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Who We Are

Jake Lewis

Jake Lewis is a dynamic real estate professional with a strong academic background and hands-on experience in brokerage, property management, and valuation. Currently serving as an Associate Principal at i3o, LLC, Jake plays a key role in the development and expansion of i3o’s business. As for day-to-day operations, Jake’s contributions include analyzing public property records, researching comparable land and building sales, financial modeling, strategic marketing and corporate real estate optimization strategies, and providing crucial data for development project appraisals.

 

Jake graduated Temple University’s Fox School of Business cum laude with a Bachelor of Business Administration majoring in Real Estate with a minor in Finance. Throughout his academic career, Jake demonstrated exceptional dedication and performance, achieving Dean’s List honors while being a member of both the University and Fox School of Business Honors Programs. During his time at Temple, Jake earned multiple scholarships, including FSBM Endowed, Dean’s, Appraisal Institute ERF, SIOR, and PREIT ICSC Scholarships. Notable coursework included Management of Corporate Real Estate Assets, Commercial Real Estate Analysis, Real Estate Finance and Investment, and Financial Modeling, allowing him to achieve a deep level of understanding of the real estate sector as a young professional.

 

For his senior real estate capstone project, Jake wrote a paper on Enterprise Real Estate Optimization (EREO), expanding on the insights discovered by Dr. David Wilk in his dissertation from the previous year. The capstone paper sought to translate the data-rich dissertation into a succinct, practical interpretation of how business leaders can use their companies’ real estate portfolios to contribute new value to their enterprises and earnings.

 

Jake has also distinguished himself in academic case competitions. In the spring of 2023, Jake and his team of exceptional peers won 1st place in the Boston College Corcoran Center Case Competition where they focused on solving an interdisciplinary real estate development case centered on affordable housing. A few months later, Jake and a different team of exceptional peers won 1st place in the ICSC Fall 2023 Case Competition, which focused on the revitalization of a lagging shopping center complex in suburban Chicago, and resulted in a significant scholarship and “all expenses paid” trip to ICSC’s ReCon in May 2024.

 

A dedicated leader, Jake served as President of the Temple Real Estate Organization (TREO), where he increased membership, managed financial reporting, and organized impactful events and workshops. Additionally, Jake was the Director of Public Relations for the Business Honors Student Association (BHSA), where he collaborated with peers in creating marketing strategies and managing communication channels.


Jake holds a Pennsylvania Real Estate License and has completed several specialized training programs, including the Eastdil Secured 2022 Virtual Real Estate Finance Training Program, The Academy of CRE Debt & Equity Optimization Certificate, and successfully completed the 15-hour USPAP course for real estate appraisers.​

Dr. David Wilk is the Founder and CEO of i3o, LLC, Professor at Temple University Fox School of Business, Academic Director of the Real Estate Program, and Executive Director of the Fox Real Estate Center.

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David has 35 years of academic experience teaching undergraduate and graduate real estate courses at University of Delaware Lerner College of Business (1989-2012), Johns Hopkins (2012-2017), Georgetown (2016 to 2018), and Temple University (2018 to present).

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Dr. Wilk also has 40+ years of practitioner experience as a valuer and management consultant for Valuation Research Corporation, Arthur D. Little, Kenneth Leventhal & Co., Arthur Andersen, Ernst & Young, Greystone Advisors, Duff & Phelps, SVN, and Colliers International. His “blue ocean” specialization is creating value for real estate assets held by public and private enterprises, private equity, governments, universities, healthcare systems, and non-profits through optimization strategies that deliver new earnings, cost savings, and shareholder value.

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Dr. Wilk has also performed complex valuations, market feasibility studies, property tax consulting, development advisory, “place-making” economic development strategies, and innovative market stories that reimagine undervalued places, properties, and neighborhoods (with existing residents in place).

Throughout his career, Dr. Wilk has completed commercial, industrial, residential, agricultural, and institutional real estate projects in 49 states in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, South America, Asia, the Caribbean, and South Pacific. He is a member of the Appraisal Institute (MAI) a Counselor of Real Estate (CRE) and a licensed real estate broker in Delaware since 1987.

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Real estate consulting highlights from Dr. Wilk’s career include; Pebble Beach Company, Aspen Skiing Company, 20th Century Fox Studios, The Irvine Ranch, Madison Square Garden, Santa Anita Racetrack, Dover Downs, Elvis Presley Enterprises (Graceland), Hyatt Regency & Four Seasons Hotels in Hawaii, Baltimore’s Power Plant, Art Deco Hotels in South Beach, Pennsylvania Convention Center and Marriott Hotel, Comcast Cable Systems, Bikini Atoll in Micronesia (South Pacific), U.S. military locations in Hawaii and California, and NASA Wallops Island Space Port in Virginia.

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Dr. Wilk is a regular keynote speaker at real estate and economic development industry conferences (Appraisal Institute, Counselors of Real Estate, ULI, IEDC, CoreNet Global, IFMA, SAP), and has presented over ten (10) Symposia on Real Estate and Asset Optimization, CityLabs & Place-Making Economic Development at Universities of Delaware, Illinois, Salisbury (Perdue), Florida Atlantic, Delaware State, Washington, Johns Hopkins, and Temple since 2012.


Dr. Wilk’s entrepreneurial activities include co-innovating a data analytics platform with SAP known as “Corporate Real Estate Earnings Diagnostic” – CREED® and creating i3o, a consulting analytics platform focusing on how innovation, infrastructure, and inclusion can drive optimization of real estate and human capital.

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David’s community service activities include being Chair and Interim CEO of non-profit organization, Friends of Hockessin Colored School #107 since 2012. This mission was leading efforts to transform a former school in Hockessin, Delaware that helped to end school desegregation (home to one of the five cases in the U.S. Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision) into a Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Social Equity. The following YouTube link to a documentary entitled “Return to 107C” captures this 12-year journey. The following link shares an article about 107C from Delaware Lawyer Magazine in June 2024 entitled: “Walking Through the Door Again”.  

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Dr. Wilk has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) from the University of Delaware, a Master of Science in Real Estate and Infrastructure (MSREI) from Johns Hopkins University, and a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) from Temple University Fox School.

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Doctoral Dissertation

 

Research Interests

  • Enterprise Real Estate Optimization

  • Place-Making and Inclusive Economic Development through Real Estate Innovation

  • Social Infrastructure and Entrepreneurship

  • Affordable Housing Finance and Development

  • Re-Imagining Undervalued Urban Neighborhood without Gentrification

  • University Research Parks and Innovation Districts

  • Strategic Marketing Plans for Underproductive Real Estate Assets

Dr. David Wilk, MAI, CRE

Other Team Members

Dr. Lindsay Thompson

Johns Hopkins University Professor

Dr. Mike Casson

Dean, Delaware State University College of Business

Andrew Duffell, MBA

CEO, Research Park at Florida Atlantic University

Layal Zuabi

The CREED App

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