One of the many highlights of the Cornell Associate Real Estate Council (AREC) experience comes from going on treks, which afford students the opportunity to travel to selected cities and tour real estate projects. This allows students to gain insights from the developers themselves and provides an additional avenue to be more engaged with the industry.
This semester, an eighteen-member group experienced a trek to Boston on October 10th and 11th, visiting the 75- 101 Federal Street by Rockpoint Group, the Watermark Seaport by Skanska, the Avalon North Station by AvalonBay Communities, T3 Capital Advisors, 1 Federal Street by Tishman Speyer, and 160 Federal Street by Beacon Capital. This experience provided students with the opportunity to gain a general overview of the status and challenges facing the developments in the Financial District as well as the transformation of the Seaport neighborhood in Boston. “It was interesting learning about how new developments and designs are changing the face of Boston as we know it, especially around the Seaport area,” said Jennifer Spritzer (Baker ’19).
The tour began in the Financial District at 75- 101 Federal Street, which is a 818,222 square feet, two-building office complex in Boston’s Financial District that was acquired by Rockpoint Group in July 2015. Constructed in 1929 and 1988 respectively, the two buildings have undergone renovations just before the acquisition. Rockpoint Group shared with students on the tour the value-added strategies developed and the future focus of the company.
The tour then took the members to the Watermark Seaport, a 346-unit rental complex in the Seaport neighborhood, allowing members to glean valuable insights on the rental market of micro-units in Boston. The Watermark Seaport also features a mix of innovation units, including an outpost of the Morphlab pilot program, which allows for infinitely reconfigurable room layouts and furniture for extreme efficiency in urban living.
The following day students met with Jermaine Gause (Baker ’12), Investments Manager at AvalonBay Communities, and the Development Director to walk through model apartments and amenity offerings for residents of the Avalon North Station and discuss their development process, amenities offerings, and future phases of the project.
The students then met with T3 Capital Advisors to discuss how the company advises its corporate clients on real estate matters, including strategic planning, lease/ sales negotiations, and real estate market analysis. The team at T3 Capital Advisors also shared with the students how their careers had progressed up to their current positions.
Tishman Speyer’s 1 Federal Street was next on the trek, showcasing the 38-story office tower located in Boston’s Financial District. The students heard from the team at Tishman Speyer about their recent $30 million renovation of the building, which will include the addition of multi-function space and a rooftop garden on the nine-story wing. They also discussed the company’s future development project at Pier 4 in the Seaport neighborhood.
The tour ended with a visit to 160 Federal Street, a 351,000 square feet office property acquired by Beacon Capital Partners in 2015. The representatives of Beacon Capital Partners addressed the significant upgrade done by the company to the office building, as well as its leasing strategies.
The trek was organized by the Cornell Associate Real Estate Council, a student organization that provides members with access to real estate- centric programming, events, career services, and workshops that enhance professional development. AREC is just one of the many extracurricular benefits available to students at the Baker Program in Real Estate at Cornell.
