December 2010 

Quick Links: 

BREC Announcements  

BREC Sponsored Events

ACRE News & Career Corner

Upcoming Industry Events

• Urban Land Institute Events
• NAIOP Events
• USGBC Events

BREC Announcements

A quick thank you to the efforts of our outgoing administration and a special Congratulation to the new BREC Officers. We wish you the very best in the new year. Thank you for your commitment and support to BREC!

Co-President: Dan Byrnes & Sam Wiggin, FTMBA ‘12

VP, External Relations: Janice Yuen, FTMBA '12

CO-VP, Careers & Alumni: Gretchen Heckman/Derek Simmons, FTMBA ‘12

VP, Membership & Finance: Steve O’Connell, EWMBA ‘12

VP, Student Outreach: Josh Mogabgab, FTMBA ‘12

VP, Communications: Meaghan Kroener, EWMBA ‘12

VP, Education: Tyler Kepler, FTMBA ‘12

VP, Sustainability: Bhawna Sapra, EWMBA 2013

VP, Design: Patrick Flemming, FTMBA '12

EWMBA Liaison: Steve O’Connell, EWMBA ‘12

Boalt School of Law Liaison: Anson Kwan, EWMBA '13

There are a few remaining leadership roles that have not been filled. If you are interested, please contact the new Co-Presidents:

College of Environmental Design Liaison (MCP) Liaison: [to be filled for next year]

Goldman School of Public Policy Liaison: [to be filled for next year]

We look forward to passing the torch over the winter break and are excited to see what our new leaders have planned for the spring!

Congratulations are in order for our BREC/Haas team for taking home second place at the annual UT Austin National Real Estate Challenge.  Challenge is a case-based real estate competition hosted by the University of Texas at Austin between top business schools.

• Greg Beloff, FTMBA '11
• Dan Byrnes, FTMBA '12
• Jamie Choy, FTMBA '11
• Jennifer Cofield, EWMBA '11
• Miki Dutt, FTMBA '11
• Chris Nehls, FTMBA '11

A small group of BREC Real Estate Development die-hards joined Haas alum Will Bridsey, MBA ’02 at Hines this past week to learn about Will’s ultimate value add redevelopment. As the Project Manager responsible for turning 120 Montgomery, a low class B office with only 52% occupancy into 100 Montgomery, a series contender in San Francisco’s class A office market.

Hines and equity partner Sterling Equities obtained the property in 2005 as part of a larger portfolio acquisition from EOP. Most of the properties were flipped, and the deal ended up being Sterling’s most profitable project in its 35 yr history. The original plan was to renovate 120 Montgomery like the other 7 properties, but series risks associated with the building prevented them from executing on the plan and turning a profit.  

Hines eventually bought out Sterling’s equity, and formed a plan to undertake a major make over and repositioning of the property. Will managed and solved risks in every facet of the redevelopment:

• Physical Risk – Marble was cracking and falling from the exterior face of the building; Common areas and Tenant Improvements were tired and worn out
• Entitlement Risk – The asset was considered historic, limiting the changes and improvements
• Construction Risk – the building was occupied and construction costs were rising
• Environmental Risk – Lead in the HVAC system
• Leasing Risk – 55% occupied, building reputation was damaged due to years of neglect

Will walked the group through the solutions to all the risks above, including some of the mistakes and concluded the afternoon with a building tour.

Will also discussed the responsibilities of a PM - overseeing the Acquisition, Pre-Development, and Asset Management duties on the project as well as the relationships a PM manages with consultants, Government agencies, contractors, legal counsel, tenants, and investors.

BREC Sponsored Events

Thursday, December 2, 2010

4:00-5:30 pm

Haas – C210

Please join us for an informal panel discussion on each of the real estate competitions Haas competes in every year. Members from the past year's teams will be available to answer questions and speak about their experiences during the competition.

Snacks and beverages will be served.

For more information on each of the competitions, check out the website: http://haas.campusgroups.com/brec/competitions/

The competitions include:

• Bank of America Low-Income Housing Challenge
• UT Austin - National Real Estate Challenge
• NAIOP Real Estate Challenge - The Golden Shovel
• UNC Real Estate Development Challenge
• MIT Boston Open Graduate Real Estate Development Competition

ACRE News & Career Corner

The ACRE program is available to all graduate real estate students.  Cathy Garza, the Program Coordinator, works through Haas Career Services and the Fisher Center to provide job opportunities for students.   Cathy is a part-time employee who can be found in the Recruitment Center (3^rd floor) of Haas every weekday except Wednesday.   If you’d like to schedule an appointment, do so through CareerNet or send an email to Cathy Garza suggesting a meeting date/time.

