Cornell Real Estate Club in New York City

In October 2024, the Cornell Real Estate Club (CREC) traveled to New York City, courtesy of the Center for Real Estate and Finance (CREF). They met and spoke with real estate professionals at multiple firms including KKR, Hines, Ares, Blackstone, Morgan Stanley, Sculptor, and Rialto. Firms offered presentations highlighting their respective activities and investment theses, Cornell alumni gave insight into their daily activities, and students made connections across a variety of real estate related fields, including but not limited to asset management, credit, equity, development, and construction.

Highlights from the trek

• KKR – The credit and debit real estate teams drafted a case study, engaging students and probing them about their attitudes on the student housing market.
• Hines – Glenn Haber ’92, vice president of property management, provided an in-depth tour of the 1251 Avenue of the Americas skyscraper,  showing students the ground-up property management process, and discussed construction, daily maintenance, and tenant leasing arrangements.
• Ares – Students got an inside perspective from Ares’ investor relations team, learning how they manage partnerships with investors and their logic behind separately managed accounts.
• Blackstone – Eri Kato ’20 and Alexander Radick ’21, along with other Cornell alumni, offered students a window into their estate, asset management, and equity teams.
• Morgan Stanley – Junior analysts spoke about their day-to-day experience, and students were also given a look at the initial public offering of Lineage, a cold storage business.
• Sculptor – Students learned about the opportunities to find value in non-traditional asset classes and the different techniques used to underwrite assets that do not have a standardized process.
• Rialto – Students were presented with an overview of the firm and heard from many employees who spoke about their experiences in different divisions. Following this, students went on a tour of their entire office, allowing them to see employees at work and envision how working in an office could look for them in the future.

Student Reflections

“The NYC trek was an amazing opportunity to hear about unique perspectives in the real estate landscape through an institutional lens. I appreciated the opportunity to learn more about my peers’ real estate experiences, specifically how they are envisioning their careers as we learn about how analysts and directors found their place in the workforce.” – Esha Patel ’27

“It is an absolute privilege to speak with professionals to learn about how they chose their specific career in the real estate industry. My biggest takeaway, however basic, is that real estate careers and firms are not homogenous. Furthermore, I am now keenly aware that figuring out what I want to do is as much about pursuing my passions and developing a strong skill set, as it is about finding companies and positions that are qualified for my interests, work ethic, and personality.” – Luca Pavlovich ’27

“The Fall ’24 Real Estate Club Trek was an amazing experience for all students involved. Students were able to learn about the differentiating factors of each firm, and make valuable connections with current industry professionals. First-year students in specific gained insights into different opportunities within the real estate industry including overviews of private equity, credit, CMBS, asset management, and more, which is incredibly useful as they are starting out at Cornell and are exploring career paths.” – Alex Wright ’27

About the authors

Luca Pavlovich is a sophomore majoring in economics at Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences from Baltimore, MD. He is an executive board member of the Cornell Real Estate Club.

 

 

Alex Wright is a sophomore at the Nolan School from Lake Placid, NY. Alex is an executive board member of the Cornell Real Estate Club and an assistant director of sales for Hotel Ezra Cornell student-run hospitality conference.