Year: 2014

Drew and Holly Douglas Schaumber (MRED ’11), Principals with the Douglas Development Company in Aynor SC, spoke to the Public-Private Partnership Class about a 55-unit Low Income Tax Credit (LIHTC) project.

The project, just approved in Asheville NC, incorporated several layers of gap financing.  Students spent the prior week studying the LIHTC program including an assignment on determining tax credits and the capital stack for a proposed project in SC using the proposed Qualified Allocation Plan and Developer Tax Credit Manual for 2015.  Drew and Holly presented the financial details of the project including the Letter of Intent to purchase the credits. Since 1973, Douglas Development has developed over 5,000 senior and multi-family units in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee and Maryland.

Ms. Tammy Propst, President of Tax Advantage Group since its founding in 2004, spoke to the Public-Private Partnership class about New Market Tax Credits (NMTC).

Ms. Propst has advised public and private organizations on the formation of CDEs, successfully authored New Market Tax Credit Applications totaling $520 million in funding, and advised both CDEs and borrowers in over $239.2 million of successful closings. She is part of the team that created Greenville New Markets Opportunity, (GNMO) LLC, the first allocated Community Development Entity (CDE) in South Carolina and became its Operating Officer, deploying $89 million of below-market capital to stimulate job creation and investment in Greenville’s low-income communities.  She used local and national examples to describe how the program operates.

The program was pleased to host MRED ’09 Laura Allen Stevenson on October 14, 2014 for a presentation on Global RE Opportunities with ExxonMobil.  As a Commercial Portfolio Manager with ExxonMobil in Houston, TX, Laura manages a portfolio of non-operating surplus real estate sites.   Sites are deemed surplus by the various ExxonMobil business lines and are then transferred to her group where they manage the sites and handle the disposition of each site. They are a group of 10 individuals managing ExxonMobil’s surplus real estate worldwide.  Laura’s current portfolio is approximately 100 sites and covers Texas, California, North Carolina, South Carolina and Arizona. She manages various types of dispositions, which include sales, bundle sales, conservation easements, donations, etc.   Each site has a different prior use and could be a former refinery, former terminal, reserve drill site, vacant service station, greenfield, etc. The prior use of each site determines the appropriate highest and best future use of the site and which disposition type is appropriate.

MRED alumni, Kate Graham Oliveria ’12 and John Roberson ’12 each presented an investment deal to a shark tank committee for the Fall 2014 MRED Program Bull Session. MRED students had the opportunity to listen to both proposed investment opportunities that were presented to a mock investment committee, comprised of ABRED Directors, Mike McNicholas, Steve Navarro, and Chris Pearce.

MRED Alumni Presenters:
1^st Case: John Roberson, MRED ’12 with Greystar
–Presenting Flats at Inman Station in Atlanta, GA
2^nd Case:  Kate Graham Oliveria, MRED ’12, with Ernst & Young Transaction Advisory Services
–Presenting Project Octopus outside of San Francisco, CA

Clemson’s Real Estate Development Program Partners with Mill Village Farms and The Farm at Rabon Creek for the Program’s Annual Community Service Day

Greenville, S.C. (September 23, 2014) — Clemson University’s Master of Real Estate Development (MRED) program volunteered at the Farm Fresh Fair, a partnership between Mill Village Farms and The Farm at Rabon Creek, for the program’s annual community service day on Saturday, September 20. The Farm Fresh Fair is hosted together by Mill Village Farms, a nonprofit that employs teens, ages 13-18, and teaches them basic job skills, sustainable agriculture and entrepreneurship, and The Farm at Rabon Creek, located in Fountain Inn, South Carolina. The fair featured rescued, restored and repurposed products for purchase as well as a variety of farm fresh food from local farmers. Proceeds from the fair benefit Mill Village Farms and support their mission to transform the community by growing fresh foods and developing successful youth entrepreneurs.

About Mill Village Farms

Mill Village Farms is a non-profit growing fresh produce in food-desert communities that lack access to healthy foods while employing at-risk youth who learn basic job skills, sustainable agriculture, and entrepreneurship. For more information on Mill Village Farms, visit the website at www.millvillagefarms.org.

On Thursday, September 11, the MRED Program and CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) Upstate hosted a networking reception and panel discussion on trends in commercial real estate development. Panelists included the Honorable Helen Elizabeth Burris, United States bankruptcy judge of the District of South Carolina; Amy Clayton of Nexsen Pruet; Jimmy Grumbos, real estate manager, Michelin North America; and Courtney Warren, property and casualty consultant, Rosenfeld Einstein.