Harvard Real Estate Alumni Organization

Dear Alumni and friends:

The Boston Harvard Real Estate Alumni Organization (HREAO), invites you to a Thursday, March 5, 2020 11:15 AM to 1:15 PM program on “Hear from the Experts: Status of Real Estate Capital Markets.”. (Registration at 11:15 AM).  As the real estate boom enters its 11th year, we are hearing talk of cautious investors amid surplus capital.  Hear two leading industry and academic experts (Donald Sheets, Managing Director at Broadshore Capital Partners, LLC & Brian Olasov the Executive Director, Financial Services at Carlton Fields) describe the state of the real estate capital markets and the state of the policy markets.  HREAO of Boston is hosting the lunch program with a small ($14) required fee complimented by local HREAO member sponsor support.  The program will be located at the Boston Chamber of Commerce Meeting venue at 265 Franklin Street, 17th Floor Boston, MA 02109. (Sandwiches and drinks served.) (Please RSVP and purchase your ticket at insert link here     )

Passing Market shifts or the end of the cycle? 

After ten years of unprecedented growth we are seeing signs of change.  Hiccups or trends? Prominent real estate firms publishing their annual outlooks identify concerns. Cushman & Wakefield’s Investment Outlook 2020 global perspective noted, “Yields in 2020 will remain near historic lows. There will be a lot of capital chasing too few opportunities, competition could drive investors into pushing yields lower.”  CBRE’s Real Estate Market Outlook 2020 couples the comment “…investors are increasingly cautious and focused on an investments potential for downturn…” along with, “Amid slower economic growth and global uncertainty, U.S. commercial real estate will remain a haven for investment in 2020.”   Newmark Knight Frank’s January 2020 published US Capital Market report noted “Institutional investors' fund targets remain historically high and the amount of dry powder available for deployment is at record levels ($196 billion as of 4Q19).  

What does this mean relative to your investment, lending, development or acquisition goals or underwriting for 2020 and beyond? Listen to our experts as they dig behind the numbers, display property performance examples and apply their 50 years of combined experience to help us make sense of the trends. We are extremely fortunate to have two speakers, who have taught together, serve on Boards together and are leaders within their firms as well as the industry.  Donald Sheets will examine the capital markets situation and Brian Olasov will discuss the state of policy markets.  See short bios on each speaker below. 

Our Speakers

Donald Sheets (http://harvardareb.org/bio-donald-d-sheets) is Managing Director at Broadshore Capital Partners, LLC (“Broadshore”), serves as Portfolio Manager of the Special Situations Debt Group (“SSDG”), is a member of the Management Committee, and has over 21 years of leadership, property acquisition, asset management, capital formation, and restructuring experience across a variety of capital structures, asset types, and geographies.  He has sourced and directly managed over $3.5 billion in approximately 75 transactions, while also overseeing all stages of the investment cycle throughout his career.

Donald received a B.B.A. in Accounting and Real Estate Finance from The George Washington University magna cum laude and received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.  He has led and belongs to a number of Boards and Committees within the industry. Donald was appointed in 2009 to the faculty of both Columbia University and New York University, where he developed and teaches the first graduate-level distressed real estate investing coursework.  He serves on the Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board and has actively lectured at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The George Washington University, Georgetown University, Auburn University, and Harvard University.

Brian Olasov, (https://www.carltonfields.com/team/o/brian-olasov) the Executive Director, Financial Services at the Law Firm of Carlton Fields, has more than three decades of strategic business and capital market experience and an extensive background on real estate capital markets, troubled mortgage loans, mortgage public policy and banking challenges. He provides financial due diligence on distressed mortgage loans, portfolios, and institutions including credit restructuring, valuation, bulk sales, litigation support and securitization, and provides expert witness testimony to global law firms involved in capital market and transactional disputes.

Brian obtained an AB from Yale University and an MBA, Finance from Emory University and continues to serve on a variety of boards and committees.  Brian served as an adjunct professor at Emory Law School, and has guest lectured at the graduate real estate programs of Georgia State University, Emory, Columbia University, Georgetown University, and Wharton.  He is currently an adjunct professor at NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate where he teaches Real Estate Finance and Capital Markets. 

Please join us to hear from, and discuss these topics with, our leading experts who have spent their careers professionally focusing on understanding real estate capital markets trends.

Any questions? Contact Douglas P. Koch, MAI, AICP, Co-Chair Boston chapter Harvard Real Estate Alumni Organization at advisoryaffiliates@gmail.com or 617-512-6787