ASU Real Estate Development Students Put Creativity to the Test

Last year’s winning team from ICON Development (left to right): Kristjan Holm, Kammy Harding, Amanda Donner, and Michael Beck. (Photo courtesy of REIAC/Rockefeller Group Challenge)

4th Annual REIAC/Rockefeller Group Challenge lets teams compete for cash

PHOENIX, Ariz. – The 2016 winners presented an outside-the-box proposal for a complicated, 16-acre site located on the northwest corner of Rural Road and University Drive in Tempe known as Fraternity Row.

 How will this year’s winning team dazzle the judges?

Three teams of graduating students from Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business, Masters of Real Estate Development (MRED) program will compete for cash prizes of $1,000 per team member at the fourth annual REIAC/Rockefeller Group Challenge May 4 at Arizona Country Club, 5668 E. Orange Blossom Lane, in Phoenix.

The event is open to the public. Cost is $35 for non-REIAC members and $25 for students. Registration and networking begin at 4 p.m., followed by the program at 4:30 p.m. A networking mixer begins at 5:30 p.m. It includes hosted beverages and appetizers.

Each team is allotted 10 minutes to present a development solution for a storied piece of Arizona commercial real estate, followed by questions from the audience. Audience members will vote to choose the winning team immediately after the presentations, awarding each winning team member a $1,000 check at the Challenge, up to $6,000.

“We are pleased to be associated with the annual MRED/REIAC/Rockefeller Group Challenge,” said Mark Singerman, president of the REIAC Southwest Chapter and Vice President/Regional Director-Arizona for The Rockefeller Group, the event’s title sponsor.

“This is a great way for all the participating teams to field questions and comments on their solutions from experienced developers and investors. There are actually no losers in this competition.”

Last year’s winning team, ICON Development, focused its efforts on attracting high-level tenants in a build-to-suit arrangement as opposed to a speculative development. The team included Michael Beck, Amanda Donner, Kammy Harding and Kristjan Holm. Its presentation was titled “Generate Revenue for Athletics with Athletics.”

It combined a sports training facility (EXOS) next to Mayo Clinic’s sports medicine research and development facility. Additional uses on the parcel were a hotel and conference space, Class A office space, and a multifamily project.

Registration for the REIAC/Rockefeller Group Challenge is required. Register at  www.reiacsouthwest.org/event-2462209.