Developer Richard Perlmutter Talks Real Estate as Business Week Featured Speaker

The Smith School’s undergraduate program kicked off the new school year in fine style with its Fourth Annual Business Week, September 8-12. This year’s featured Business Week speaker was Richard Perlmutter, co-founder ofArgo Development Company, which develops retail, office, residential, industrial, and urban mixed-use projects throughout the Washington metropolitan area. His presentation — “The More Things Change, the More They Look the Same: Trends and Opportunities in the Real Estate Industry” — addressed the business of real estate development, drawing upon examples from the booming Downtown Silver Spring and the new East Campusproject that will bring mixed-use development to an underutilized 38-acre portion of the University of Maryland’s College Park campus.

Perlmutter’s presentation on the real estate industry began with a fascinating explanation of how Washington, D.C., came to be the capital of the United States, as the nation’s first public-private partnership. With unlimited land and no financial resources, it was the genius of President George Washington to leverage the political dynamics of the day into an exchange of land for commitments to build the infrastructure and world-class architecture which today reflects the country’s only truly planned city.

He then discussed today’s current turmoil in the real estate market and the financial industry in the longer historical context of earlier booms and busts. He highlighted the role of the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) in pulling the United States out of the financial crisis of 1987, which gutted real estate investments and led to government intervention to restore confidence in the markets. When asked what he believes will be the outcome of the current mortgage crisis, he reassured the audience with his prediction that inventory will reach its right price and move over time, although for the near term, that movement is likely to be slow.

Mr. Perlmutter then shared his enthusiasm for the planned East Campus project, which will bring new retail, restaurants, and housing in a transformative project that will elevate the city of College Park and the University of Maryland, much as his earlier project transformed the city of Silver Spring.

The lecture was the signature event in Business Week, a week-long series of events and activities initiated and organized by the Smith Undergraduate Student Association—a federation of 26 Smith-sponsored student organizations. According to 2008 Business Week Chair Nicole Hermann, the event was started four years ago by undergraduate students to kick off the school year, welcome new students into the Smith community and showcase the best the school has to offer.

Business Week culminated with a school-wide Undergraduate Career Fair, organized by the Smith School’s Office of Career Management.

“The Business Week signature event is designed to appeal to a wide range of students, regardless of major or club affiliation,” Hermann said. “We come together as the Smith community to hear about how the concepts we learn and talk about in the classroom are applied in the real world, and get us thinking in new ways about how businesses and urban planners come together to build better communities.”

Other activities included a Freshman Convocation, Smith School First Look Fair, and an alumni networking reception. The week capped off with a school-wide Undergraduate Career Fair, organized by the Smith School’s Office of Career Management. This year, the Smith School hosted 79 companies seeking to recruit for internship and full-time positions.