SJSU Launches Real Estate Program

The Certificate in Real Estate Development program will offer students the knowledge and skills needed to initiate, navigate and manage real estate development projects located in existing communities in Northern California.

(Editor’s Note: If you are interested in registering for SJSU’s Certificate in Real Estate Development program, please contact Assistant Professor Ralph McLaughlin at 408-924-5860).

When Arrow Development, the creator of many Disney rides, opened its doors in Mountain View back in the late 1940s, there was plenty of land to grow.

It’s a totally different story now, with the world’s best and brightest cramming into Silicon Valley, making real estate a hot commodity.

So it follows that SJSU’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning is poised to launch a Certificate in Real Estate Development program this fall.

The 12-credit, four-class sequence was developed with guidance from an advisory board chaired by Cabouchon Properties’ Scott Lefaver, who also serves as a Santa Clara County planning commissioner.

Urban and Regional Planning Department Chair Asha Weinstein Agrawal and the board announced the advent of the initiative at the “CRED Symposium Program: The Future Real Estate and Space Needs of the Tech Industry in the Bay Area,” held April 25 in the Student Union.

Around 150 real estate professionals, city planners, faculty members and students gathered to discuss the region’s past, present and future real estate needs. Presentations and panel discussions offered many insights:

  • The stock market’s recovery means “robust demand” for real estate.
  • “Campus is king” as most tech workers want to be close to the CEO and colleagues because “that’s where the secret sauce is made.”
  • There are over 1,000 startups in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood.
  • Rather than build anew, startups will continue taking over old buildings — like “hermit crabs.”
  • But filling R&D facilities with office workers means a shortage of amenities — like enough bathrooms!
  • “Open landscapes” are replacing private offices, even for executives.
  • Cell phones, stipends and VOIP are replacing wired phones.
  • Large companies may one day build their own corporate housing.

SJSU President Mohammad Qayoumi opened the event by explaining SJSU intends to create more programs like CRED. Those who complete the program will receive a certificate of completion.

The idea is to develop a series of “stackable certificates” adding up to a regular degree. All the programs would be designed to meet the needs of industry, and classes will be held online and in-person to accommodate people working full time.

CRED Symposium sponsors included Commercial Real Estate Women, NAIOP, Barry Swenson Builder, Urban Planning Coalition, Silicon Valley Business Journal, American Planning Association, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, American Institute of Architects Santa Clara Valley chapter, Corenet Global, Urban Land Institute and SPUR.