Casius Pealer
Director of Sustainable Real Estate Development, Shane Professor of Practice
Biography
Casius Pealer is Director of Tulane’s Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development (MSRED) program and a Professor of Practice in the School of Architecture. In addition to these academic roles at Tulane, Casius is Principal of Oystertree Consulting, where he concentrates in the areas of public housing development, affordable housing policy, and the impacts of design and construction on health outcomes, energy use and water use.
Trained as an architect and a real estate attorney, Professor Pealer has over 20 years of community development experience, including four years as legal counsel for public housing authorities across the country implementing mixed-finance redevelopment projects. Professor Pealer has also worked in the nonprofit sector as the first Director of Affordable Housing at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and in the public sector as Assistant General Counsel for Real Estate at the District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA).
In addition to being a regular speaker at professional conferences nationally, Professor Pealer has been published in the ABA Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Development Law, the AIA Journal of Architecture, and Affordable Housing Finance Magazine. He is licensed to practice law in New York State and Washington, DC, and is a LEED Accredited Professional.
Professor Pealer’s civic and professional service includes six years on the American Institute of Architects (AIA) national Housing Committee. He is a current board member for Next City, a nonprofit organization with a mission to inspire social, economic and environmental change in cities through journalism and events around the world, and President of the Board of Commissioners for the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO). HANO serves over 20,000 low income families in New Orleans, representing over 25% of all renters in the city, with 200 staff and an annual budget of $225 million.
Professor Pealer holds a J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, and a Masters in Architecture from the Tulane School of Architecture.
Education
University of Michigan Law School
Tulane University
Tulane University
Links
Media Appearances
Business And Real Estate Degrees Team Up At Tulane
'Tulane University has an emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration, and this partnership is a great example of that university-wide commitment,” said Casius Pealer, director of the Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development program...
Louisiana, Florida to see biggest spike in 'extreme heat' days, study says; could force 'culture shift'
“A lot of solutions are old solutions that we forgot,” said Casius Pealer, director of a master's program in sustainable real-estate development at Tulane University.
Pealer suggests that individuals should embrace passive cooling methods, like painting roofs light, reflective colors; planting trees; and covering porches to create shade. Homes near City Park and Audubon Park can be five to ten degrees cooler than the French Quarter, because of added shade, he said...
Making Your House Greener
Casius Pealer, the director of Tulane University's Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development program, said that the answer to that..
Real estate experts say property values have increased since Katrina
Professor Casius Pealer, Director and Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development at Tulane University’s School of Architecture discussed factors which impact property assessments.
"The value of residential property is largely any improvements you might have made to it, obviously is a factor the number of bedrooms and the quality of the building. But most of the impact that folks would see on an assessor's kind of change in valuation would have to do with changes in home values and other home sales in that area, and whatever that neighborhood was over the past few years,” said Pealer.
When for sale signs go up in neighborhoods, residents can monitor what the properties eventually sell for in their area. Pealer said that can be an important indicator for property owners.
"If houses are selling for more generally then that probably means that your home is valued more. Now the actual taxes you pay are based on a valuation plus a millage rate, so the assessor only sets the valuation, but the millage rate can go up or down. Louisiana has very low millage rates, nationally,” Pealer stated...
Now You Can Get MBA Degree in Real Estate at Tulane University
“We are disrupting how real estate has been taught to drive change in the educational landscape of this field,” says Casius Pealer, director of Sustainable Real Estate Development and Shane Professor of Practice at the Tulane School of Architecture. “We want students to analyze the implications of technology, environmental changes and urbanization to better understand how political, ecological and cultural forces impact real estate development. By creating an interdisciplinary program, our alumni can anticipate the long term social and financial effects of development”...
