The ULI/REAP Virtual Academy in commercial real estate (CRE) is returning this spring with enhanced educational content available nationwide.
For the first time and during this upcoming cohort, REAP’s academy curriculum will include new modules to address cutting-edge sectors of the CRE industry — topics such as C-PACE financing and impact investing. The New York City boutique law firm of Duval & Stachenfeld will lead a discussion on C-PACE financing, an emerging financing tool for green building development and redevelopment, which is now authorized in over 37 states nationwide, including New Jersey. Additionally, the new session on impact investing will discuss efforts to direct institutional investment capital to real estate development and redevelopment projects in Black, Latinx and underserved inner-city neighborhoods. The African-American financier and former professional football player, Malcolm Johnson, will be among the presenters addressing the impact investing sector.
Another pioneering module will include a case study presentation on JP Morgan Chase’s redevelopment of its 270 Park Avenue headquarters building in Midtown Manhattan. That project is the tallest intentional demolition and redevelopment of an existing building in the world, a signature feat of modern construction management. And with the recent reauthorization of the federal New Markets Tax Credit Program until the end of 2025, the founders of the REAP-supported Open Access initiative will provide an introduction to the New Markets Tax Credit industry and the opportunities it offers for REAP alums and professionals of color.
The ULI/REAP Virtual Academy is a landmark partnership between Project REAP (Real Estate Associate Program), the oldest and largest national effort to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in CRE, and ULI (the Urban Land Institute), the oldest and largest network of cross-disciplinary real estate and land use experts in the world.
The Fall 2021 and Spring 2021 Project REAP and ULI virtual programs celebrated a combined total of over 225 fellows representing 24 states and the District of Columbia, in addition to participation from Canada. Each virtual class of fellows comprised the largest cohorts in REAP’s 24-year history.
REAP Chair G. Lamont Blackstone noted the benefits of the virtual Academy that was created in the wake of the pandemic: “The ULI/REAP Virtual Academy allows us to reach any market in the U.S. — well beyond the borders of the nine cities where we’ve conducted in-person academies. It also provides us a platform for international expansion, and we are exploring those capabilities overseas. By expanding our outreach, we are able to serve additional major cities as well as smaller markets that had previously requested a REAP presence.”
“ULI, the preeminent real estate organization, is committed to leading the industry in welcoming diverse professionals into all sectors of commercial real estate,” said Gwyneth Jones Coté, president, ULI Americas. “ULI is committed to pursuing unrelenting efforts to shape the built environment toward diverse, equitable, inclusive communities. The partnership with Project REAP is one way to advance this critical objective.”
