June 10, 2010 Educational/ Employment Trends and Issues

This is the first time we have met for class. Throughout the next 10 weeks the class is looking at existing trends and issues and looking into the future to where they will be. We started off the class by watching a video about the Sub Tropolis located in the Kansas City area. It is an underground complex that was previously used for limestone mining in the 1940's. Since the space had previously been mined, it reduced the cost of putting tenants in the space. The Sub Tropolis is filled with build to suit facilities. The tenants there now range from a book store to a church and many in between. Sub Tropolis has many great benefits that no other place can offer. The lease rates are 30-50% less than locations above ground. The utilities here are 50-70% lower other places. Also the temperature under the ground is always around 70 degrees so workers that work with equipment or do manual labor are more productive. This project is a great example of adaptive reuse and what creativity can help to achieve.

We then watched another video over the Bank of America skyscraper in New York City and it is LEED Platinum. It's currently the only Platinum skyscraper. Many ideas were shown that reduce energy costs. Such as the dots on the bottom and top of the glass throughout the building which direct sunlight away. Rain water is also captured and reused in the building as chilled water which cools the building.



LEED is starting to change the way tenants look at leasing. Now they are looking towards LEED to market their company.

We then talked about educational trends after the videos. Today employers are looking for other skills in future employees that they don't have to teach or train to employees and they want more than just what students have learned during college. For example, they want graduates to understand certain computer programs and/or how the business works before we get into the business. Looking at time, it shows that education like a four year degree does not mean as much as it did in the past. Blogging can now show students ability to write and think critically as well as let employers know what students have been exposed to; a "living resume" does this as well. Throughout the next 10 weeks the class is looking at existing trends and issues and looking into the future to where they will be.

Another topic discussed was employment markets and the new branches associated with future demands. Loan modification, asset management, adaptive reuse were just a few mentioned in class. We talk about Dallas and how it is land locked. The future of it is going to be through adaptive reuse of buildings and more density ex. big 30 story apartment buildings. The United States is going to start to reuse and remodel buildings because space is becoming limited.

Office Hotelling was also another discussion point. For example, Ernst & Young going to not have cubicles for auditors or employees who are not in the office. For these individuals they have a corner office reserved to meet with clients or if they do need to do work they can reserve a cubicle. This can cause office space to become cheaper because companies won't need as much space. This could be the future of the way office space is managed

Senior housing is another big market up and coming because of baby boomers. This part of the market is very capital intensive when developing and running.

Dr. Forgey gave us some advice on how to find the best job for us and how to get businesses to offer us jobs.
1.To learn about what company or what type of business you like it is best to do an internship.

2.Job search front- go out and talk to those people and try to get internships.

3.Become a member of the urban land institute because it is a great opportunity to get networking and find a job.

The last discussion we had that night was Online education and the future of it and how it will effect the actual real estate on campuses. Generation changes have taken place and now kids and young adults are inside playing video games instead of outside playing sports like in the past. In this generation classes and degrees are changing to online classes and even online degrees. Is it changing the real estate of schools? Will the buildings be obsolete? It is not possible to have a real estate class online because participation is needed in class. There is not an answer right know but my opinion is the classroom cannot be substituted by anything. I believe taking a few classes online is okay, but for a masters degree or any major classes they need to be taught be a professor with experience in a classroom setting.

The first night was very informative and I enjoyed very much learning about the the Sub Tropolis and the Bank of America building. I also liked hearing all the opinions on the online education topic.