University of Colorado Weighing ULI's Suggested Real Estate Policy Changes

BOULDER, CO-The Urban Land Institute recommends the University of Colorado centrally and more efficiently manages its non-academic property, considered one of the university’s most valuable assets.

Currently, CU has no policy for managing non-academic real estate, which is defined as any property that is not directly tied to education and research. The CU Foundation and the University Improvement Corp. are among groups that manage non-core real estate holdings. That can lead to redundancies, the ULI indicates. It also is a slow process when disposing of real estate since it takes at least three years to move forward on selling or developing land. The ULI says economic windows of opportunity can close before CU moves on the property.

The ULI is proposing the creation of a new entity, the University of Colorado Real Property Asset Management Group. It would coordinate all non-academic real property activity. Among other things, it would be responsible for the analysis of all real estate gifts to the CU Foundation.