What happens when a university’s classrooms, labs, and dorms sit half-empty, while its budget bleeds red?

On this episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere sits down with Chris Morett, founder of Coheer Campus & Workplace and longtime higher-ed real estate strategist, to unpack one of the most overlooked corners of the built world: college campuses as real estate assets.

Chris spent a decade as Director of Scheduling and Space Management at Rutgers University before launching his consulting practice. Few people understand the messy realities of campus utilization or how much money is lost when academic buildings are misused. In this conversation, Gordon and Chris dive deep into:

• The utilization myth: Why classrooms and labs are chronically underused — and how centralized scheduling makes all the difference.
• Incentive structures: How universities owning their buildings warps efficiency compared to private companies leasing space.
• Leasing trends: Why some universities quietly lease space off campus, or even rent out their own space to startups and biotech partners.
• Urban vs. rural campuses: Why Northwestern and Rutgers operate differently than small regional colleges in Idaho or Montana.
• The demographic cliff: Shrinking enrollment, tuition discounting, and which institutions are most at risk of closure or merger.
• Developer opportunities: Where private investors can partner with universities to unlock hidden value, adaptive reuse, and innovation hubs.
• Policy shocks: From NIH grant cuts to visa restrictions, how Washington decisions ripple through labs, student housing, and construction budgets.
• The future of labs vs. data centers: Why labs may be the “accessible” frontier for developers compared to the capital intensity of AI infrastructure.

For commercial real estate professionals, developers, and investors, this episode offers a rare lens on higher education’s role as both economic driver and real estate powerhouse. Universities may be nonprofit, but their campuses are multi-billion-dollar portfolios — and how they adapt will reshape communities across the country.

📚 Chris also shares timeless advice for young professionals: focus on your hidden strengths, even the things that come naturally and don’t feel like “work.”

🔗 Learn more about Chris and his work at Team Coheer or connect with him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-morett/

Learn more about more untapped potential commercial real estate opportunities at www.vvco.com.

👉 If you’re interested in how campuses, developers, and communities intersect — and what’s next for higher ed real estate — this is an episode you don’t want to miss.