Inaugural Real Estate Symposium
Location: University Club (219 Benefit Street, Providence, RI)
Date: April 13, 2023
Start Time: 11:30 AM
End Time: 5:00 PM
Keynote speakers:
Brett Smiley, Mayor of Providence
Dr. Paul Willen, Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Program will include lunch, keynotes and panel discussions and networking reception.
At its inaugural Real Estate Symposium, the Cummings Institute will explore the many complex worlds of Real Estate at a time when those worlds are experiencing momentous change. The combination of incredible disruption of traditional working, living and shopping patterns caused by the COVID pandemic coupled with rapid advancements in technology that accompanied and addressed the disruption has dramatically altered the live/work/shop paradigm.
People are asking not whether, but how much, will that paradigm revert. Simultaneously, many people either left the workforce or changed jobs to fit the new employment world. This continues to roil the supply of workers and materials essential to the real estate world. Finally, the cost of borrowing and the opportunity to invest is experiencing a reversal of the almost 4-decade drop in interest rates. Moreover, all of this is occurring at a time of greater public realization and discussion of the importance of social inequity and climate change.
At its Symposium, the Cummings Institute for Real Estate will explore many of these complex issues from a variety of perspectives. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley, newly elected but having served in many roles in the public sector, including as Chief of Staff and Director of Administration for the Governor and now Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, will provide the public sector perspective. Paul Willen, Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston will provide the economic backdrop. Finally, panelists from a cross-section of the real estate industry, including Realtors, developers, architects, lawyers, investors and builders, will provide their thoughts on where the worlds of Real Estate are going and how best to get there.
Interested in sponsoring the symposium? Contact Chris Sienko at csienko@rwu.edu