CREFC, NYU Launch Diversity Endowment Collaboration

The Commercial Real Estate Finance Council and the Schack Institute of Real Estate at the New York University School of Professional Studies have announced the creation of the CREFC Center for Real Estate Finance at the Schack Institute. 

An endowment gift from CREFC to NYU supports the venture. It was shared at the association’s January 2020 conference. 

“The idea came from CREFC’s board about a year and a half ago,” says Lisa Pendergast, executive director of the CREFC. “The board was very focused on expanding CREFC as a resource for the entire commercial and multifamily real estate industry. While many amazing universities and colleges were considered, the association’s decision was based on NYU’s razor focus on commercial real estate finance, its robust ties to the industry and its location in the heart of New York City, where many of our members are based.”  

CREFC says the center will serve as a hub for industry collaboration on research initiatives, novel programming and student engagement. It anticipates that the endowment will expand the pipeline of students that enter into the commercial real estate and CRE finance fields.

“The center will convene members of academia and industry in addressing issues of critical importance for the commercial real estate finance sector,” Pendergast says. “Educating the next generation of commercial real estate finance professionals and providing cutting edge content and research are issues we take very seriously, and we could not think of a better partnership than NYU’s Schack Institute of Real Estate.”

Programming for the upcoming year includes a certificate program for CREFC members, standalone courses responsive to current market conditions and a research paper series with contributions from faculty and CREFC Industry Fellows.

“This will be a national effort that provides for Schack Institute scholarships, senior CREFC member fellowships, quarterly classes hosted by the center and the opportunity for CREFC’s members to take part in the many-core conferences hosted by Schack throughout the year, including the Annual Conference on Capital Markets in Real Estate, now in its 53rd year,” Pendergast says.

While the Center for Real Estate Finance is not the only solution to diversity and inclusion issues in the CRE finance field, CREFC says it is taking steps to ensure and support diversity and inclusion with the creation of the CREFC Center for Real Estate Finance at the Schack Institute.

“CREFC Center will provide scholarships to deserving students with a focus on minorities,” Pendergast says.

The center has an inaugural research symposium, which will serve as a premier information-sharing endeavor, planned for Summer 2021.

“The center’s collaborative approach to applied research will support the industry while providing important guidance for regulators and policymakers,” said Sam Chandan, Larry & Klara Silverstein Chair in Real Estate Development and Investment at Schack in a statement.