The MRED+U 2018-2019 orientation was kicked off with a welcome breakfast with our faculty and followed by a SoA graduate student reception and campus tour. The MRED+U students then headed off to Grass River Property to meet with Will Pierce MRED+U alum ’14 and Tom Roth and learn more about the CocoWalk renovation and launch of 3650 REIT. On Tuesday, our MRED+U students were introduced to Finance Bootcamp and Market Analysis Tools, both staples of the orientation program, and Professors Steve Nostrand and Mark Troen did not disappoint.
Wednesday morning was an action-packed day for our MRED+U students starting with a trip to Bal Harbour Shops to meet with Ben Elias with Whitman Family Development and hear about the Bal Harbour Shops much lauded expansion with Barneys New York. Our next destination took us to Ft. Lauderdale’s Stiles Corporation where our MRED+U students met with Scott MacLaren CEO, Steve Palmer COO and Ian Schwartz VP of Operations, who gave a fantastic overview of the company history as well as its current pipeline of investments. We then headed south back to Miami on the BrightLine train courtesy of FECI and MRED+U Advisory Board Member Kolleen Cobb, culminating in a station tour with Brian Kronberg. Our last stop for the tour was Brickell City Centre where Kieran Bowers, President of Swire Properties Inc. met with our MRED+U students and gave us an in-depth history of Swire Properties original investment in Brickell Key and development of Brickell City Centre. Our first Alumni/Student reception was hosted at Tacology providing our new MRED+U students with an opportunity to meet and connect with MRED+U alumni, many of whom had volunteered to serve as mentors to the incoming class.
On Thursday, after a full morning of Finance Bootcamp, our MRED+U students joined other SoA graduate students for a tour of Wynwood Walls, the brainchild of the late Tony Goldman and founding member of the MRED+U Advisory Board and whose development has been further launched into permanent history under the direction of MRED+U Advisory Board member Jessica Goldman Sbrenick. This was followed by a tour of the Miami Design District, another visionary project created by MRED+U Advisory Board member Craig Robins and recent recipient of the 2018 ULI Lifetime Achievement Award. The day ended with a SofA graduate reception at Shulman & Associates.