About the Interns

Chloe Lane is an upcoming senior at Ouachita Baptist University pursuing a degree in Finance and Business Administration with a double emphasis in entrepreneurship and management. She is a member of the Hickingbotham Student Advisory Board and will serve on the Eddie and Phyllis Ary Student Investment Fund starting in the fall.

Isaac Scarborough is an upcoming senior at the University of Arkansas pursuing degrees in Economics and Finance with an Investment Concentration. He is a member of the Walton Honors College and will serve on the Arvest Fixed Income Fund starting in the fall.

Learning the World of Commercial Real Estate

We’ve learned so much about commercial real estate from the Tempus team. Some key technical takeaways have been how many factors influence something as seemingly simple as a purchase price—factors such as cap rate, location, sector, underlying credit, rental rates, lease term, and more. There is much more nuance than simply picking a number that sounds good. Additionally, Tempus emphasizes fairness—whether in negotiations, working with brokers, or in their role as a landlord. This team genuinely operates on the belief that treating people fairly benefits everyone involved. That mindset is what sets them apart in the industry, and they model it in every deal they enter.

From a hands-on perspective, touring project sites and seeing the actual work that goes into creating the physical investment of a building was a tremendous experience. Conducting an analysis on a tenant brought everything full circle—reviewing financial statements, investigating unusual figures to understand a company’s story, and contributing a credit rating based on our analysis—especially knowing that the team will actually use that work going forward—was an incredibly rewarding way to apply what we learned.

Inside the Team: How Tempus Works

Tempus operates with a small, agile team that gave us a front-row seat to the full investment process. The firm primarily targets industrial and office properties—often through sale-leaseback transactions—and finances acquisitions using a combination of debt and capital raising. Once acquired, properties are grouped into portfolios that are shared with investors. Distributions are paid quarterly, and ongoing performance is carefully tracked. One of Tempus’ long-term strategies is reflected in Tempus Evergreen, a private REIT that holds stabilized assets for consistent, long-term cash flow. Because the team works so collaboratively, we had direct exposure to how deals are sourced, underwritten, closed, and managed—often working shoulder-to-shoulder with team members across acquisitions, asset management, and investor relations.

Summer Projects

Over the course of the summer, we tackled a wide range of projects that exposed us to many aspects of commercial real estate investment at Tempus. One of our earliest assignments involved reviewing tenant financials and audit reports—many of which were written in German. We used AI tools to assist with translating documents and converting financial data from EUR to USD, which allowed us to better assess tenant performance.

Throughout the summer, Isaac focused on transforming a series of disconnected property spreadsheets into a single, dynamic master sheet. This tool now automatically pulls updated data across multiple quarters and streamlines access to key property metrics—a resource that continues to support portfolio tracking and decision-making.

Chloe led a data-focused project using historical Bureau of Labor Statistics data to map employment changes at the county level, dating back to 1995. The result was an interactive heat map that visualizes long-term employment trends across the U.S., helping inform market selection and investment strategy.

We also created a randomized investor contact tool to support the Investor Relations team by automating outreach and improving follow-up workflows. Additionally, we collaborated with Clay and Keith on acquisition modeling for prospective properties, conducted research to support portfolio offerings, and participated in meetings where we gained firsthand exposure to real-time deal discussions and property evaluations. These projects gave us a chance to apply our technical skills, deepen our industry understanding, and make meaningful contributions to Tempus’ work throughout the summer.

A Few of Our Project Highlights:

• Used Artificial Intelligence to convert and translate tenant financials
• Centralized property data and created dynamic features
• Analyzed and processed employment data for the last 30 years
• Created new investor contact processes and automated recordkeeping
• Helped model potential property acquisitions
• Gathered information for portfolio offerings
• Analyzed tenant financials and determined credit strength

Key Takeaways and Intern Insights

Our biggest takeaway from this summer is that no matter how many classes you take or A’s you earn, a summer at Tempus will teach you far more.

The Tempus office is uniquely structured: everyone here is not only exceptional at their role but also fully committed to collaborating with total transparency. Every voice is heard and respected, which brings broader perspectives into decision-making. That inclusion helps cultivate a family-like atmosphere that supports everyone’s individual lives. We found that this level of encouragement makes people want to go above and beyond to help one another. Watching everyone come together after Tuesday lunches to clean and reset the office was a perfect example of that team spirit.

It’s also worth noting how much time the team invested in helping us acclimate to the office and the industry. Truly, some days felt like we were attending the Tempus School of Business—and it wasn’t just one or two people. Everyone played a part.

It didn’t go unnoticed just how rare it is to have one-on-one conversations with the partners. Not every CEO sets aside entire afternoons to let interns ask anything on their minds, and for that, we are especially grateful.

To sum up our final takeaways: Tempus has built a team of highly capable individuals who also share core values and treat each other like family. That culture is the engine behind the firm’s precision and effectiveness. We were surprised by the sheer scale and complexity of commercial real estate. There are countless variables and moving parts to every single deal. We’ve gained valuable knowledge—and perhaps even more valuable perspective on how much there’s still to learn.

A Thank You to the Tempus Team

To the Tempus team—thank you. We are so incredibly grateful for the time we spent with you this summer. Thank you for teaching us, answering our questions, and letting us learn from the incredible work you do. We felt like part of the team every step of the way, and we truly couldn’t have picked a better place to spend the summer. Thank you for investing in our growth and learning!