Real Estate

Team “Clairvoyance Capital,” consisting of three first-year and three second-year students, finished first in the prestigious National Real Estate Challenge held on November 28-29.

Columbia Business School’s innovative real estate cases and new Social Impact Real Estate Investing and Development are highlighted in a November 26 Financial Times article about real estate curricula at leading business schools.

Hugh Frater '85 is chief executive officer of Berkadia, which specializes in commercial real estate financial services. Previously, he worked at Good Energies and PNC Financial Services among other firms. Frater serves on Columbia's MBA Real Estate Program Advisory Board and is a member of the Columbia Business School Real Estate Forum. In a recent interview with Evan Abrams '13, he discusses business strategy and opportunities, commercial mortgage backed securities, and career development. A part of our Distinguished Alumni Interview Series, this piece is intended to be informative and motivational for seasoned veterans and MBA students alike.

A new Columbia CaseWorks case by Fred Knapp ’12 and Lynne B. Sagalyn, “Battling Over a New York Workout: The W Hotel Strategy” sets up this true David-and-Goliath story in which the most junior player in the highly leveraged capital stack ended up being made whole on its loan. The saga of the $232-million mortgage and mezzanine debt financing, now known as the “W Strategy,” is one that changed practice, becoming significant in the annals of Uniform Commercial Code foreclosures and bankruptcy transactions.

The 2009 Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which provided loan servicers with sizeable financial incentives to renegotiate mortgages, was intended to help 3 to 4 million struggling homeowners. Instead, the program is benefiting just over a third of that target, according to a paper coauthored by Edward S. Gordon Associate Professor of Real Estate Tomasz Piskorski. The study finds that if the worse-performing banks had simply modified loans at the same pace as their better performing peers, then HAMP would have produced about 800,000 more modifications.

In February 2008, Madison International Realty was presented with the opportunity to buy an additional equity position in the partnership that owns the Mayfair House—a 10-story, trophy-quality office building located in the Mayfair submarket of London’s West End. In the case based on this situation, students are presented with information on the UK real estate market, the terms of the partnership agreement, and an investment spreadsheet in order to determine how much Madison should pay for this interest and what conditions in the partnership agreement might impact the valuation.

Gentry Ashmore Hoit ’90 is joining Park Madison Partners as partner to advise clients on real estate acquisitions and capital-raising efforts. The New York-based real estate placement and advisory firm was cofounded by Nancy Lashine ’81.

Adjunct Professor Tommy Craig '82 received widespread attention this week for leading Dallas-based firm Hines to sustained success in the New York market. Craig's work as senior vice president and partner in Hines's regional office in Manhattan is featured as the lead story in the July 23 Crain's "Real Estate Report." The piece commends the firm's development and management work in New York over the past 24 years, from the Lipstick Building in 1986 to the One Bryant Park building currently under way.

The real estate investment firm led by managing partners Nicholas Bienstock '96 and Christopher Schlank has climbed into second place among New York City's acquirers of commercial office buildings.

Allowing underwater homeowners to refinance their mortgages with shorter amortization periods and at minimal closing costs would benefit more than a million homeowners while also helping to stabilize the housing market and boost the broader economy, all without cost to taxpayers, according to new research and analysis by a team at Columbia Business School.