2007 Headlines
Cornell Places 3rd at Sixth Annual National Real Estate Challenge
November 8, 2007 - Ithaca, NY-On Friday, November 1, graduate student teams from 16 leading schools competed for top honors and cash awards at the National Real Estate Challenge held in Austin, Texas. The case-based competition was held at the University of Texas's McCombs School of Business and featured leading business and real estate schools from around the country. The Cornell team earned a spot in the final round of the competition, besting teams from Harvard, Wharton, Duke, Virginia, Berkeley, and Columbia, among others. In the final round, Cornell earned third place while Northwestern and Stanford finished in first and second place, respectively.
Each school was allowed only one team of four to six graduate students and is required to provide a 20-minute case presentation to a panel of real estate professionals. The winning team received $6,000, while the second, third, and fourth place teams received $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. This year's case was distributed by Goldman Sachs & Co. and was judged by professionals from Goldman and from lead sponsors such as Bank of America, Credit Suisse, GE Real Estate, ING Clarion, The Lionstone Group, Morgan Stanley, Transwestern Investment Company, and Weingarten Realty Investors.
The Cornell team was comprised of students from both the Johnson School and the Program in Real Estate. Participants included co-captains Daniel Lentz (MBA/PRE'09) and Ben Weissbourd (MBA '08) along with Zsofia Kondor (PRE '08), Brian Semel (PRE '08), Ramandeep Walia (MBA '08), and Rachel Wilson (PRE '08). Matthew Monson (MBA/PRE '09) and Timothy Yeager (PRE '09) served as alternates and are guaranteed a spot in the competition next year.
"The competition was a fantastic opportunity to combine Cornell's learning environment with real-world challenges," said Lentz. "Actual deals are complex and have many different risks and compromises which must be considered. The intense preparation, collaborative team effort, and sheer volume of faculty and advisor coaching made the experience invaluable for anyone considering a career in either investments or development."
This year's case study required student teams to examine a hospitality investment opportunity on behalf of a global real estate opportunity fund, and to focus on a number of potential obstacles surrounding the acquisition such as partnership structure and property management. The case also addressed issues concerning renovation and repositioning opportunities. Representatives of Goldman Sachs & Co.'s fund presented a retrospective on the actual investment and its performance following the completion of the case competition.
Next semester, students from both the Program in Real Estate and the Johnson School will vie for spots on next year's case competition team.
Jonathan Herbert (PRE '09)
Originally published in the Real Estate Review. Used with permission.
