Center for Real Estate Entrepreneurship

The Falls Church Department of Planning and Economic Development invited George Mason University graduate students to create a new plan to save, or even increase, affordable housing at Virginia Village.

After receiving an undergraduate degree in civil engineering from Clemson University, Brian McFee was hired as a Construction Manager (CM) by CBG Building Company headquarters located in Arlington, Virginia, a leading general contractor specializing in multifamily construction that has built over 124,000 units nationwide.

As a Center for Real Estate Entrepreneurship board member, Saif Rahman exemplifies why the center is such a powerful resource—not just for MS in Real Estate Development Program students, but for the entire National Capital Region real estate community.

The Center for Real Estate Entrepreneurship at George Mason University is proud to co-sponsor the 2025 Affordable Housing Conference in partnership with the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC).

The Master of Real Estate Development (MRED) program will launch a new graduate-level Certificate in Affordable Housing, recently approved by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV).

Lessard is a key player in the specialty design niche of office space to residential conversions in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, market and beyond. Today the firm shares with us their valuable insight into that process.

Twelve years ago, Stephanie Moumen, MS Real Estate Development ’16 was a real estate professional in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area, working for a medium-size construction management firm. Her job was narrowly focused on construction management for boutique buildings around the Nation’s Capital. While raising four elementary school kids, Moumen found the time to evaluate her career: she was in a highly specialized box with little mobility. She needed to broaden her real estate skills beyond construction management to development. 

Yes, they can!

Over the last seven years, George Mason University graduate students have successfully financed real estate development through an actively-managed private equity fund. These students are enrolled in Mason’s Masters in Real Estate Development (MRED) program; and manage the multimillion-dollar Patriot Real Estate Fund as part of their coursework in the program.

Cara Williams is the Administrative Assistant for the Center for Real Estate Entrepreneurship (CREE) and the Master’s in Real Estate Development (MRED) program at the Costello College of Business.

A long-standing rule in the real estate industry is follow the jobs. Job growth is the leading indicator of strong demand for new residences, stores and places of work. While still true, an important fine-tuning to the rule is: follow the jobs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

STEM jobs are the gold standard for stimulating innovation and economic growth because STEM job growth is double non-STEM growth and its salaries are nearly double non-STEM. STEM jobs disproportionately enrich regional economies resulting in a ruthless competition among every State and municipality.