Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center

Wharton News: May 2011


Joseph Gyourko

Gyourko named to PREA's Board of Directors

Professor Joseph Gyourko was named to the board of directors of PREA (Pension Real Estate Association). He chaired a PREA panel on the Economy and Real Estate at the March 16, 2011, meeting in Washington, D.C. Other participants included Center members Mike Fascitelli, president and CEO of Vornado Realty Trust; Dean Adler, CEO of Lubert-Adler Management; and Joseph Azrack, president and CEO of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc.



Todd Sinai

Gyourko also was the guest on WHYY's Radio Times, being interviewed on the subject, "Revisiting the 'holy grail' of home ownership" (April 18). To listen to the show, go to http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2011/04/18/revisiting-the-holy-grail-of-home-ownership/.

Gyourko and Todd Sinai co-hosted a National Bureau of Economic Research program on Housing Markets and the Financial Crisis in Cambridge, Mass. on March 18, 2011.

Finally, Professor Gyourko was a panelist at UBS's recent Conference on Commercial Real Estate, held in New York City on May 17, 2011.


The Seevak Research Competition


Seevak Research Competition winners
The Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center's Seevak Student Research Competition was Friday, April 15, in Huntsman Hall. This year, the students were asked to address the topic, "Real Estate Investing after the Great Recession: Identifying Risk and Opportunity." The competition involves three student groups presenting their analyses of the topic. This day is always one of the highlights of the year for the student teams. First prize this year went to the team whose topic was "Capitol Apartments: DC Metro Area Offers Attractive, Stable Yields" by MBA students Randall Drain, Patrick Keeley, and Jacob Roffman. Three judges from among the Zell/Lurie Center's industry supporters evaluated the group presentations: William Andersen of Longview Development, Scott Janzen of Catalyst Real Estate and Andrew Winn of Centura Capital. The prize money was generously donated by the estate of the late Shelley Seevak, formerly of Goldman Sachs & Company, a long-time friend and supporter of our program.


Nakahara to receive teaching award


Asuka Nakahara

Asuka Nakahara has been named to receive an Excellence in Teaching Award for his "outstanding performance in the classroom." According to teaching ratings from students, he scored in the top ten of all eligible professors in Wharton MBA electives. The announcement to Nakahara noted, "You have inspired your students to learn and have academically enriched their lives." Nakahara also gave a talk at the Wharton Reunion weekend, "US Real Estate—Great Opportunity or Great Peril?" and will help host a NAIOP (the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, for developers, owners and related professionals in office, industrial, retail and mixed-use real estate) conference in June here at the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center. Nakahara moderated the annual MBA Club's Real Estate Entrepreneur Panel hosted by the Wharton Real Estate Club, with panelists discussing career paths and challenges and opportunities for real estate entrepreneurs in the current market. Panelists included Gerald Ronon, president and COO, Lubert-Adler; Jason Duckworth, president, Arcadia Land Company; John Zaharchuk of Summit Realty Advisors; and Poonam Sharma, vice president, KARP.



Albert Saiz

Saiz wins teaching award

Albert Saiz has won the 2011 Excellence in Teaching-Core Curriculum. These awards are given annually to eight MBA faculty members who receive the highest average instructor rating on their course evaluation forms over the three prior semesters. The course evaluation forms are filled out by the students at the conclusion of every course.



Marja Hoek-Smit

IHFP Director hosting international guests

Drs. Marja Hoek-Smit, director of the International Housing Finance Program, will host the 2011 conference, "Improving and Expanding Housing Finance Systems," including the Workshop on Securitization and Mortgage Bonds, June 6-18, 2011 on the Wharton campus. The popular program is already fully enrolled, with participants registered from more than 20 companies, including a top-level delegation from Indonesia's Ministry of Housing, Ministry of Finance, and Central Bank, and the vice president of the Government of the Philippines.


Rybczynski's called "our finest architecture critic"


Witold Rybczynski
Witold Rybczynski lectured on Makeshift Metropolis, his recent book, at the Center for Architecture in New York. Francis Marrone, in her review of the book in the Wall Street Journal (Nov. 6, 2010), called Rybczynski "our finest architecture critic," and wrote, "In an impressive tour d'horizon, Witold Rybczynski asks what the differences are between 'the kind of cities that Americans want' and the ones the future will require-and how the two might be reconciled. Staking his ground between the libertarians and the central-planning scolds, Mr. Rybczynski points toward existing cities that serve as models. He also writes with disarming ease: Few authors today pack so much material into a book that can be pleasurably read in a single sitting." Rybczynski delivered a paper on "Naming the Federal City" at a conference on George Washington held at Mount Vernon, and also took part in a public conversation with Canadian architect Bing Thom at the New York Public Library. He participated in a documentary film on Frederick Law Olmsted, Olmsted and America's Urban Parks, currently being shown on PBS stations nationwide. The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Institute of Architects awarded Rybczynski the President's Award for 2011.


Wachter speaks on China, rural mortgages


Susan Wachter

Susan Wachter was the keynote speaker at the Bank of Korea/International Monetary Fund conference on Real Estate Bubbles in Seoul on April 11. She was a keynote speaker at the Asian Pacific Real Estate Association meeting on April 14 in Beijing on the state of Asian real estate markets. Wachter took part in the Wharton/Guangua Symposium at Wharton on April 30, discussing a paper on China's land markets. Brian Sullivan of Fox Business interviewed Wachter on April 6 on the subject of "government-backed, no money down 'rural' mortgages." She was interviewed twice on NPR; for the Marketplace interview on May 10, go to http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/05/10/pm-mortgage-fraud-reports-increase/.

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