Interview With John Huppi, Associate Director of Real Estate Development, Tulane University

This week we continue our interview series with key voices and prominent figures in the US real estate field. This time we connected with John Huppi who is Associate Director of Real Estate Development at Tulane University.

In this interview, John shares the story of how his time in post-Katrina New Orleans sparked his passion for real estate, leading him to a career that blends his love for development with a commitment to sustainability. We dive into his hands-on approach to teaching, the evolution of the real estate market, and how today’s professionals can make a meaningful impact in a rapidly changing industry.

About John Huppi

John Huppi is the Associate Director of Real Estate at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. John has been at Tulane for more than 10 years, overseeing the Major and Minor in Real Estate. Originally from Reston, VA, John moved to New Orleans in 2007 to pursue his undergradate studies at Tulane, and later graduated with a Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development (MSRED) in 2014.

Outside of Tulane, John is a private real estate developer. John has worked on over 40 projects including small scale acquisition and development, commercial retail, historic rehabilitation, and affordable housing.

John was also a member of Team USA rowing that won Bronze at the 2021 World Rowing Coastal Championships. John is passionate about the sport of rowing and currently serves as the Head Coach of Tulane Men’s & Women’s Rowing. John is also the co-owner of Ergofit, which is a boutique indoor rowing studio based in New Orleans, LA.

Next summer, John is a member of a 4-person team including NFL legend Jimmy Graham who will be attempting a Guinness World Record to cross the Arctic Ocean in a rowing boat, unsupported. The Arctic Challenge 2025 team is looking to raise money for charity.

Can you tell us about your journey into real estate? What initially sparked your interest in the field, and how did that lead to your current role at Tulane as the Associate Director of Real Estate Development?

Huppi. I became interested in real estate in 2007 when I moved to New Orleans, LA for my undergraduate studies at Tulane University. New Orleans was in a post-Katrina rebuilding period, and I got to see the mechanics of revitalization first-hand.

I became even more interested in real estate when I took on an internship for a small, local design/build firm. The internship had me out swinging a hammer on a job site, learning real estate nail by nail. It soon struck me that I was working on investment properties, and this opened a whole new world of questions on how the real estate development process works.

I enrolled in the Tulane Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development (MSRED) program to further my education in development. Shortly after graduating, I launched a career in real estate development and started teaching at Tulane.

Over the past 10 years at Tulane, I advanced from an adjunct lecturer to, now, an Associate Director of Real Estate and Professor of Practice. In this time, I oversaw the launch of a Minor in Real Estate and authored the Major in Real Estate, which now have over 400 active students.

You’ve overseen various projects that blend real estate development with sustainability. Could you share a particular project that stands out in your career and explain its significance to you?

Huppi. To me, the most sustainable development projects require simple solutions that are more often than not, passive.

Recently, I completed the adaptive reuse of an 80,000sf retail warehouse into a climate-controlled storage facility, one of the hottest segments in real estate.

The project required paying close attention to the site requirements of climate-controlled storage and finding a project site that required minimum changes. More so than saving money, the adaptive reuse process allowed us to avoid sending tons of usable material into a local landfill. To me, this is one of the most important first steps of achieving sustainability.

At Tulane, how do you integrate hands-on experience into the curriculum, and why do you think this is essential for real estate education today?

Huppi. Tulane’s real estate program is passionate about integrating field study education into the classroom. All students, including our undergraduate and graduate students, engage in studying real-world project sites and, more importantly, the students are connected to real-world partners including public and private organizations. These relationships allow students to obtain real world data, and the students help these organizations make decisions, or to provide policy recommendations.

Students are also lucky to use New Orleans as a field laboratory. New Orleans is unique in that developers are engaged in projects of all scales and sizes, and with varying deal complexity. This includes lots of multi-source projects focused on affordable housing and historic preservation.

What are the most frequent questions you get from your students? What are some of the thoughts and concerns of the new generation real estate professionals?

Huppi. The most frequent question I get from students is how to approach getting a job in real estate.

To answer this, I do my best to clarify the different profiles of companies and organizations that make up the industry. This includes small “mom and pop” firms that may consist of an individual or two, to firms that employ thousands of people. Both firms engage in hiring, but the approach can be very different on how they expect prospective applicants to find and approach them.

Additionally, I do my best to widen the net on what jobs are out there. Students often gravitate towards what they know, or what seems like the most active segments of the industry. This includes a lot of private development and investment firms. However, I like to remind them that real estate is a language, and for every developer that sits down at a table to get something, there is someone on the other side of that table. This other person often has the exact same skillset and vocabulary as the developer, and this person represents a much broader view of opportunity.

