Commercial and Multifamily Briefs from JLL, LaSalle Investment Management, Colliers
JLL created a permanently endowed fund with a $25,000 initial investment to support Florida A&M University students interested in commercial real estate careers. The move is part of the firm’s ongoing efforts to increase diversity and inclusion in commercial real estate.
Located in Tallahassee, FAMU is the highest-ranked public historically black college and university in the country and the only public historically black university in Florida. FAMU recently celebrated its 134th anniversary and offers courses that provide a strong foundation for a commercial real estate career. JLL said the new endowment aims to make transaction roles more accessible to new, early-career women and underrepresented brokers deterred from the industry’s commission-oriented structure.
“One way our industry can improve workforce diversity is to break down financial barriers preventing someone from pursuing a commercial real estate career,” said Senior Vice President of Market Operations in Florida LaShawn Bates. “Our goal is to provide FAMU student with greater early career support as they get started in the industry, and we hope our relationship with FAMU, and this fund will be a recruiting source for us.”
Managed by FAMU’s Foundation, the JLL Commercial Real Estate Endowed Scholarship Fund is funded by JLL with the purpose to provide a scholarship to two students interested in commercial real estate. Recipients must be a full-time sophomore or junior from the Southeast with an interest in commercial real estate and must maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA.
JLL has worked with FAMU through existing recruitment relationships and its partnership with Project Destined, a social impact platform that provides financial literacy, entrepreneurship and real estate training to diverse students. FAMU recently strengthened its real estate course offerings and, along with opportunities like internships, students are becoming more aware of the industry.
“We want to cultivate a love of commercial real estate with the best and brightest minds in Florida, so establishing this financial relationship with FAMU will allow that talent to find us and vice versa,” said Senior Managing Director Chris Drew, Co-Head of JLL’s Miami Capital Markets office. “As a result of the relationships that JLL formed with FAMU students during our work with Project Destined, we wanted a way to impact more students, and, when presented with the chance to expand our relationship with FAMU and its students, JLL was excited to do so.”
The Mortgage Bankers Association honored JLL with its 2022 Commercial/Multifamily Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leadership Award this year at its annual MBA CREF Conference and Expo.
LaSalle Investment Management Selects Technology Provider RealBlocks for Global Business
Real estate investment manager LaSalle Investment Management selected RealBlocks to cover the firm’s $77 billion global real estate business.
LaSalle Investment Management will use RealBlocks to handle investor onboarding, know your customer/anti-money laundering and eSigning of documents to facilitate a seamless digital experience for subscription into all of LaSalle’s institutional funds.
The RealBlocks platform utilizes Web3 Blockchain Technology to allow enhanced secondary trading, decreased costs and greater international distribution capabilities by creating incorruptible records and documentation.
Colliers Expands to Cincinnati and Cleveland
Colliers announced it acquired Colliers Greater Cincinnati and Colliers Cleveland (Colliers Greater Cincinnati – Dayton and Colliers Cleveland – Akron), which were previously affiliate operations. As company-owned operations, Colliers | Greater Cincinnati – Dayton and Colliers | Cleveland – Akron will be able to leverage the Colliers platform.
