Commercial Investment Real Estate July/August 2018 | Page 22

CCIM
EDUCATION
Developing Knowledge
CCIM Development Track courses explore real-world scenarios.
by Sara S. Patterson
Why a Development Track?
In 2016, Daniel Kohlhepp, Ph.D., designed the CCIM Devel-
opment Specialty Track program to deliver practical knowledge
about property development that many CCIMs craved. To date,
the Development Track has completed three full cycles of its 10
20
July | August 2018
courses, plus 40 elective credits, which students are required to
complete for full certification.
Since its launch, CCIM senior instructors Jeff Engelstad,
CCIM, and Mark Van Ark, CCIM, continually have enhanced
the content of the workshop, eight online courses, and capstone.
To improve the 40 elective course credits also required, CCIM
recently added six new Ward Center courses: three courses laser-
focused on construction; financial modeling; splitting profits; and
low-income housing tax credit financing.
“As a developer, you are putting something on the planet that
didn’t exist before, and the physical construction is important,”
Engelstad says. “A big part of development is of course develop-
ment financial modeling, but building improvements and new
construction also are important. Currently, we are experiencing
a trend of rehabbing older properties and adaptive reuse of older
buildings.”
Program Benefits
Many of the Development Track students already have earned the
CCIM designation and are familiar with investment, financial,
COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT REAL ESTATE
W
hen Glenn Preuss, CCIM, got into development,
he was without a roadmap to help him navigate the
complexities of his first project. He turned to the
CCIM Development Specialty Track program for
assistance, knowledge, and confidence.
“I didn’t realize the development process was as complex as it
is,” says Preuss, broker at Compass Real Estate Investments in
Laredo, Texas. “The great part of the CCIM Development Track
is the broad scope of material covered in the program. In addition
to acquisition and dispositions and issues related to permitting,
environmental, transportation, and improvements are covered
in great detail. The program helped me provide a deeper level
of service for our development clients and allowed our firm to
broaden our scope of services.”