Illustration by Mike Austin
Jessica Alber and her team have been working to close real estate investment deals for almost a year. In her search for an internship and post-graduation job, she explained the process to potential employers and explained why she would be a great fit for them, including explaining her financial modeling and application skills.
Alber said they were impressed from the start, but what sealed the deal was discussing the 40-page notes she and her fellow students prepared for each real estate investment presentation. “I think they were honestly blown away,” she says.
It's no wonder his employer was amazed: Much of the real-time experience Alber gained in the world of commercial real estate finance came through his time as a student in Marquette University's New Real Estate Assets program. Since joining the program in January 2023, Alber has learned the process of purchasing and managing commercial real estate ownership interests and gained hands-on experience sourcing, underwriting, closing, managing and investor reporting on investments.
“When you immediately talk about a deal you've worked on in the interview, it's a more advanced conversation,” says Andy Hunt, Vieth Director of the Real Estate Center, Bus Advertising '08, Alum '13. “You've demonstrated professional-level skills and you'll immediately move on to the final round where you can apply for the job.”
Launched in 2021, the Real Estate Asset Program (REAP) is the first and only undergraduate real estate investment program in the United States. Junior and senior students enrolled in REAP analyze offerings and submit recommendations to an investment committee. The investment committee oversees a $2 million fund and invests as sponsors and limited partners. The sponsors oversee the day-to-day operations of the properties and execute the investment strategy for each property. REAP is housed within Marquette University's Real Estate Center, ranked the top undergraduate commercial real estate program in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, and the only center at a Catholic and Jesuit university.
“Every expert we've spoken to understands that this adds value to the student experience. We're here to give students that experience and the ability to take it into the real world.”
Vito Taphorn, REAP Program Director
While the Real Estate Center has long been a leader in undergraduate business education, Hunt, along with Dr. Anthony Pennington Cross, former dean of Bell's Real Estate Department, knew the Center needed to provide a hands-on, real-world learning experience that went beyond theoretical concepts and exams in the classroom. In the area of commercial real estate, they recognized that the best way to do this would be to allow students to invest in actual real estate over time.
As Hunt continued his research, he found that no institution offered such opportunities for undergraduates: Some schools had graduate-level programs and undergraduate organizations and clubs, but not full academic programs.
Marquette will be a leader in that effort.
After two years of intensive planning, Hunt and Pennington Cross launched the program with Vito Taphorn, Bus Ads '98, as program director. Also key to the effort were alumni Pat Biernacki (Bus Ads '08) and Mike Wanezek (Bus Ads '09), who brought the idea to Marquette years ago, and Christopher Hughes (Bus Ads '88) and Michelle Panovich, who worked tirelessly to determine the proper legal structure and framework to make the program a reality. This framework had never been implemented anywhere else before, but it worked perfectly at Marquette.
Taphorn brings more than 20 years of commercial real estate finance experience to the classroom, drawing on his experience in deals and originating transactions to advise students in similar endeavors, and he also works with industry partners to build a consistent pipeline of real estate investment opportunities for REAP students.
“We hear from people every day that they wish they had something like this when they were in college,” Taphorn said. “Every expert we've spoken to believes this adds value to the student experience. We're here to give students that experience and the ability to take it into the real world.”
Marquette Student Portfolio
Real estate investments made through the REAP program since the start of 2021.
Ashbury Court Apartments, acquisition of a 156-unit apartment building by Midrock Investment Partners in Laurel, Maryland Country Meadows Apartments, acquisition of a 466-unit apartment complex by Midrock Investment Partners in Madison, Wisconsin Sponsor Borgman Capital's acquisition of a five-building industrial portfolio (totaling 478,000 square feet) in Wisconsin and Illinois Luther Group Industrial Fund, Luther Group, various locations in the Midwest Caroline Heights Apartments, a 237-unit new development by Mandel Group in Elm Grove, Wisconsin
The investments are limited partnerships that are analyzed by students and presented to REAP’s professional investment committee.
The three-semester program is designed to model the multi-year nature of real estate investing, and students can apply to REAP in the fall semester of their junior year. Classes are intentionally small, with 10-12 real estate majors learning to operate like a corporate analyst pool. As new classes enter the program, they join an existing, fully functioning team to maintain continuity.
Panovich, former president of MidAmerica Asset Management and chair of REAP's investment committee, says finding the right structure and approach for the program was an interesting puzzle that was difficult to solve, but that made the results all the more rewarding for the students. “The success of the program is evidenced by the jobs our students have secured. Most of our students secure these jobs before their actual graduation date,” she says. “What's even more gratifying is that employers are so impressed with the results of the program. I've been honored to be involved with this program and to be a witness to the success of our students.”
All 10 members of the first class are employed after graduating in May 2023, and Hunt said the current class is on track to have a 100% employment rate after graduation. Their average starting salary is $15,000 higher than the national average for graduates of a typical real estate program.
One former student, Grace Vanden Heuvel (Basado ’23), remembers not knowing what to expect when she and her peers attended their first REAP class in January 2022. They didn’t have to wonder for long: That day, Taphorn presented the group with a deal to start working.
A few months later, during a summer commercial brokerage internship with Ogden & Company, Vanden Heuvel realized that the ability to understand and analyze sponsor materials was a skill he had developed in his REAP course.When he moved on to a commercial real estate analyst internship with Midrock Investment Partners in the fall of that year, Vanden Heuvel continued to impress his bosses with his REAP experience.
The first class of REAP participants, who will complete the program and graduate in May 2023, with Program Director Vito Taphorn (right).
That internship led to a job offer, and Vanden Heuvel now works as an associate at Midrock. “A lot of the work I do now is exactly the same as what I did at REAP,” Vanden Heuvel says of his work as an analyst and underwriter. “The program helped me develop my skills and build a solid foundation to launch my career.”
Alber realized the same thing during her investment analyst internship at MLG Capital last summer. “I really appreciated the teamwork and collaboration aspect that I learned at REAP,” she says. “Navigating such a tough environment is a really tough task for a group of people in their 20s, but it gave me confidence to be successful in my future career.”
And she knows where that career will begin: With just one semester until graduation, Alber has already secured a job as a development advisory consultant with Baker Tilly in Chicago.
“We believe in the long term that having this level of experience will put our students ahead of others when it comes time to enter the workforce,” Hunt said. “That's why it's important that we're the only program like this in the country, because when they're competing with other talented students, our students will be more prepared than anyone else in the country.”