Five decades ago, the commercial real estate industry was poised at the transition of private ownership and wildcatter developers to become a global, public, professionalized industry with increasingly complex ownership and financial structures. Early leaders of CCIM Institute, such as Victor Lyon, CCIM, and Jay Levine, CCIM, provided nationally accepted standards for measuring real estate investment returns utilizing time value of money concepts including the internal rate of return (IRR). By the early 1970s, IRR was written into all the CCIM designation core courses led by Stephen Messner, PhD, who was then at the University of Connecticut in Mansfield, Conn.
During the 1970s, IRR paved the way for commercial real estate professionals to navigate momentous changes such as the development of regional shopping centers, chain hotels, and suburban planned communities nationwide. Real Estate Investment Trusts began replacing real estate syndications as the premier public ownership structure for commercial real estate. Even 50 years later, IRR is one of many practical, crucial methods to manage the increasing complexity within the industry.
During 50 years of entrepreneurialism, exuberance, and excess, CCIM Institute has been a powerful presence, and CCIM designees remain stewards of the highest values of professionalism and ethics.
