Reminder: The Thesis Driven Subscriber Social is happening on Tuesday, April 2nd in NYC alongside RETCON! Enjoy an open bar from 5:30-7:30 with your fellow Thesis Driven subscribers. Go here to RSVP (pw: retcon)
Each week, we’ll break down an article covering a big piece of news in the commercial real estate world in a way that will help newcomers to the industry—or people just looking to understand real estate better—get a handle what’s going on. In each breakdown, we’ll explain terminology, the players, and why what’s happening matters.
Last week, we broke down a Bloomberg piece discussing short sellers taking on the office market:
To understand articles like this, readers need to understand the relationships between developers and lenders as well as how real estate loans typically work—and what happens when things going wrong. The Fundamentals newsletter will be a complement to the course where we cover similar topics in even more detail.
Harbor Yards, the example mixed-use project explored in the course
While the course would be helpful to anyone looking to get a better understanding of the real estate industry, it was specifically designed for people without real estate backgrounds now working in the real estate industry—think employees of proptech companies or tech and finance hires at real estate companies.
Course attendees will come away with a fundamental understanding of how a commercial real estate project is acquired, redeveloped, operated and sold. They’ll also learn to read a pro forma, building budget and lease; understand the relationship between a “GP” and “LP”; and be armed with a new vocabulary of industry lingo.
We held the first NYC cohort in early March, where students flew in from Los Angeles, Seattle, British Columbia, Dallas, Chicago, Ontario and the UK. We got great feedback, inspiring us to bring the course back for round two:
“Brad and Paul opened my eyes to how real estate deals get put together, where incentives lie, and how we might create business cases for proptech and climate tech into these transactions. Great stuff!” Chris N
“A great way to get an inside look at the commercial real estate industry and learn directly from top-tier CRE insiders. The course is perfect for anyone who's working in and around the real estate industry - from a new founder who needs to understand how their product or service fits in the industry to an early-to-mid-career professional who's looking for an opportunity to tie it all together. Highly recommend.” Clark P
“The single most effective way to fast track your success in CRE.” Tiana Z
“As somebody brand new to commercial real estate, Brad and Paul did a fantastic job quickly demystifying an entire field in a way that feels accessible. They did so all the while keeping us engaged at each step of the way and connecting us to a great cohort of peer learners.” Adam B
If you’d like to learn more about the course, go here and complete the form at the bottom of the page.
Brad is the founder and editor of Thesis Driven (www.thesisdriven.com), a publication covering innovation in the built world. Over the past decade he has co-founded General Assembly and Common which generated a combined $500M+ in enterprise value.
Paul Stanton is a Partner at PTB, a boutique investment bank focused on joint ventures, capital raising, and M&A transactions. Paul is a Teacher and Writer at Thesis Driven, developing and growing next-gen real estate & proptech concepts.
