Yeshiva University Expanding Commercial Real Estate Outreach

Yeshiva University’s second annual “Real Estate Day” conference on Jan. 30 symbolized the institution’s heightened concentration in molding future leaders in commercial real estate.

The event hosted by Yeshiva’s Sy Syms School of Business is part of the university’s increasing emphasis on CRE programming, four years after introducing a minor in real estate in response to growing student interest in the field. In addition to hosting CRE conferences, the private Orthodox Jewish university is also considering creating a real estate center to its Manhattan campus as well as a real estate fund to give students hands-on skills with investments and projects.

“We’re seeing more and more students wanting to go into real estate and we also have a lot of alumni who are successful in the field,” Rabbi Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva, told Commercial Observer. “One of the great things about Yeshiva University is our network is way beyond even those who studied in the school, and we have a whole host of people who are interested in helping Yeshiva University students in the field.”

Yeshiva’s expanded focus on the CRE sector has included adding a weekly “Titans of Real Estate” series featuring different industry players each week who give insight to students about how they joined the industry and top deals they completed. The school is now also looking to host evening CRE networking events and launch a mentoring program connecting junior real estate professionals with senior industry leaders.

The college’s second real estate day at the law offices of Weil, Gotshal & Manges in Midtown Manhattan featured five panels that delved into the topics of CRE capital markets, investment strategies, proptech, and the future of the New York City multifamily market.

The more than four-hour event had a strong presence of Yeshiva alums including Jeremy Fox, co-president of Fifth Wall, who moderated the day’s first session “The Future of Real Estate: Technology and Disruption.” Fellow alumnus Lowell Baron, president and chief investment officer of Brookfield (BN), was also on the panel. 

The “Future of NYC Multifamily” panel featured Yeshiva alum Adam Parkoff, principal of the Parkoff Organization, and was moderated by alumnus Jason Muss, president of Muss Development.

The capital markets panel was moderated by former Weil, Gotshal & Manges partner Philip Rosen, a Yeshiva trustee whose children attended the university. The forum also included Stephen Rosenberg, founder and CEO of Greystone, who is also a Yeshiva parent, along with David Lichtenstein, founder and CEO of Lightstone Group. 

“The Yeshiva University community is so expansive because it includes all of these stellar successful real estate professionals who just want to give back to the community,” Berman said.“Anyone who has interacted with our students and our alumni know that these are the kinds of people they want to do business with as they are smart, successful people with integrity and character, people you can trust and people you can build your future around.”

Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com