Credit peter Allen for ULI
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
By William Watch - published in Ann Arbor Business Review
It's remarkable what beer and pizza can spawn. Later this month, many of the nation's top commercial real estate pros will convene in Detroit, along with 300-400 members of the local real estate community and U-M students, to discuss redeveloping Detroit and other real estate issues.
Beer and pizza made it happen. At least that's Peter Allen's explanation.
Allen, a long-time Ann Arbor developer and U-M adjunct professor, is the founder of the University of Michigan/Urban Land Institute Real Estate Forum that this month marks its 20th anniversary.
The forum is the impetus for the visit to Detroit by such icons of the real estate industry as Sam Zell, Stephen Ross, Albert Ratner and Richard Baron.
The seed for the U-M/ULI Forum was planted by Allen, whose zeal for real estate is matched only by his passion for the students he teaches his at the U-M Business School. It was Allen who in 1986 organized an after-class meeting of students at an Ann Arbor eatery.
Over beer and pizza at Dominick's, the group discussed real estate job opportunities. With that, the forum was launched.
When it convened again the following year, real estate trends and issues were added to the forum agenda and speakers from the national real estate scene were invited to take part.
That meeting set in motion a chain of events that sparked the forum's evolution over the last 20 years from an informal, intimate gathering of students to its present status as one of the must-do events for commercial real estate professionals in Michigan, and indeed, the Midwest.
Now a two-day event incorporating workshops, roundtable discussions, bus tours of development opportunities and presentations by renowned real estate leaders, the forum regularly draws hundreds of men and women - seaonsed professionals and fresh-faced, young students to discuss and debate the key issues affecting their industry.
For students, the forum offers opportunities far beyond the chance to rub shoulders with icons of the industry.
Shortly after its creation, the forum began presenting scholarships to graduate level students in the schools of business, architecture and urban planning, law, public policy and engineering.
It has since awarded thousands of dollars to hundreds of U-M students.
Moreover, with the launch last year of the U-M Graduate Real Estate Development Certificate Program, funded by the forum, its reach into real estate education extends well beyond the actual two-day event. Through the immensely popular Certificate Program, the forum will continue to promote and shap real estae education for years to come.
If you ask Allen, he's not the least bit surprised by the success of the forum or its progeny.
"I always knew the subject was important," said Allen. "But I give credit to Doug Kelbaugh and Joe White," dean of the Taubman College and former dean of the U-M Business School.
"They got all the academic elements aligned behind it. It was my vision, but they made it happen," Allen said.
As one who has attended every forum, I can attest that there are many lessons learned, but perhaps no more important one than this: If you aspire to make something happen - like launching a new initiative and watching it flourish and grow, you can try the beer and pizza approach.
Better yet, find someone with the stamina, drive and commitment of Peter Allen and then... just let him go.