When it comes to NAIOP鈥檚 annual Rocky Mountain Real Estate Challenge, the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder is really building something.
For the second year in a row, Leeds graduate students studying real estate won the competition, which involves pitching projects for a particular development site in Colorado. A panel of industry experts awarded CU Boulder top honors over the competing team from the University of Denver.听
This year鈥檚 competition involved developing a master plan for a 25-acre parcel within Peak Innovation Park, in southeastern Colorado Springs.
Echoing last year鈥檚 victorious team, Ryan Adzima (MBA鈥�22) said his team succeeded because it kept the needs of the community at the center of its proposal.听
鈥淲e could deliver a high-end project, but it鈥檚 not realistic for the neighborhood,鈥� said Adzima, who recently accepted a position as a vice president at Meriwether Cos. 鈥淲e wanted to deliver something real that would bring people together, which I felt won us the competition.鈥澨�
The team鈥攚hich was comprised of Adzima, Brickman House (MBA鈥�22), Gabriella Haloute (MSRE鈥�22), Derek Lange (MBA鈥�22) and Cole Meleyco (Bus鈥�13; MSRE鈥�22)鈥攑roposed a site plan that included incubator spaces for veterans, a sports complex and dining options, among other features.听
Designs were by nature constrained by the site鈥檚 proximity to Colorado Springs Airport and the multiple military installations nearby. 听听
鈥淭he challenge is in discovering how creative can you be, and match that with how well you understand the market you鈥檙e building in,鈥� Adzima said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 where we came up with the small office spaces and brewpubs. If you offer good burgers and beer鈥攚ho鈥檚 going to say no to that?鈥澨�
Students pursuing the master鈥檚 in real estate or the real estate concentration in the MBA take classes in, and benefit from the expertise of, the CU Real Estate Center, which connects students to industry experts for extracurricular learning, experiential opportunities, and professional development and mentoring.听
鈥淭his inter-university competition offers one of the finest real-world learning opportunities for real estate graduate students,鈥� said Michael Kercheval, executive director of CUREC. 鈥淭he quality of entries across all the teams at both universities reinforces the high caliber of learning that our industry鈥檚 future leaders are obtaining.鈥�
The winning team holds the trophy and prize check at NAIOP's Rocky Mountain Real Estate Challenge. From left, Ryan Adzima, Derek Lange, Brickman House, Gabriella Haloute and Cole Meleyco.
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