Cathy Garza

ACRE Program Manager

MBA Career Services

UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business

545 Student Services Building #1900

Berkeley, CA  94720-1900

510-643-4359 (p)

510 -643-5257 (f)

It has been nice to meet with so many of you through advising sessions, the Speaker Series, and other BREC events.  As you’ve probably heard, one of the cornerstones of the ACRE program is the Spring PIR program which is open to all BREC members.   

Student Eligibility Requirements to participate in PIR

• Member of BREC
• Submission of a Focus Statement (samples included at the end of this section:  it is, in essence, your elevator pitch)
• Completion of at least one, but preferably two, informational interviews
• Meeting with me to review focus statement and informational interview outcomes

PIR Program Details

The PIR program brings 6-8 real estate professionals to the Haas School of Business between February and April to hold office hours with BREC/ACRE students.  These professionals conduct half-hour informational interviews on Friday mornings usually followed by lunch nearby.  Like the speaker series, PIR guests will represent the breadth of the real estate industry:  different asset classes, different functional scopes. 

Each PIR guest will meet with 6 different students (half hour time slots) from 9:00 – 12:15.  Most guests will have lunch with a different group of 5 students.  Meetings will be held in the Recruitment Center on the 3rd floor.  These meetings are conducted as informational interviews, with the student asking 95% of the questions.  Dress is business casual. 

Over the winter break I will solidify the PIR guest schedule.  When you return in January, I will announce the schedule and ask you to rank your preferred PIR meetings.  Use your break to draft and submit your Focus Statement and, if you haven’t conducted any informational interviews, try to complete a couple.

I will be working through the winter break with the exception of Dec. 20 – Jan. 2.  I am happy to meet with you over the break or answer any questions you might have via email.

Good luck on your finals and take some time to re-charge your batteries! 

-Cathy

Generic Sample Focus Statements

I am a first year MBA student at UC Berkeley pursuing a career in real estate development in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Commercial development interests me because it is entrepreneurial and involves many different disciplines such as politics, finance, marketing and law.  I am particularly passionate about office development because of the unique leasing, architectural, and governmental issues.  My extensive background in financial analysis, due diligence and sales as a commercial lender has prepared me well to become a project manager and work successfully with all involved parties.

I am a second year MBA student at UC Berkeley pursuing a career in real estate investing in New York.  In particular, the acquisitions field interests me because of the ability to work on numerous transactions across many different product types.    My extensive background in M&A, financial analysis, due diligence and transaction execution has prepared me well to become an associate at a real estate private equity fund.

I am a first year MCP student at UC Berkeley pursuing a career in residential real estate development. First time home buyer projects and affordable housing development interests me because of the affordability gap in the Bay Area. My background in land use law, CEQA and city politics has prepared me well to negotiate in this arena.  I hope to find an assistant project manager type of position, preferably in San Francisco or the Bay Area.

My main objective for pursuing an MBA is to enable a career transition from engineering management into real estate.  Ideally, I would like to join a development firm whose main focus is in developing urban/infill residential and mixed-use product types.  Over the last four years I have been actively involved with the management and investment of three single-family residential projects.  Additionally, I am a volunteer on Peninsula Habitat for Humanity’s site selection committee where I work with staff members to help evaluate new affordable housing prospects.  My exposure with Habitat for Humanity has spawned an interest in affordable housing and I have an interest in pursuing opportunities that focus on low-income housing.  I would prefer to be member of a forwarding planning/acquisition department, but would be willing to start on the lending side to gain experience and then transition to a development firm.

At the Fisher Center Symposium on Nov. 22, we heard industry leaders express pessimism about an immediate, glorious real estate recovery.  Some speakers were more guarded than others, but we did hear that Class A commercial and the apartment sector seem to be rays of growth.  I expect that with proper (and I mean proper!) diligence and enthusiasm, all our real estate students will be able to find opportunities in real estate.