Given the current economic climate, I worry deeply about perceptions of the job market and how students are going to pivot. New real estate professionals need to recognize this changing industry with increased demands on affordable housing, decreased demands on industries like retail, and increased conservatism from lenders and investors.

I find a lot of students get very discouraged about the job market because of their narrow view on the industry. As educators, it is our job to highlight these new and changing opportunities, to best prepare students to find a successful, long-lasting career.

For example, at Tulane we try to deliver course electives that are very topical such as AI and even highlighting new industries, such as Green Banking.

Your recent renovation of a historic retail space on Magazine Street was both a business venture and a personal passion project. How do you balance your professional and personal interests in such projects?

Huppi. In short, partners. Like most developers, I try to surround myself with individuals and experts who can get the job done. Most of my projects require I find partners to share in the time and labor of the development process.

For me, I enjoy deal acquisition and development and tend to find partners who are very interested in long-term operations. This is a team approach.

Additionally, I am a strong believer in being well-rounded and continuing to pursue hobbies and interests outside of work. For me, I am very passionate about the sport of rowing. Throughout my career, that passion has merged with career including this latest project on Magazine Street, which launched Ergofit, a boutique rowing fitness studio in New Orleans, LA. At the end of the day, it makes work fun when you are spending time on something you love.

The Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development (MSRED) program at Tulane focuses on community engagement and sustainability. How do you see these principles shaping the future of real estate development, especially in New Orleans?

Huppi. New Orleans is on the front line of climate change, and the vibrancy of New Orleans’ culture and history are at risk unless real estate developers and policy are shaped to protect the city long term.

Right now, real estate developers are experiencing more frequent weather events such as wind storms and flooding, increasing temperatures, and the rising cost of materials, labor and insurance. Combined, the economics of development are almost impossible, yet developers are digging deep into their bag of tools to find funding, and mitigate risks.

Given your experience with affordable housing and small-scale residential development, what do you think are the biggest challenges and opportunities in creating more affordable housing in the US today?

Huppi. One of the biggest opportunities with creating more affordable housing to increase funding towards existing affordable housing programs. This includes increasing funding to the various programs such as housing vouchers, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, etc. To succeed, lobbyists need to continue pushing for 1) protecting and renewing these programs, and 2) educating decision makers on the impacts these programs are having on communities, and pushing for more funding.

One of the biggest challenges with creating more affordable housing is due to a lack of funding that is being stretched wide. Right now, a lot of funding is being steered to preserving affordable housing versus creating new units. Both develop strategies are needed, but creation of more affordable housing units is barely outpacing the preservation of existing affordable housing units.

For example, within the LIHTC program, a lot of projects are reaching the end of their long-term compliance period. Many of these projects and now seeking new credits to fund renovations, and the affordable rents. But, this often the same funding that is being allocated towards creating more, new units.

Another challenge is dealing with the increasing costs of developing including raw materials, labor, and interest rates. To combat this, developers and policy makers need to continue exploring new programs to introduce cost savings and affordability. For example, more robust land-contribution models may provide a pathway towards reducing the overall development costs.

As an active member of the Urban Land Institute and a proponent of sustainability in real estate, how do you believe the industry should evolve to better address climate change and resilience, especially in vulnerable regions like the Gulf Coast?

Huppi. Right now, I believe the industry is doing a great job of educating and discussing sustainability within the industry and to the general public. But I also recognize that not all cities and municipalities are at the leading edge of innovation, and some may be sagging behind by a few years. But, overall, you are seeing the adoption of sustainable principles even in the most conservative markets, which is positive.

The work to educate and discuss is ongoing. The real estate industry must continue sharing data to the public. Unfortunately, buildings are contributing to climate change but the industry is working towards reducing that profile.

I believe the continued evolution of AI is going to transform how we approach sustainability. AI will allow us to decipher market data, finding data patterns that are unbiased and sometimes missed by humans. For example, AI may transform how regions like the Gulf South are able to predict and prepare for storm and flood events. Hopefully, this allows risk to be better assessed, which could lead to things like more affordable insurance rates.

What advice would you give to students or early-career professionals interested in pursuing a career in sustainable real estate development, particularly in cities like New Orleans that are rich in history but face modern challenges?

Huppi. My advice to students considering a career in sustainable real estate development is to seek out cities where the real, hard work is being done. I moved to New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina because I saw opportunity to have immediate impact and be a part of shaping the city’s future.

In general, I also find the work in smaller, secondary cities like New Orleans to be more challenging and stimulating. Developers in smaller markets often dig deep into their toolchest of skills to get innovative projects to pencil. Students coming from university real estate programs have way more skill than the average real estate investor, and they can put those skills to work.