3 hours

This course provides foundational concepts, terminology, skills for the commercial real estate sector. To understand the value of commercial property rights, students learn the roles of equity investors, debt, and government – including land use regulation. Students build fundamental skills for valuation, financial analysis, market analysis, and risk assessment. Students gain an understanding for how commercial real estate investments are capitalized using a combination of leverage and ownership structures.

3 hours

This course develops skills for modeling to forecast commercial real estate investment performance for use in asset acquisition and portfolio management decisions. Students are trained to use Argus® (the leading software for modeling commercial real estate performance) and have the opportunity to earn the Argus® certification. Excel modeling skills are developed concurrently for students to better understand the mechanics underlying Argus® projections. Topics include the pro forma, partnership cash flow waterfalls, and after-tax investment analysis for use in financial feasibility analysis.

3 hours

Commercial real estate is fundamentally an entrepreneurial industry. This course explores how to become an entrepreneur in commercial real estate. Course topics include how to raise capital, start a partnership, run a firm, deal-making, and exit strategies. The types of entrepreneurship covered include residential (homebuilding, asset enhancement), private equity investment funds, real estate development, and service providers (e.g., brokerages, market analysts, consulting firms).

3 hours

This course covers all aspects of financing commercial real estate from both the lender and borrower perspective. Students examine capital structures in commercial real estate, and gain understanding for positive and negative impacts from use of leverage in risk analysis and mitigation. Students simulate the evaluation, underwriting, sourcing, and workout of commercial loans. Students evaluate the three major types of commercial loans (construction loans, bridge loans, permanent loans) and develop a framework for understanding how to align a commercial real estate investment strategy with the appropriate financing structure.

3 hours

This course focuses on legal foundations to value and opportunities to enhance value through negotiations, all from the perspective of a commercial property owner. Topics include negotiating purchase contracts, leases, partnership agreements, loan documents, construction agreements, changes to land use regulation, as well as negotiating with lenders when delinquent. Students engage in negotiations that are designed to simulate the process of acquiring commercial property.

3 hours

This course focuses on ground-up and value-add development projects for commercial real estate. Students learn the development process, including site selection, design, cost analysis, market feasibility, capitalization, construction, marketing, leasing, and stabilization or sale. Students gain understanding for the economic fundamentals that affect development feasibility, which are distinct for each property type. Topics include land development, multifamily, industrial, office, retail, and mixed-use projects.

3 hours

This course focuses on analyzing market supply and demand models to evaluate the feasibility of a proposed commercial real estate project. Students examine the role of location and market area within the context of economic cycles. Students develop skills for sourcing market data, applying research techniques, forecasting market capture and project absorption. Topics include market analysis for multifamily, industrial, office, retail, hospitality, and mixed-use projects.

3 hours

This course is the capstone for the MS in Commercial Real Estate program. Students are provided with property and market information for commercial real estate investment, development, and financing deals. Students analyze the opportunities, formulate business decisions, and prepare investment committee memorandums to present and justify their recommended courses of action. Students are expected to debate and defend their recommendations in class discussion. The course concludes with students presenting and defending a case to an investment committee comprised of industry professionals.

3 hours

This course focuses on the ownership and operation of commercial real estate assets. Students acquire a framework for evaluating the major asset management decisions faced by a commercial property owner over the holding period. Topics include the acquisition decision, capital and ownership structures, leasing and property management, corporate real estate, asset enhancement, dispositions, and portfolio management.

3 hours

This course focuses on investment strategies for commercial real estate. Students learn about commercial real estate’s positioning as an alternative asset class in the context of the broader investment universe, and how this affects capital sourcing. Students gain understanding for the commercial real estate investment process, including underwriting deals, financial analysis, and due diligence. Student examine property type-specific operating nuances and risk characteristics. Students learn about different investment strategies in commercial real estate (core, value-add, opportunistic), and evaluate whether the market context for supply-demand fundamentals aligns with an investment thesis.