MIT Center for Real Estate faculty, students, and staff, as well as staff in our dean’s office, have been working together in earnest over the past several weeks to secure research and internship opportunities for our students. Thank you all for your contributions and great work! Below is a list of the exciting research and work being undertaken between our faculty, students, and industry partners. These opportunities are being directly funded by the Center for Real Estate, the Paul Sun Fund, and some of our Industry Partners. A special thank you to Dean Hashim Sarkis, Ken Goldsmith, Dineen Doucette, and our Industry Partners!
- Ian Bradley’s project, Research Strategies for Adaptive-reuse of Functionally Obsolescent Retail Spaces, will evaluate the viability of various strategies that can be employed to rejuvenate value from dying retail real estate across the country. Factors to be examined include property size, location, design, and market economic drivers (including existing supply and demand). Additionally, examined will be the viability of converting existing, vacant, big-box retail centers (typically located in some of the most desirable locations) into last-mile warehouse and distribution centers for the surrounding community. Ian is working with Professor Dennis Frenchman.
- RESEARCH GRANTS
- Price Dynamics Platform(PDP)
- Kan Zuo’s project, Comparing Public and Private CRE Performance in Asia, will examine performance comparisons between the public market and private market in other Asian regions, including mainland China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. While China does not have a public market, a number of REITs traded in the Singapore and Hong Kong exchanges are focused on assets in mainland China and thus can serve as an important proxy. Repeated sales data from Real Capital Analytics will be used to offer important insights on performance in the private market. The research output will be presented in both a paper format ready for publication in academic journals and a narrative article for publication in traditional media.
- Finn Xu’s project, The Impact of COVID-19 on Urban Economics and Planning Model in China, aims to provide quantitative and qualitative analysis on the following four themes: (1) Impact of the COVID-19 on the current Chinese urban planning model; (2) Reevaluation of the concept of the shared economy (currently relies heavily on migrant workers); (3) New government institutions/agencies post-pandemic; and (4) Pandemic sensitivity test – social and economic outcomes for different durations of the pandemic
- Real Estate Innovation Lab (REI Lab)
- Natasha Sadikin’s project, The Financial Value of Healthy Buildings, examines the first step towards understanding the financial and economic impact of Healthy Office Buildings on achieving asset-level effective logged rents and transaction prices in key US markets. Natasha has received funding from the SA&P summer Dean fund.
- Diego Fernandez’s project, The Carbon Footprint of Retail Shoppers: A Look at Brick-and-Mortar and E-Commerce Shopping Strategies. will analyze the environmental impact of e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retail shopping, incorporating geolocation data and specific shopping strategies into the model. Diego has received funding from the CRE Fund.
- Sunnie Park’s project, Data Science Strategies for Real Estate Development in Affordable Housing, studies data science strategies and companies in relation to development phases with the goal of a practical manual that enables real estate professionals to make smarter, data-driven decisions in development. Sunnie has received funding from both the CRE MIT alumni fund and the SA&P summer Dean Fund.
- Sustainable Urbanization Lab (SUL)
- Kristopher Steele’s project, Healthy Buildings in the era of Digital Transformation, will examine China’s building practitioner’s digital transformation effort and their innovation initiatives on building’s health performance. We plan to launch 20 in-depth interviews with China’s leading office building builders, designers, owners, operators to identify challenges and hypothesis. This will be followed by a larger-scale survey in China and other Asian countries, i.e. Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia.
- Kristopher Steele’s project, Healthy Buildings in the era of Digital Transformation, will examine China’s building practitioner’s digital transformation effort and their innovation initiatives on building’s health performance. We plan to launch 20 in-depth interviews with China’s leading office building builders, designers, owners, operators to identify challenges and hypothesis. This will be followed by a larger-scale survey in China and other Asian countries, i.e. Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia.
- PDP & SUL
- David Maroti‘s project, City Growth Potential in China, will capture the link between emerging industries and city growth potential. The acceptance and adaptability of cities may vary by the characteristics of the industry itself and city attributes.
- David Maroti‘s project, City Growth Potential in China, will capture the link between emerging industries and city growth potential. The acceptance and adaptability of cities may vary by the characteristics of the industry itself and city attributes.
- City Design Development Group (DUSP)
- Ruichen Ni’s project, Industrializing the Art Ecosystem, will examine the role of planning and real Estate in facilitating art production and the development of the art market. Ruichen is working with Professor Brent Ryan and the City Design Development Group.
- Ruichen Ni’s project, Industrializing the Art Ecosystem, will examine the role of planning and real Estate in facilitating art production and the development of the art market. Ruichen is working with Professor Brent Ryan and the City Design Development Group.
- Price Dynamics Platform(PDP)
- INTERNSHIPS
- Kayode Agbalajobi—Carr Properties, a MIT/CRE Industry Partner
- Bani Kaur—Taurus Investments, a MIT/CRE Industry Partner
- Lee Berman—Aris Real Estate Ventures
- Eric DeWees— PH Corner
- Patrick Downey—Columbia Group
- Clay MacFarlane—Jamestown
