plus 1, Job, internship postings up at CU - Boulder County Business Report

Job, internship postings up at CU - Boulder County Business Report

Posted: 27 Sep 2010 12:12 PM PDT

BOULDER - While the general job market nationally is still struggling, the University of Colorado at Boulder saw an 8 percent uptick in full-time job postings by companies seeking to hire CU-Boulder students and graduates in 2009-10 compared with 2008-09.

CU-Boulder also had a 25 percent increase in internship postings for the 2009-10 school year and a 23 percent increase in employers listed in the Career Services database, said Lisa Severy, director of CU-Boulder's Career Services office.

"I think this shows that employers value a degree from CU, and they know they are getting quality candidates when they recruit here, whether it's a good job market or not," Severy said.

Several other factors also help explain the increases, Severy said. Among these are the university's increased outreach to employers, the encouragement of CU alumni in hiring positions to recruit CU-Boulder students and graduates, and an increase in the number of job postings for candidates who already have work experience — a new option for recruiters added by Career Services in 2009.

"Our alumni programs were expanded last year thanks to a new partnership with the CU Alumni Association," Severy said. One of the outcomes of the new partnership is that the university's online job-posting tool is now available to all alumni free of charge, which has attracted more employers.

"Being able to include alumni who have on-the-job experience allowed us to expand our applicant pool so now employers can search for all of their candidates - those with experience and new graduates - at CU," she said. "Having companies recruit both types of employees has really helped boost our number of full-time job postings."

Another benefit of the partnership with the Alumni Association is the recently created alumni-specific career counseling position. Lea Alvarado, who was hired in August 2009 as the university's first alumni career counselor, helps CU-Boulder alumni with their job searches and networking. This past summer she spearheaded a career fair for alumni with job experience in their career fields that was open only to alumni from 12 Colorado colleges and universities. The event was a huge success.

"In the past year, we went from having 503 alumni in our system to 4,650, an increase of more than 800 percent," Alvarado said. "We are proud to be able to help our alumni with career advice and job-seeking help, because our graduates are part of the CU-Boulder community for life."

At the end of October, the Career Services office will move into new offices in the Center for Community building on campus, a move that Severy said is much needed. The new space on the third floor of the building offers students and recruiters a more spacious and professional setting in which to conduct interviews.

The fall career and internship fair for CU-Boulder students and alumni only will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 5-6, in the University Memorial Center's Glenn Miller Ballroom and room 235.

On Tuesday, Nov. 9, Career Services will host an employer open house in its new location in the Center for Community. The open house is from 4 to 7 p.m.

For more information about Career Services and the fall career and internship fair visit http://careerservices.colorado.edu/public/.

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Investing pensions, creating jobs investing pensions, creating jobs - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Posted: 06 Oct 2010 06:54 AM PDT

Investing pensions, creating jobs: PenTrust finances construction projects with unions' retirement funds

Name almost any recent large construction project in Western Pennsylvania and a real estate company that James Noland started 23 years ago has probably helped finance it.

From the $130 million Bakery Square in East Liberty to a new $34 million office building in Cranberry for Westinghouse Electric Co., PenTrust Real Estate Advisory Services has played a role.

By investing the pension funds of 19 construction unions, PenTrust has helped create jobs for carpenters, electricians, ironworkers and other building trades. The fund invests in projects where only union labor is employed.

Since being launched in 1988, the Employee Real Estate Construction Trust, also called the ERECT Fund, has provided more than $290 million in financing for 72 commercial real estate projects.

In recent years, it has invested $75.9 million in its 10 largest projects worth a total of $560 million. Four of the 10 received $10 million or more while the smallest, the Airside Business Park in Moon, received $4.5 million.

"Pension funds have always invested a portion in real estate as well as stocks and bonds. Five to 10 percent of pension funds go into real estate. It's a hedge against rising inflation," said Mr. Noland, a mortgage banker who began his career in the real estate department of the Equitable Life Assurance Society in Washington, D.C.

Divided into three pots, the ERECT funds have a total market value of $150 million and 24 investors, including Allegheny and Beaver counties plus some private corporations.

The funds have a locally based strategy, he said.

"We reinvest here in the local market where members live and work. We don't build condos in Florida. Every investment the ERECT Fund makes goes back into the community that it came from.

