February is typically a great time to leave Boston and head south for warmer weather, but the group of 24 students who boarded a plane headed to Miami, Florida early last month weren’t traveling to the sunshine state to escape the cold. They were going for a weekend of connecting with Boston College alumni, networking with leading real estate professionals, and learning about the city’s diverse real estate landscape.
Students on a site tour of Vista Breeze, an afforable housing development for seniors.
This trip marked the Joseph E. Corcoran Center for Real Estate and Urban Action’s second annual Miami Trek. Miami’s real estate market is considered a laboratory for a wide array of housing challenges and opportunities, including a high demand for luxury, glaring inequality, vulnerabilities to climate change, and large influxes of new residents.
“It’s a great place for students to learn,” said Neil McCullagh, Corcoran’s executive director. “They go there, having developed an interest in real estate, and some knowledge and skills—and they get to test out what they know with industry leaders working at the forfront of that market.”
Planned by the Corcoran Center’s Undergraduate Real Estate Council members, the trip’s agenda was jam-packed with site tours, speakers, and networking opportunities across two days. From visiting an affordable housing development for seniors and exploring local neighborhoods to hearing firsthand from Miami’s top developers, lawyers, and other industry professionals, the students had ample opportunities to gain diverse insights and perspectives of the industry.
Hoffman '26 and other group members on a site tour of Fourteen Allapattah Residences by developer Neology Life.
For Hanna Hoffman ’26, a finance and entrepreneurship student with a blooming interest in real estate, a highlight of the trip was the opportunity to create relationships with professionals. One of the connections she made was with Justin Oates, MCAS ’09, the senior vice president of real estate investment firm Cain International, who led the group on a private site tour of a newly-finished, state-of-the-art office building that is home to tenants like Microsoft and Santander Bank. The students also attended a BC alumni event, where they were chatted with local alums in the real estate industry like Andrew Frey, MCAS ’01, the director of Miami’s Department of Real Estate & Asset Management.
“Everyone that we met is so successful, yet so willing to give back,” says Hoffman, adding that some of the connections she made throughout the trip, including Borghese Investments CEO Trish Blasi, have even agreed to be speakers for the new Women in Real Estate chapter that Hoffman initiated earlier this year. “We're all young and getting into our professional careers, so for them to help us and give guidance was so appreciated.”
While the students embarked on the trip to expand their networks and real estate knowledge, they found meaningful connections among themselves as well. Selected from 103 applicants through a process led by student leaders, the group of 24 students were chosen because of their diverse personal and educational backgrounds. “We wanted the students to learn from each other,” says Corcoran Center Associate Director Taylor Perkins.
The Miami Trek group with Trish Blasi, CEO of Borghese Investments.
For Hoffman, who hadn’t known any of the other students prior to the trip, the group dynamic made the trek even more meaningful. “Everyone bought into the experience and was invested in getting to know each other,” she says. “It was really fun to get to know them on the educational, academic, real estate side of things, and on a more personal level, too.”
The students returned to Boston in time for classes Monday morning with a slate of new connections, a close group of friends, and an ignited passion for real estate. “I came back and I felt this electric energy,” says Hoffman. “I felt like I was on the right path.”
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