For the past 18 years, The Alabama Center for Real Estate (ACRE) has gathered and hosted Alabama’s commercial real estate (CRE) community at ACREcom. This CRE conference and expo combine competitive industry insight and specific local market knowledge to educate, connect and inspire over 500 Alabama business professionals in the field of real estate each year.
ACRE is pleased to announce that the nineteenth annual ACREcom CRE conference and expo will be held on Friday, February 8, 2019, at The Club in Birmingham. The 2019 conference theme is “Glass Breakers.” ACRE Director of Research and Corporate Engagement and ACREcom master of ceremony KC Conway states, “We have been talking a lot these past few years about disruption. However, it is no longer about disruption but transformation at every level. The old models have been shattered including the compositions of leadership.” At ACREcom19, attendees will learn in detail about the business strategies and leadership opportunities saturating the modern commercial real estate industry.
A distinguished list of seasoned industry speakers is confirmed to present at ACREcom 2019, including Steve Weikal, head of industry relations at MIT Center for Real Estate. Wiekal will deliver the keynote “Breaking the Mold: How Technology is Changing and Challenging Commercial Real Estate.” Topics covered will include the impact of the sharing economy on commercial real estate, the impact of autonomous mobility, AI and machine learning, and blockchain.
ACRE’s Conway will present the 2019 CRE and Economic Outlook which will provide attendees with market knowledge to better understand the latest Alabama and national CRE and economic outlooks and market indicators that will impact the CRE industry in the coming year. Conway is a nationally recognized subject matter expert on commercial real estate matters with specialized expertise in valuation, ports & logistics, housing economics, AG land, aging services housing, bank regulation, and real estate finance with a history of accurately forecasting real estate trends and changing market conditions across the U.S. Conway, who also serves as the chief economist for the CCIM Institute, will also moderate the C-suite panel, which will provide a detailed question/answer market discussion for an expert perspective.
The historic Glass Breakers panel will feature 2019 CCIM Institute President Barbara Crane, 2019 Chair of The Counselors of Real Estate Annemarie DiCola, and 2019 President of The Counselors of Real Estate Julie Melander. 2019 marks the first year these positions in CRE industry-leading organizations will be simultaneously filled by women.
The afternoon session will be kicked off by Alex Flachsbart, founder of Opportunity Alabama. Flaschbart will discuss the opportunity zones tax incentive established by Congress in the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act and identify key strategies for maximizing return on this innovative approach to spur long-term private sector investments in low-income and rural communities.
The middle afternoon session will represent a first of its kind – academic roundtable with the leading thought leaders from universities across Alabama to include: Dr. Reid Cummings (University of South Alabama), Dr. Justin Benefield (Auburn University), Dr. Lary Cowart (The University of Alabama at Birmingham), and Dr. Alan Tidwell (The University of Alabama). Topics discussed will include professional development, workforce development, the next generation of real estate talent and how the State of Alabama can win the economic development world.
The afternoon session will conclude with Shawn Lovejoy, founder and CEO of CourageToLead.com. He has been a real estate developer, church planter, megachurch pastor, and successful entrepreneur and leadership coach. Lovejoy currently speaks and trains leaders and their teams about all things leadership and organizational health all around the country.
There will also be an ACREcom networking reception held on Thursday, February 7, 2019 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at The Club.
Early bird registration is now open for ACREcom 2019 on the website at acrecom.info. For information about conference sponsorships, contact Ruwena Healy, ACRE event sponsorships coordinator, at 205.612.8242 or acreevents@culverhouse.ua.edu. For information about registration including group rates and corporate table, contact Kayla Crittenden at 205.348.4117 or kccrittenden@culverhouse.ua.edu.
