Commercial Investment Real Estate November/December 2017 | Page 80
Part of History
A few weeks before the class was scheduled to begin, a
three-day coup attempt against Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev occurred, and there were still remnants of the
resulting street clashes when Hudson, Shindleman, and
Decker landed in Moscow. They arrived in their classroom
to find an overhead projector, a microphone dangling from
the ceiling (“Our host
said, ‘Don’t worry — it
doesn’t work,’ ” Shindle-
man says.), and a picture
of Lenin hanging crook-
edly on the wall.
The instructors found an
enthusiastic batch of some
50 students. “They knew
how to build buildings out
of concrete and steel, but
they didn’t have any market
reasons to do anything,”
Hudson says. “The city
planners would tell them
where they needed build-
ings, but the reasons didn’t
have anything to do with
the market.”
And, he adds, “the
buildings were not effi-
cient. They had big inte-
rior hallways, big windows
— nobody had to build
anything that had any
economic efficiency. The
restrooms and the elevator
were on opposite sides of
the building; there was no
central core.”
The instructors taught
in English, with a transla-
tor, but they soon discov-
— Sandy Shindleman, CCIM ered, Shindleman says,
“many of the things we
taught, they didn’t have words for. There was no word in
the modern Russian vocabulary for amortization or mortgage
or balloon payment.”
The instructors were impressed by how quickly their stu-
dents embraced the concepts they were being taught. “No one
ever thought about where to build,” Shindleman says. “We got
them to start thinking about supply and demand requirements
and really opened up their thinking and their ability to dream
of the possibilities. They came up with things that they had a
business case for — maybe you should put a hotel or industrial
parks near the airport, for example.”
“We really felt
like changes were
afoot, that there
was opportunity
for a Western-
style real estate
economy at
least. There was
demand, there
was population,
growth, and labor.
We couldn’t help
but think that we
were going to be
helpful to a whole
new generation.”
26
CCIM.COM
U.S. Voyage
The following month, a delegation of more than 40 Moscap-
stroi managers arrived in the U.S. The group landed in Wash-
ington, D.C., and then split up to tour five cities: Washington,
D.C., Atlanta, Kansas City, Mo., Dallas, and San Francisco.
In each city, CCIM chapter members acted as ambassadors
and introduced their guests to multiple real estate projects,
from apartment complexes to outlet malls to American-style
office buildings.
“They just soaked it all up like sponges,” says Hudson, who
escorted the group in Atlanta. “They really enjoyed meeting
people, and I think they were impressed that so many people
thought so much about market forces. We’re always asking:
Why should this be here? What’s the best way to build it?”
Shindleman was part of the San Francisco delegation. “I’m
glad I went, because it was important to show them how they
were right about the ideas they’d discussed in class — that the
ideas that they came up with were already working.”
There were, of course, cross-cultural lessons for both guests
and hosts. BK Allen, CCIM, describes herself as a den mother
to the groups as they passed through Washington.
She arranged transportation, lodging, and meals, as well as
worked with several area developers to arrange tours to allow the
visitors to see apartment and office building construction and
the design and layout of Washington office buildings. They also
received a copy of the Virginia condominium statute, “which
they took home for further study,” Allen says.
She also got permission to take each group on a tour of the
White House. “We thought we lost one,” Allen says, “but we
found out that he simply became bored, left, and found a Rus-
sian cabdriver to take him back to the hotel.”
The visitors also were introduced to “big New York-style
Reuben sandwiches,” as well as American pizza and Kentucky
Fried Chicken. “They loved it all,” Allen says.
The group who visited Dallas was interested in seeing the
Southfork Ranch, shown on the TV show “Dallas.” Host John
Stone also took them to a Baptist cathedral, an apartment
building that has been used as a CCIM course case study, and
a Texas truck stop, where they marveled at the giant big rigs
and the hospitality offerings for the truck drivers.
Pivotal Change
The exchange, as it turns out, was “like planting seeds,” Hud-
son says. By the end of 1991, the Soviet Union had dissolved,
and the door was open to business from the West. Shindle-
man points out that the CCIM classes were the first foray by
any professional organization into Russia, and the ground-
work that was laid proved valuable.
“We really felt like changes were afoot,” he says, “that there
was opportunity for a Western-style real estate economy at
least. There was demand, there was population, growth, and
labor. We couldn’t help but think that we were going to be
helpful to a whole new generation.
COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT REAL ESTATE / NOV.17