Parties Around Town
Last week's event calendar was chock full for the commercial real estate set, and we made our way to two major events Thursday night. (We're running out of nice clothes, people.) CREW Chicago's 10th annual Last Call for Fall, held at the Baker & McKenzie Conference Center at the top of the BlueCross BlueShield Building, 300 E Randolph, drew a crowd of 150. In addition to incredible views, the event included a silent auction and Thanksgiving-themed centerpiece design competition among local architectural and design firms. We snapped the Triathlon Trio: CREW Chicago member Jeri Moore, prez Janet Johnson, and past prez Jan Fiola. Janet tells us the event raised about $30,000 to support the education and scholarship programs of CREW Chicago and CREW Foundation. The CREW Chicago scholarship committee awards up to three $3,000 scholarships annually to young women pursuing grad and undergrad degrees in real estate and CREW Foundation also awards between five and 10 scholarships each year in amounts as high as $10,000.
We snapped communications co-chair Tammy Bauer lugging home her silent auction spoils after the party. Tammy's VP of asset management at Blue Vista Capital Management, and she tells us it's buying assets through four commingled closed-end investment funds and one separate account, which are currently invested in over $3.1B in real estate in all asset classes. She's bullish on real estate opportunities in 2014, noting that improving fundamentals will drive investor interest as well as returns. Outside of the office, Tammy's favorite thing to do is spend time with her family.
CoreNet Global's Chicago chapter held its inaugural REAL Awards at the Palmer House Hilton, with dinner in the swanky Empire Room. Snapped: US Bank's Rick Page, chapter prez, Dan Ulbricht, and Akzo Nobel's Denis Decamp. Dan tells us CoreNet kept the event exclusive to 200 attendees (a great way to create a waitlist for next year). The chapter donated $1,700 in proceeds to the Walter and Connie Payton Foundation and a $5,000 scholarship was given to a real estate student from the group's University Alliances committee, along with a one-year CoreNet membership. The board and gala committee made the evening a complete success, Dan says.
We think the purple blooms helped. We snapped the corsaged award-winners during the cocktail hour: Service Provider of the Year, Kayhan International prez and COO Pat Turnbull; Young Leader of the Year, Gensler associate Tim Moran; and Corporate Real Estate Executive of the Year, AT&T director Richard Wagner.
