From 11–13 May, REA brought together 20 German-speaking participants in Frankfurt for three days of company visits, asset tours, case studies and informal activities.
The group included REA members from ten chapters: Frankfurt, Munich, Regensburg, Zurich, Vienna, London, Cambridge, Madrid, Amsterdam and Rotterdam – bringing together the probably most diverse and ambitious group of talent Frankfurt has seen this year.
Day 1: PGIM, Greystar, Morgan Stanley
The trip started at PGIM Real Estate, where professionals from several departments gave the group a look into the firm, its platform and how the different parts of the business work together. A breakfast and informal networking concluded the session with the second-largest real estate investment manager in the world.
From there, the day moved to Greystar. Over lunch with the team, members learned more about its German portfolio and integrated strategy before heading across the city for the afternoon.
At Morgan Stanley, the group went deeper into investment management. After an introduction to MSREI, members worked through an interactive case with the team and stayed afterwards for informal networking.
And because three days like this should not feel like a conference, the first evening ended with dinner together as one group – a chance for people who had arrived from ten different chapters that morning to actually get to know each other.
Day 2: BNPP, DWS and Bitburger
The second day started with members using the morning to meet alumni and professionals working across Frankfurt. Then the group came back together for a packed afternoon:
An on-site visit with BNP Paribas and representatives of the ownership side (Alstria Office REIT), gave members a direct look at the Kastor Tower and its recent revitalisation and lease-up program.
The day continued at DWS’s HQ, where a senior manager walked the group through its real estate platform, its open-ended funds and recent transactions. The day then moved upwards – quite literally – with a visit to the upper floors of Deutsche Bank’s headquarters and one of the best views across Frankfurt’s skyline.
After dinner, the group headed to Bitburger, one of Frankfurt’s classic after-work spots and a familiar meeting place for people across the real estate industry. It turns out that understanding Frankfurt’s real estate scene also means knowing where everyone ends up after work.
Day 3: Tishman Speyer and Project Gloria
The final morning was spent with Tishman Speyer. The group joined an asset tour centred around Project Gloria, one of the firm’s major new high-rise developments in Frankfurt. Members learned about the vision, development process and future of the tower from inside the existing building on the very site where it will eventually rise.
It was a fitting way to close the trip – learning from a firm that has shaped Frankfurt’s skyline like few others, hearing directly from the people behind the project, and standing exactly where the city’s next landmark will take shape.
What REA City Trips are really about
The obvious value of the trip was the access: in three days, members met investment managers, developers, asset managers and other professionals across some of the most important platforms in the market. But that is only half of it.
People arrived from ten different REA chapters and spent three days travelling across Frankfurt together, working through cases, visiting assets, sharing meals, meeting alumni and ending evenings in the same places where people from the industry meet after work.
By Wednesday, it felt much less like ten separate chapters and much more like one network.
That combination – deep exposure to a market, direct access to the people shaping it, and friendships built across cities and countries along the way – is exactly what REA City Trips are meant to create.