"We take it apart financially. We walk the site," he said, adding that key criteria are the right location, good access to the property and proper site preparation.

One way to measure the funds performance is against the National Commercial Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries Property Index, which measures investments in commercial real estate. As of June 30, this quarterly measure covered 6,000 U.S. properties with a total market value of $234.5 billion.

In the fiscal year ended June 30, the index posted a negative 1.48 percent. During that same period, the equity ERECT Fund II recorded a positive return of 6.2 percent.

One unusual project the fund has invested in is the restoration of two historic Shadyside mansions slated to become a high-end hotel. Richard Pearson is the developer, Jendoco Construction is the contractor and Tri-Star will manage the property.

Mr. Noland said the fund has invested $3.8 million in the Mansions on Fifth, two side-by-side buildings on Fifth and Amberson avenues that will be converted into a hotel and reception venue.

While it's an atypical project for the fund, Mr. Noland believes it will be successful because of its proximity to three busy wedding sites -- St. Paul Cathedral, Heinz Memorial Chapel and Temple Rodef Shalom.

"It was an unusual project but one that has a lot of merit. Renovations are more difficult than building from scratch. Once you start taking the walls down, you may find more asbestos or dry rot," he said.

It took five years for the Mansions on Fifth deal to come together, but then the banking and credit crises of 2008 paralyzed lenders. Fearing the economic fallout would delay the project, Mr. Noland suggested the ERECT Fund do the construction financing plus the permanent financing.

"We redid the whole financing structure at that point," Mr. Pearson said.

Back in the 1990s, Mr. Noland forged a key partnership when Cleveland-based developer John Ferchill arrived in Pittsburgh with a plan to build a hotel on Second Avenue.

When he couldn't obtain financing, Mr. Ferchill talked to officials from the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority, who suggested that he put up an office building instead and directed him to Mr. Noland.

His project, Bridgeside Point, was built next to the Hot Metal Bridge. Today, it's occupied by Fisher Scientific.

Mr. Ferchill continued working in Pittsburgh, renovating the Heinz factory into lofts, a $70 million project that opened in 2005. Then he started on Bridgeside II, for which the ERECT Fund provided $6.4 million. The University of Pittsburgh now uses it as a wet lab building. "Bridgeside II required seven layers of financing and seven partnership entities," Mr. Noland recalled.

Mr. Ferchill, who estimates his firm has done $200 million worth of development in Pittsburgh in the past decade, said he works with similar pension funds in Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Detroit. But Mr. Noland and his staff "are the best guys at what they do in terms of protecting their client and their investors."

"In the old days, these funds were being used to execute difficult projects. Now these funds are being used because every project is difficult," Mr. Ferchill said. "People are starting to recognize what the real value is of this fund and what it's done to help the economy in Pittsburgh."

The Rand building, at Fifth Avenue and Craig Street in Oakland, turned into a three-year project for the ERECT Fund. Paul O'Neill, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, served on Rand's board and wooed the California think-tank to come here.

When Rand arrived in 2000, it took 6,000 square feet in Sterling Plaza, just a block away from its current location. Once the organization decided to stay, it needed 70,000 square feet.

The Erect Fund provided nearly $5.6 million and ultimately the research firm signed a long-term lease.

"They got everything they wanted. If the building didn't exist, would Rand have stayed in Pittsburgh? Rand could have taken space in Boston."

Rich Stanizzo, business manager of the Pittsburgh Building and Construction Trades Council, said PenTrust does "a great job in identifying projects and making sure they are viable. That's a big part of it.

"The other is that the investors are in it for the long haul. They realize it takes time to get a project done. They have committed their money and haven't withdrawn it, whether it's been lean times or good times.''

When Chuck Hamill of Pitt-Ohio Express and Chicago developer Dan McCaffrey took the Olympian leap of faith needed to restore the Armstrong Cork Factory in the Strip District, ERECT Fund invested $10 million and a D.C. lender put up $40 million.

"With a $10 million investment, we make a $60 million project all-union," Mr. Stanizzo said. "The best way to grow a pension plan is to create work for your members."

Marylynne Pitz: mpitz@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1648.

First published on October 6, 2010 at 12:00 am