On October 1, 2013 ASU’s Masters of Real Estate Development (MRED) Alumni Group presented its inaugural Professional Development Series at NAI Horizon. A total of 30 MRED Alumni and current students gathered to hear Eric Brown, formerly of Artisan Homes and currently with William Hezmalhalch Architects, provide a developmental history of downtown Phoenix. In addition, Mr. Brown articulated his vision of where the urban Phoenix market is going by sharing information and slides of projects he is currently engaged in.
NAI Horizon, a commercial real estate company, graciously hosted the event in its conference room on 44th and Thomas. Ian Turner of the NAI Horizon’s Valuation Services Group (VSG) assisted the MRED Alumni board in organizing the event, which is a new concept for the six year old alumni group. Mr. Turner (MRED ’08) presented the board’s vision for creating a venue which will stimulate the group intellectually as well as help the membership develop professionally.
Stewart Title and its business development officer, Phyllis Dumond, sponsored the event. Ms. Dumond had this to say about Stewart Title’s support of the MRED Alumni Group, “As an alumni of ASU, I am always interested in supporting programs that provide continuing education that keep our professionals engaged at a higher level which ultimately benefits our community!”
The event began promptly at 5:30 PM with soft drinks, beer/ wine and catered appetizers provided by Stewart Title and NAI. This enabled alums to meet and greet each other for the next half hour. At 6 PM Mr. Turner presented the MRED Alumni Board’s vision for creating this series of events as well as a presentation on how to be a better conversationalist. This is particularly pertinent to real estate professionals as they often attend networking events and meet new people. Each MRED Professional Development Series event will feature an interesting topic as well as have this type of professional development component as a core value-add.
Many students and alums visited for roughly a half hour after Mr. Brown finished his presentation on the history and future of Phoenix’s downtown. According to Dan Paulus, President of NAI Horizon’s Valuation Services Group, “This was a great gathering, and shows how everyone enjoyed re-connecting at the event.” Several alums had the following comments to describe the event. “Eric Brown was very informative and a creative developer, also a good turnout. Looking forward to upcoming programs.”
The next event in the series will be held on December 3rd and is a guided tour of DPR Construction’s offices in Phoenix which is the largest Net-Zero commercial projects in North America. It is Platinum LEED certified and consumes less electricity than it produces.