REview Articles Ideas

I have had the fantastic opportunity over the past year to be an assistant editor for the Cornell Real Estate REview, the nation’s oldest student edited and student managed real estate academic publication. The 2011 REview is going to knock everyone’s socks off so look out for it! This next year it looks like Hugo Medina and I are going to serve as the editors for next years journal, it’s still not confirmed but we’re crossing our fingers and things are looking good. Part of this role is finding people to write intriguing articles that fascinate readers and increase the dissemination of the REview both online and in print. I have been thinking lately about interesting topics lately, and I would invite everyone and anyone to consider writing about and submitting an article to the REview (click on the image above to visit our website). Here are a few topics that were interesting to me:

1. In September 2010, Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital, came to Ithaca and spoke to the Program in Real Estate and the Cornell Real Estate Council, and spoke about the equity companies like Target have tied up in their real estate, and how often that real estate is not adequately priced into their stock price. The solution, called “opco propco” or operating company and property company, is to basically split the two and create a retail company and a property company. I think an interesting article could be written on the structure, and the pros and cons, and maybe how the hot market in 2006 spurred a lot of these transactions. And consequently, how the market has dropped since, and why, if the value is still locked up in the real estate? In the great REIT market of 2011, you would think today would be the best time for these companies to create an UPREIT.
2. In that same address, Ackman questioned why more real estate owners do not hedge their portfolio by purchasing credit default swaps or by going short on their tenants. It presented an interesting view of how real estate companies, both small and large, can hedge their investments, and it has  a ton of room for both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Another hedging strategy could be playing the REIT market in addition to direct investment due to their low correlation (REITs follow stocks more than direct real estate).
3. While reading the Marketwi.se blog I saw an article by John Reeder called “Emerging Trends Say Get Long Industrial Real Estate“. It had some good points about how retail companies with online strategies are going to need less big box retail space and more industrial space along shipping corridors. He also spoke about the increased need for data centers due to increased cloud computing. This brought up two ideas for articles, 1) Is Retail going the way of the dinosaur? and 2) Is Industrial going to continue growing and where? I think both have a lot of merit. The retail article could focus on the growth strategies of America’s top 50 retailers, and highlight Americans purchasing habits. The industrial article could focus on Reeder’s points, and could likely be co-written with him and a Pro-logis/AMB researcher as well.
4. The REview was approached by a net lease broker to co-write an article contrasting an investment in a single tenant asset leased long term to a credit rated tenant compared to investing in that company’s bond. This would provide an in depth analysis into the net lease market which was one of the best performing real estate markets over the downturn.
5. Another unique article could be how the decline in defined benefit pension plans due to the rise to defined contribution plans will affect the real estate private equity space. Looking at it from a high level it should dry up a large portion of the pension fund money, because defined contribution plans usually are more focused on stocks and bonds, and don’t invest directly in REPE markets.
6. Another interesting topic could be the different modes of real estate investment, and the legal implications of those company structures, public REIT, versus non-traded REITs, Private Equity Fund, Real Estate Hedge Fund, TICs, and it could focus on the benefits and weaknesses of the different strategies.

These are just a few of the ideas that could really provide provocative articles and increase our readership. The past editors have done a fantastic job and the publication is something that should be in the office of every real estate executive in America. Making sure the 2011 REview reaches quality readers will definitely continue to be a goal of the REview next year. The 2011 REview is going to be a great publication and we need to make sure everyone sees it! In addition I think in the fall semester the focus of the REview staff should be on marketing the REview and getting industry and student articles right away. That can be accomplished by getting on the phone and emailing the professionals that already publish and might be looking for a new venue (companies that come to mind are RCLCO, JLL, HVS, The Scion Group, Townsend Group), and by speaking with students in detail about ideas like the ones above.

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