Seven Marquette University real estate students earned top honors at the sixth annual NAIOP University Challenge, a commercial real estate case competition hosted by the organization’s Minnesota chapter.
The competition included the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of St. Thomas, St. Cloud State University, University of Northern Iowa and the University of Minnesota.
The Marquette team members (Matt Egan, Kaitlynn Koeppler, David Martin, Joe Powers, Ted Stratman, Mike Thomas and Mike Wanezek) are all part of the Real Estate Club, which is housed in the university’s Center for Real Estate.
The challenge had the six teams act as a consultant to a developer to determine the highest and best use for property in downtown Minneapolis given current market conditions.
The students were tasked with identifying what product types maximize the value of the site and achieve the highest risk adjusted return for the developer, as well as what the major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks are for the proposed project.
The Marquette team proposed a 70,000-square-foot, LEED Certified medical office building and submitted a comprehensive written report that outlined all aspects of due diligence, including a market analysis, finance options and construction report, to the judging committee. The team then presented their analysis to the panel of judges along with 150 members from the NAIOP committee in Minneapolis.
