Two years after it launched as an attempt to establish an active network for LGBTQ people in the commercial real estate industry, the Real Estate Pride Council has significantly expanded its reach and influence.
Founded in 2022 by Sam Chandan, director of the Chen Institute for Global Real Estate Finance at New York University, the Pride Council unfolded slowly and cautiously, with a small kickoff event attended by about 25 people in late June of that year, coinciding with Pride Month. The advocacy group's rapid growth from its early days was evident when the annual Real Estate Pride Roundtable, held at Deutsche Bank (DB) in April of this year, attracted more than 350 attendees from more than 150 companies and organizations. The agenda was packed with topics ranging from LGBTQ+ support in the workplace to CRE lending terms to the U.S. economic outlook.
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“The first year we hosted a small dinner for about 25 people at the Princeton Club in response to requests from students who didn't know any LGBTQ people in senior management roles in the CRE industry, so we were able to organize and create opportunities for introductions,” Chandan says. “It's been great to see not only the attendance grow, but also how it's grown into a national platform.”
The Pride Council's roots date back to the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when Chandan was exploring creating an organization that could increase LGBTQ representation in the CRE industry while also fostering career advancement for those already in the industry. While the Pride Council remains focused in New York City, it is spreading nationally, with its 2024 annual roundtable event seeing a significant increase in attendees from the Midwest, Southeast and West Coast.
In addition to providing an infrastructure for CRE networking opportunities, the Pride Council is also embarking on an effort to develop a new case study focused on underwriting future LGBTQ-affirming senior living apartment projects. The study, conducted in collaboration with NYU Stern MBA students with funding from Deutsche Bank, aims to create an underwriting toolkit for lenders and investors to focus on promoting this type of supportive housing going forward.
“We saw a real opportunity to explore, inform and drive new investment in lending to a significant and growing subset of the senior housing sector,” Chandan said. “Everyone should have the opportunity to retire with dignity, authentically and openly, and that was really the mission of this business. But we wouldn't have pursued this business if we didn't believe we were truly exploring a significant opportunity for real estate investors and lenders.”
The Pride Council's expansion into research also included conversations with Ferguson Partners, a national business management firm. The Council worked with Ferguson to expand its annual diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) survey on behalf of the CRE industry to LGBTQ issues. The Council helped develop the DEI survey and distributed it to the organization's members and sponsoring companies, and Ferguson presented the results at its April conference. The results found that 57% of respondents felt comfortable being true to themselves with their LGBTQ identity in the workplace.
Since its launch, the Pride Council has welcomed a number of corporate sponsors, including Deutsche Bank, Arbor Realty Trust (ABR), Invesco, Savills, LaSalle Investment Management, Vaucon, law firms Proskauer Rose and Morris Manning & Martin. Other organisations that have offered their support include the CRE Finance Council (CREFC), the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Build Out Alliance and NYU Stern. Commercial Observer became the council's first media partner last year.
The range of topics the Pride Council covers has also expanded beyond traditional CRE in its short history, with this year's annual conference featuring a PropTech breakout session with eight PropTech companies at various stages of fundraising. For the first time, the conference also hosted a breakout lunch for LGBTQ real estate lawyers.
On the networking front, the Council recently launched a new Pride After Work series to discuss timely topics in the CRE industry, with the first event taking place immediately following the conclusion of CREFC's annual Miami conference in January. Pride Council member David McCarthy, CREFC's chief lobbyist and head of legislative affairs, flew from Miami to New York to provide an update on key issues addressed at the conference before returning to his home in Washington, DC.
Finally, the Pride Council launched a scholarship program for students who want to contribute to LGBTQ awareness and pursue careers in this field. The organization's first scholarship recipient for 2023-24 is Kartikeya Shastri, a second-year MBA student at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, who will be assigned a Pride Council leader as a mentor.
“I was so inspired by attending the Pride Council's annual conference in New York,” said Shastri, co-president of Wharton's real estate club and executive director of the LGBTQ student club Out4Biz. “I knew we had at least two commonalities – identity and industry – so it made it easy for me to approach executives and learn about their lived experiences and current projects. This community building, especially for those who are actively on the path of 'coming out,' felt so important and special to hear from industry leaders about how they are navigating their own paths.”
Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com.