A look back: Founding of the IU Center for Real Estate Studies based on longstanding tradition of real estate at IU

Fisher at a 1980s Annual Conference

In 1937, after graduating from the University of Chicago with a Ph.D. in Economics, Art Weimer was hired as a professor in the School of Business at Indiana University. In 1939 he became Dean of the business school succeeding Herman B. Wells who became President of IU. Real estate was the focus of Weimer’s research and teaching, and thus began the real estate program at Indiana University –one of the first of its kind in the nation.

The same year Weimer was hired at IU, George Bloom started as a freshman. Bloom took Weimer’s classes as an undergraduate. Aside from his distinguished military service in World War II, Bloom was associated with the University for the remainder of his life. After being discharged from the Marine Corps as a captain, he returned to Indiana University where he received both an MBA and a doctorate degree. In 1953, he became a Professor of Real Estate. He was responsible for the academic real estate program at IU from 1963 until his death in 1983, and for many years oversaw the University’s real estate.

Dr. Jeffrey D. Fisher joined the real estate department of IU in the Fall of 1979 with the expectation that he would continue the tradition of real estate at IU. George Bloom was nearing retirement at that time and Art Weimer was already retired, although still involved with the University as an advisor to Herman Wells. John Snell was teaching real estate classes on the Bloomington campus when Jeff arrived, at which time John moved to IUPUI where he oversaw the academic area of real estate until 2020. From Jeff’s hiring until Bloom’s passing in 1983, real estate was essentially a separate two-person department headed by George Bloom and Jeff Fisher. Shortly thereafter, the Real Estate and Insurance departments were merged
into the Finance department. Merging real estate into the Finance Department created the need for a real estate Center to provide an independent vehicle for real estate research and education. With the leadership and support of Art Weimer, Jeffrey D. Fisher, Alex D. Oak of the Cripe Charitable Foundation, and W. George Pinnell, President of the IU Foundation and real estate professor, the IU Center for Real Estate Studies was approved and founded in 1985. Not many Centers existed at the time of the founding. The Homer Hoyt Institute made a commitment of $50,000 per year for five years to IU as seed money to start the Center. In addition, the Cripe Foundation began donating $5000 a year in 1987. Other early supporters of the Center included Advisory Board members Gene B. Glick*, Steve Sterrett, Rick Roethke, Randy Scheidt, and Mike Lady, all of whom are current Advisory Board members and steadfast supporters of the Center now, almost 40 years later. The commitment to join the board at the time was $1000 annually. Two of the first Center activities were the Annual Conference
and Career Day in Indianapolis. Al Oak was instrumental in helping to establish relationships with industry professionals such as Gene Glick and Steve Sterrett. He helped with the first real estate conference and invited his clients to come for free to ensure a good turnout. The first Career Day consisted of approximately 35 students visiting Indianapolis with Al’s clients serving as hosts. Al also served as a regular guest lecturer for several years after Bloom’s passing.

In addition to Weimer, Bloom, Fisher, and Snell, adjunct professor Tom Battle taught the Principles course, R300. Battle began teaching at IU in 1974 and continued teaching real estate in some capacity until his death in 2013.

Homer Hoyt and Art Weimer were doctoral students together at the University of Chicago. Whereas Art went on to IU to become a professor, Homer Hoyt went into industry doing feasibility studies for developers of shopping centers and other real estate projects. He became wealthy by taking an interest in the ownership of the shopping center in lieu of being paid a
fee. He donated beach front property that when sold became the initial endowment for the Homer Hoyt Institute.

Indiana University professors Weimer and Bloom were instrumental in the formation of the Homer Hoyt Institute, as was Maury Seldin, who was a student of Weimer and later became a professor at American University after graduating with a Ph.D. from IU. The Hoyt Institute – an independent, non-profit research and educational foundation established
in 1967, has contributed to improving the quality of public and private real estate decisions related to land use. The Institute has remained committed to building bridges between real estate professionals and researchers through the breadth of its programming. Dr. Seldin was the initial President of the Homer Hoyt Institute. He was succeeded by Dr. Jeff Fisher when Seldin retired in 2011.

Some of the earliest and most well-known real estate texts were written by IU professors. Art Weimer and George Bloom both published real estate research and wrote textbooks, the most notable being Real Estate by Weimer, Hoyt and Bloom which later became Real Estate by Bloom, Weimer and Fisher. George Bloom was also a co-author in Appraising the Single Family Residence with an appraiser, Henry Harrison. Hoyt published One Hundred Years of Land Values in Chicago: The Relationship of the Growth of Chicago to the Rise of Its Land Values, 1830-1933. Fisher has published numerous texts, most notably Real Estate Finance and Investments with William F. Brueggeman. In addition, he has contributed to over a dozen texts and continuing education books.

Real Estate on the IUPUI campus has a rich history in its own right with real estate instruction beginning there as early as the 1970s. Joe Trosper and George Lentz each taught real estate courses prior to John Snell’s arrival in 1979. Snell taught from 1979 to 2020 during which time he received the Schuyler Otteson undergraduate teaching excellence award 15 times. He helped lead the beginnings of the Commercial Real Estate Workshop at IUPUI and was involved in helping found the new real estate co-major.

In 2011 when Dr. Fisher retired from teaching at IU, Doug McCoy, now Al & Shary Oak Director of Real Estate and a Teaching Professor in Finance, took over as Center director. Since then, the Center has built upon the rich history of real estate at IU with a focus on excellence through an integrated platform that merges relationships, academics, and practice. The IU real estate brand and reputation are built upon decades of IU being at the forefront of real estate education and research. We are proud to continue building upon this tradition and maintaining momentum as we strive for excellence for decades to come.

If you have an interesting story or anecdote about your experience in the IU real estate program, please email it to: epstauff@indiana.edu. Thank you.

*Though Glick passed in 2013, the Center still receives support from the Gene B. Glick Foundation through Advisory Board member David O. Barrett, now President & CEO of the Gene B. Glick Company.