New MIT Fellowship Honors Real Estate Industry Icon
by Michael Mack
Posted September 14, 2007
Blake Eagle has been called the father of the real estate investment industry – spearheading the first commercial property investment performance index in the world. He has also been praised for greatly expanding the reach and membership of the MIT Center for Real Estate (MIT/CRE) in his tenure as the Center's Chairman, meanwhile serving as a devoted mentor and friend to its students.
But industry icons are human too. After four decades of leadership in the real estate industry, Eagle announced his retirement in April of 2007.
To honor his contributions to industry and the Center, and to establish a living legacy that supports the students Eagle has long seen as the future of real estate, the Blake Eagle Fellowship Fund has been created to provide tuition support to a candidate for MIT's Master of Science in Real Estate Development.
The new Fellowship is the brainchild of two real estate industry colleagues who have been longtime admirers of Eagle. Laura Huntington, Managing Member of Institutional Property Consultants (IPC) first met him in the early 1990s, a "chance introduction resulting in an instant friendship," she said. "Blake is a real estate visionary, a 'missionary' in pursuit of higher reporting standards and more transparency for the real estate asset class, a tireless champion for the betterment of an industry," she said. "He has been the most influential person in my career."
Joining Ms. Huntington as co-chair in the effort to establish the fellowship is Barbara Cambon, the founder of IPC. "Blake has dedicated a significant portion of his career to education," she said, "both at MIT, where working with the students was – and is – a real passion of his, and also at the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF), where he took on issues of great import to the industry."
Eagle led the formation of NCREIF, a not-for-profit industry association established in 1982 to collect and validate real estate performance data, and calculate and publish performance measures. NCREIF seeks to bring real estate asset class information and disclosure practices closer to those of the other major asset classes by creating stronger ties between the real estate research communities and the industry.
Indeed, some have argued that Blake Eagle was the unifying force behind the creation of the real estate investment industry itself. "Blake is a pillar of the industry," said David Geltner, Professor of Real Estate and Director of MIT/CRE. "He combined statesmanship and integrity of the highest order to accomplish the impossible, the "herding of cats" needed to get a highly fractionalized industry – whose firms jealously guard their private information – to pool that information and establish the world's first commercial property investment performance. And to establish the central industry association needed to institutionalize the tracking and reporting of commercial real estate investment performance."
Eagle was key to the development of the flagship NCREIF Property Index (NPI), the first large-scale measure of its kind, publishing data on the investment performance of the apartment, retail, industrial, and office property sectors. An industry benchmark for real estate performance returns, the NPI lets investors compare returns against industry averages.
Geltner also praised Eagle's contributions to the MIT Center for Real Estate. "Blake gave the Center a respect and visibility in the institutional investment industry better than anyone else possibly could have done," Geltner said.
Bill Wheaton, MIT Professor of Economics, agrees by citing two important innovations that Eagle brought to the Center to broaden its reach. "Prior to Blake, much of our membership was local," Wheaton said. "Under his leadership, our membership spread more internationally and began to include institutions that are household names: Citibank, Morgan Stanley, etc."
According to Wheaton, Eagle also "rationalized" the benefits of membership by defining specific benefits – access to faculty and research, conferences, meetings, etc. – that would come by joining the Center. "Blake would often travel," Wheaton said, "visiting leading real estate organizations that he barely knew, but felt could benefit from membership. His changes were instrumental and have endured until today."
Regardless of the Center's industry reach, it is first and foremost an arm of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, and as such is dedicated to the education of the Institute's students. Eagle was as committed and accessible to them – individually and collectively – as he was to generating partnerships.
"He was very friendly to all the students," said Cate Polleys, Director of Real Estate Research at Fidelity Investments. "I met Blake when I was a student from 1995-97. He was always willing to help the younger generation get into the sector – a mentor, a friend, and all-around really nice guy."
Laura Huntington agrees. "You'll find that Blake Eagle is touted by many – myself included – as an equal-opportunity mentor," she said. "He embodies an unbridled enthusiasm not only for the real estate investment industry, but also for life itself. He shares that spirit and passion freely, with an uncanny level of wit and self-deprecation," she said. "A good time will be had, with a little education imparted along the way."
Though retired, Eagle remains active in numerous capacities, including as advisor to the Board of Directors of his beloved NCREIF; on the Real Estate Advisory Committee for the New York State Teachers' Retirement System; on the Advisory Board to the Chicago developer DV Urban Realty Partners 1 LP; on the Board of Directors for RREEF America II (an open-end commingled fund); on the Board of Directors for Allegis Value Trust (a UBS managed closed-end commingled fund); on the Board of Directors for Reis, Inc.; as well as others.
MIT/CRE is pleased and honored to announce that Blake Eagle is returning to MIT to deliver the Commencement Address to the Center's 2007 graduating class. Graduation Weekend kicks off on Thursday, September 27th. Eagle will present his much-anticipated commencement speech on Saturday, September 29th at 11 a.m. in MIT's Bartos Theater.
If you would like to contribute to the Blake Eagle Fellowship Fund or find out more about opportunities for giving to MIT, please visit the MIT Giving website.
Freelance writer Michael Mack lives in Cambridge
