Magazine cites influential real estate program

The accelerated master of real estate development program, a transdisciplinary program supported by the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and three other colleges and schools at ASU, is featured in the September-October 2007 issue of Arizona Commercial Real Estate magazine.

The article, by reporter Kerry Duff, sports the headline, “Influential Education: ASU offers an MRED program, one of only five in the nation preparing people to be real estate developers.”

The fast-paced, 30-week program provides a broad overview of the entire real estate development process, from site selection and project conceptualization through financing, construction – and, ultimately, disposition.

The magazine reported that guest speakers the first year included Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon; Greg Vogel of Land Advisers Organization; Grady Gammage Jr., an attorney at Gammage & Burnham in Phoenix; Fred Unger, developer of SouthBridge in downtown Scottsdale; and representatives from Westcor, Red Development, Kierland Commons, Vestar Development Co. and the banking industry.

The program is designed to attract professionals who want to advance or change their careers, according to Gary Birnbaum, managing director of the Phoenix law firm Mariscal, Weeks, McIntyre & Friedlander, and associate dean for graduate studies and program development at the College of Law. Birnbaum is one of four core faculty members in the program.

Judy Nichols, judy.nichols@asu.edu