sachs, will deliver further insight on the current real estate market. Ms. Cohen’s research and publications regularly appear in the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets.
The conference will wrap up with a final panel discussion on Development and Construction Abroad. Here, investors and developers will share their successes, as well as the challenges, they face when they seek development opportunities in volatile international markets. In closing, the 2011 Cornell Real Estate Conference will certainly provide valuable insights from numerous industry leaders during challenging times.
Further information regarding the 2011 Cornell Real Estate Conference can be found at: http://realestate.cornell.edu/2011conference.