COURSE NUMBER: MBA287.2
This
course is cross-listed with the EWMBA program, the School of Law, and the
department of City and Regional Planning
COURSE TITLE: Land Development and Investment: The
Art of the Deal
UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 Units
INSTRUCTOR: Bill Falik
E-MAIL ADDRESS: billfalik@gmail.com
CLASS WEB PAGE
LOCATION: http://bspace.berkeley.edu
MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Thursdays 6:25pm-9:35pm
PREREQUISITE(S): None
CLASS FORMAT: Some lectures,
frequent guest speakers and significant class participation.
REQUIRED READINGS:
Online course reader.
BASIS FOR FINAL
GRADE: Class participation, final paper.
ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S
CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
Understanding that the real estate market is currently
in the earliest stages of an anticipated recovery, this is probably the best
time in several decades to learn about, and ultimately invest in, real estate. This
course is designed as an interdisciplinary approach for business and law
students to learn about every aspect of deal making in the land development
process. The course will also be available to a limited number of public policy
and city and regional planning students. Although the course will focus on real
estate and land investment, the thrust will be on deal making, 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 to make deals, and business students will
gain a conceptual framework for understanding legal issues which are critical
to the real estate development and deal making process. The course will also introduce
the use of green technology and the inclusion of affordable housing in the
development process. Mr. Falik encourages significant
interaction among the business, law, and planning students in responding to
real life development issues. Topics which will be covered include:
·
acquisition
strategy and documentation;
·
capital formation
and deal structure;
·
dealing with
distressed property opportunities and responding to the mortgage crisis;
·
developing a
creative and sustainable land plan;
·
California and
federal environmental and Endangered Species laws;
·
financing
critical infrastructure;
·
responding to
litigation, initiatives, and referenda and gaining community support;
·
designing an exit
strategy; and
·
critical tax issues involving dealer vs. investor status.
There will be frequent guest lecturers who are
some of the leading experts in the deal-making, planning, environmental, and
investment fields.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Bill Falik has practiced land use, real estate, and
environmental law and mediation in Northern California for the past 40 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 six 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 Community Builders 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 has developed the
Whitney Oaks master planned community in Rocklin, California with a
championship Johnny Miller designed golf course and 2,000 homes.
Supplementing his
continuing real estate development work, Mr. Falik is
a principal in Mortgage Resolution Partners, an entity which has captured
national attention in its efforts to stop the foreclosure crisis. This is the
sixth 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.