All of the opportunities listed below have been circulated previously via CareerNet, direct mail from Cathy Garza, and/or direct mail from other BREC members. The opportunities below have all been circulated within the past month; however, it is possible they have expired. Please undertake adequate research into these opportunities before applying.

For those of you seeking summer internships in real estate check CareerNet for details on the following:

Spear Street Capital; Summer Associate in SF:  Cover Letter/Resume drop on Dec. 6.

Morgan Stanley:  Real Estate Investing Summer Associate in NY and SF:  Cover Letter/Resume drop on Jan. 10, 2011

CIM:  Summer Associate, Los Angeles:  Tentatively scheduled for a resume drop of Jan. 3, 2011 with On-campus interviewing on Jan. 28 (please check CareerNet in the next few days for information.)

Upcoming Industry Events

BREC Leadership would like the newsletter to be a quick and easy source for BREC members looking for networking and learning opportunities in the Bay Area. To that end, not all industry events have been captured in the newsletter. For a more complete listing of industry events, we encourage BREC members to check these organizations respective web sites regularly.

Urban Land Institute – http://www.ulisf.org/

NAIOP – http://www.naiopsfba.org/

USGBC – http://www.usgbc-ncc.org/

BOMA – http://www.bomasf.org/

Urban Land Institute Events

Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 7:30am -12:30pm

Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St, San Francisco, CA

ULI San Francisco presents its annual real estate trends and forecast meeting, featuring insights from leading experts both nationally and locally. The event will feature a presentation of Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2011 -- a publication with a 32-year history, and the most highly-regarded and widely-read trends report in the real estate industry. Four panel sessions of leading area real estate investors and experts led by Mike Covarrubias of TMG, Doug Abbey of AMB, Ron Nahas of Rafanelli & Nahas, and Alan Mark of The Mark Company, will discuss the outlook for the San Francisco Bay Area market

Visit www.ulisf.org for more information.

Monday, December 6, 2010 at 5:00pm-7:00pm

Credo Restaurant, 360 Pine St., San Francisco, CA

Please join your friends in ULI for our informal monthly networking series called "Staying in the Game." Michael A. Covarrubias, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TMG Partners will be our featured speaker.

No registration required, just show up, order a drink, and visit!

BREC Members should keep in mind that ULI events require registration. While the BREC newsletter will keep you updated on the details of the events, you must register through ULI to attend and pay any necessary fees. You can check ULI’s website to register or call Customer Service at 800-321-5011.

For ULI event requests that explicitly say Sponsor Tickets are available please send requests to Chris Nehls in the following format (including the headings):

Event Name:

Event Date:

Name:

Company Name: Haas School of Business

Address:

Phone:

Email:

Please note that Young Leaders Group (YLG) events are NOT available for free tickets.

NAIOP Events

USGBC Events

Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 8:30am - 5:00pm

Bishop Ranch Conference Center, 2623 Camino Ramon, Suite 175, San Ramon, CA

Join the momentum of the emerging green building movement and distinguish yourself with the new LEED Green Associate credential. The LEED Green Associate credential is for professionals who want to demonstrate green building expertise in non-technical fields of practice. This credential focuses on basic knowledge of green design, construction, and operations. USGBC-NCC’s full-day LEED Green Associate Exam Preparation Workshop is designed to prepare you to pass the test with confidence--the first time. Participants will receive an eligibility certificate to take the LEED Green Associate exam upon completion of this course. The workshop will focus on the key information necessary to pass the LEED Green Associate exam, including: the LEED implementation process, project site factors, water management, energy impacts, synergistic opportunities, stakeholder involvement in innovation, project surroundings, public outreach & test taking tips and strategies.

Visit www.usgbc-ncc.org for more information.

The US Green Building Council currently has a variety of events listed on their website. Many of these include LEED Exam preparation. As other events of interest (workshops, speakers, etc) come up they will be listed in this section of the newsletter.

For all other events and materials please visit the USGBC’s Northern California Chapter website: http://www.usgbc-ncc.org/

BREC Website Link: https://haas.campusgroups.com/brec/home/

The Berkeley Real Estate Club Newsletter is a news service provided by the Berkeley Real Estate Club.  Please direct all questions, comments, and future news items to Peter Dugo, Vice President of Communications at peter_dugo@mba.berkeley.edu