To expose rising scholars to opportunities in the commercial real estate industry, Dorchester Bay City's Managing Partner, Kirk Sykes, joined MIT and Harvard students for this year's REEX Jumpstart Program.
Sykes, one of the founders of REEX in 2016, established the program with the goal of connecting African American and Latino students to universities and career opportunities in the commercial real estate (CRE) industry.
“Real estate, especially in Boston, doesn’t get a lot of daylight in terms of possibilities,” Sykes said. “It’s important to give students access to the industry, offering them a chance to decide whether or not it’s a field they’d like to pursue.”
This year, REEX students have been assigned a capstone project with the task of designing a building. To provide students with some ideas on the type of building they might choose to design and the amenities it could entail, Sykes shared the site plans for Dorchester Bay City. The site includes a mix of buildings where people can work, live, and play.
Sykes also emphasized other factors that are essential in designing a building and site like DBC, such as resiliency, community benefits, and accessibility.
“All of these components are critical to getting your project approved,” said Sykes. “It’s important to take into account how a building and all facets of the neighborhood it will be placed in as an ecosystem.”
Senior Vice President, Development of Accordia Canan Safar joins this year's REEX students at MIT.
With an increasing number of students participating in REEX JumpStart each summer, the program continues to advance its mission and expand in the coming years. Having already engaged more than 600 participants in summer sessions throughout the past 7 years, REEX’s reach continues to broaden. With a strategic focus on outreach to high school students, the REEX pipeline anticipates engaging over 1,000 students in the next year.