Presenters shared tips on the business, lessons of expertise, and gave a forecast of the future. Serving as emcees were professors Andrea Heuson<\/a>, who has led real estate programs at the Miami Herbert Business School since 2009, and Charles Bohl<\/a>, founding director of the master\u2019s in real estate program at the School of Architecture.<\/p>\n Arnaud Karsenti, founder and managing principal of local real estate and development firm 13th Floor Investments, kicked off the first keynote by speaking with Meghji, a friend from Harvard Business School. They spoke about Meghji\u2019s career trajectory at Blackstone, the world\u2019s largest commercial property owner, and his priorities today.<\/p>\n Meghji said he was lucky to join Blackstone right before the financial crisis of 2008 and was able to see how leadership at the company was investing capital with conviction at a time when many others were very nervous. Since then, the company has grown rapidly. His first major assignment was overseeing the company\u2019s retail malls, which he earned by stepping out of his comfort zone and simply asking Jonathan Gray, now the company\u2019s president.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes if you believe you can do it, you have to ask and put yourself out there, and you have to be in an environment where you\u2019re going to be rewarded for that,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve just been a beneficiary of being in the right place with the right culture.\u201d<\/p>\n Some guiding principles Meghji uses as a real estate investor are the idea of focusing on the macro level and thinking about sector selection and the geographies he wants his properties to be in.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re in the wrong sector, it doesn\u2019t matter how capable or how great of an investor you are; the headwinds sometimes are overwhelming,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Meghji explained that he tries to fend off negative headwinds by entering certain business sectors that he and his team research beforehand using real-time data. In 2007, Meghji said Blackstone owned no warehouses, but today, warehouses\u2014often utilized for e-commerce inventory\u2014make up 40 percent of their global business. Meghji said that data centers, rental housing, and warehouses currently make up most of their global portfolio.<\/p>\n Yet, for those investing, Meghji said there are often tailwinds in their favor that can support better outcomes. Like in Miami and the greater South Florida region, where he said the market is \u201crocking,\u201d due to factors like the coastal environment, numerous amenities, comfortable weather, and the fact that more people can now work remotely.<\/p>\n However, because real estate is cyclical, Meghji cautioned professionals to not invest based on the news but to look at long-term trends. He believes the industry is now in a recovery.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really easy to just read headlines, but actually, people who invested in real estate 12 months ago have actually done quite well,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Another optimistic view of the future of the real estate industry, as well as the economy, came from Peter Linneman, founder of a real estate advisory firm and a former faculty member at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Linneman took the stage with real estate investor and entrepreneur Willy Walker, chairman and CEO of Walker and Dunlop and host of the \u201cWalker Webcast,\u201d where Linneman is a frequent guest.<\/p>\n Walker explained that Linneman\u2019s forecasts on both the economy and the real estate market are often spot-on, joking that he has lost a few bets to the economic scholar. They discussed job growth, which Linneman thinks is being underreported, and touched on the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, which many are concerned may replace jobs. Linneman disagrees.<\/p>\n \u201cThroughout all of history, it shows that the more technology we have, the better we are \u2026 it is something that increases productivity and that creates wealth, and people with that wealth will invest it or spend it,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd soon there will be a whole bunch of jobs that nobody ever dreamed of\u2014that\u2019s what an economy is, and that\u2019s what I believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n Linneman thinks many companies will simply have to reinvent themselves in the era of AI. But the most successful companies do this, he added, giving Walmart, Microsoft, and Amazon as examples.<\/p>\n Students like Chabeli Alvarado enjoyed hearing from the energetic Linneman, who chattered through complex economic topics rapidly, cracking jokes in between his analyses.<\/p>\n \u201cI liked hearing his take on international debt because I am thinking about doing business internationally, and learning more about how this works helped me understand it better,\u201d said Alvarado, who is earning her master\u2019s in real estate development.<\/p>\n The conference then turned to another real estate success story. Steven Witkoff, who rose to success after buying and repairing his first apartment building in the Bronx and continued to grow his portfolio into a major share of New York City\u2019s commercial real estate.<\/p>\n Speaking with Witkoff was Stuart Miller, executive chairman and CEO of Lennar Corporation, one of the nation\u2019s largest homebuilders, and chair of the board of directors for UHealth \u2013 University of Miami Health System. Miller said he was privileged to work with Witkoff in the real estate industry and that two of Witkoff\u2019s sons attended the University.<\/p>\n Through their conversation, Witkoff explained that he came from humble beginnings on Long Island but became a real estate lawyer before pivoting and buying his first apartment building in 1991. He and his partner Larry Gluck often served as the handymen before they could hire others to take care of their buildings. In 1997 the Witkoff Group was formed to develop and invest in real estate and bought The Woolworth Building in Manhattan. The firm then began amassing more New York City buildings and a year later, they had 15 million square feet of office space and began looking beyond New York. Today, the Witkoff Group owns residential, commercial, and hotel properties in Florida and California too.<\/p>\n When asked about the transition to public service, Witkoff said he takes his new role very seriously and knows that it comes with high stakes, but added he is eager for the challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cI think what I am doing today really matters, so the rewards are big,\u201d he said, remembering the day when the last 20 freed Israeli hostages visited the White House. \u201cI say all the time that success belongs to those who believe in it the most. That doesn\u2019t always mean you\u2019re going to get there, but you have to believe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was insight from leaders coming into their own in the real estate industry, such as Nadeem Meghji,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-186476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"linneman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/real-estate-impact-conference-2026-embed1-940x529.webp.webp\")
\nPeter Linneman, left, chats with Willy Walker, right.<\/p>\n![\"Real](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/real-estate-impact-conference-2026-embed2b-940x529.webp.webp\")
\nStuart Miller, left, and Steve Witkoff at the Real Estate Impact Conference.<\/p>\n