Colorado State University’s 12th Annual Colorado Real Estate Conference to Tackle Smart Growth and Smart Money Oct. 16

Note to Editors: Media interested in attending the conference should RSVP to Emily Wilmsen at (970) 491-2336 by Oct. 15.

Forest City and Continuum Partners, two major developers recognized for smart-growth building projects in Denver, will be among the companies featured at Colorado State University’s 12th annual Colorado Real Estate Conference, "Smart Growth Implications for Colorado’s Future."

The conference, hosted by the Everitt Real Estate Center in the College of Business, will be 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, at the Fort Collins Hilton, 425 W. Prospect Road.

"Bailouts, credit crunches, stock market volatilities, elections and real estate prices – trillions of dollars worldwide have been lost and gained within days, and banks are writing down billions of assets daily," said Steve Laposa, director of the Everitt Real Estate Center. "How will Colorado residential and commercial real estate markets fare in the coming years?  What can we learn from this debacle that improves how we finance the future development of Colorado?"

Registration is available at www.realestate.colostate.edu. Cost is $99 for non-members of the Everitt Real Estate Center.

"The conference will focus on how the infrastructure, development and transportation decisions of today affect the quality of life and economic sustainability of tomorrow," Laposa said. "Students will learn about smart growth and will have the opportunity to network with leaders in the industry."

Mark Falcone, CEO and founder of Continuum Partners, will speak on "Lessons Learned from Smart Growth." Continuum has completed more than $500 million in development in Colorado including the 350,000-square-foot mixed-use building, 16 Market Square, and the new 20,000-square-foot Museum of Contemporary Art, both in downtown Denver.

Denise Gammon, senior vice president of development for Forest City Stapleton Inc., will discuss redevelopment of the former Stapleton Airport into a new community as part of her talk on "Smart Growth: A Developer’s Perspective." Stapleton, once the home of runways and airplane hangars, is now a thriving community with a mix of housing, retail, offices and recreational amenities.  

Laposa, formally a director in the Global Strategic Real Estate Research group at PricewaterhouseCoopers, will open the conference with "The Challenge of Smart Growth and Smart Money."

"In the next two decades, it is estimated another 500,000 people will come to Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties – where will they live and where will they work?" Laposa said. "This is a great conference that will help the community begin to plan for northern Colorado’s future."

Conference attendees can earn up to eight hours of continuing education credit. A separate course follows the main program at 1:15.

For a complete schedule of conference events, go to http://www.biz.colostate.edu/ciref/Event%20Pages/conference.htm.

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