COURSE NUMBER: MBA285.1
This course
is cross-listed with the Evening-Weekend MBA program, the Berkeley School of
Law, the Department of City and Regional Planning and Goldman School of Public
Policy.
COURSE TITLE:
An Interdisciplinary Approach to Land Development and Investment
UNITS OF CREDIT: 3
units
INSTRUCTOR: Bill Falik
E-MAIL ADDRESS: billfalik@gmail.com
PREREQUISITE(S): None
CLASS FORMAT: Lectures,
frequent guest speakers, participation in interdisciplinary study groups and
significant class participation.
REQUIRED READINGS: Online
course reader.
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Study
group participation, class participation, and final paper.
CAREER FIELD: Real
Estate; Land Development
ABSTRACT:
This is an excellent time to learn about, and ultimately invest in and plan,
real estate development. This course is designed as an interdisciplinary
approach for business, law, planning, and public policy students to learn about
every aspect of the land development process, focusing substantially on
development in California. In this regard, this course goes toward satisfying
the requirements of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Real Estate
(IGCRE), offered through the graduate programs at the Haas School of Business,
College of Environmental Design, and Berkeley School of Law. Although the
course will focus on real estate and land investment, the thrust will be on
deal making, strategic thinking, and negotiation, whether it be on acquisition,
financing, environmental review, entitlement, obtaining community support, or
ultimate disposition of a successful project. Law students will learn to
evaluate business risks, and business, planning, and public policy students
will gain a conceptual framework for understanding legal issues which are
critical to the real estate development, land entitlement and deal making
process. The course will also introduce the use of green technology and the
inclusion of affordable housing in the development process.
On
a weekly basis, students will be responsible for participating in
interdisciplinary study groups to work together to resolve real-life real
estate problems. In other words, students (who will be randomly assigned to a
balanced group comprised of one or more law, business, planning, and public
policy students) will meet via skype, google chat, teleconference, or ideally
in person to discuss and prepare the responses to the weekly study
questions. Each group member will take turns leading their group each
week; however, each group member will be responsible for participating
regardless of their turn at lead. In the past, many of my students have
commented that this collegial interdisciplinary approach was one of the most
valuable aspects of the course.
The
course grade will be based in part upon study group and class participation as
well as take home written essays assigned at the end of the semester.
There
will be frequent guest lecturers who are some of the leading experts in the
deal-making, real estate planning, land-use, environmental, and investment
fields.
Topics
which will be covered include:
BIOGRAPHY: Bill Falik
has practiced land use, real estate, and environmental law and mediation in
Northern California for the past 45 years and during this period he has pursued
a dual career as attorney and real estate developer. He graduated magna cum
laude from Cornell University in 1968 and from Harvard Law School
in 1971, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. During his legal career, Mr. Falik
has been a partner in three San Francisco law firms in which he chaired the
environmental and land use law departments. Currently, in addition to
serving for the past nine years as an Adjunct Professor at Berkeley Law School
and a member of the Professional Faculty at Haas School of Business, he is the
Managing Partner of Westpark Communities, which developed 1,500 acres in Roseville,
California and planned and entitled 4,300 residential units which were sold to
the three largest builders in the United States. In addition, as CEO of
Live Oak Enterprises, he developed the Whitney Oaks master planned community in
Rocklin, California with a championship Johnny Miller designed golf course and
2,000 homes.
This
is the eleventh year in which Mr. Falik has taught this course, in addition to
coaching the UT Austin Real Estate Team competition, together with Professor
Nancy Wallace. Also, he is coaching the Golden Shovel Real Estate competition.