What does Utah’s real estate future look like? Suburban offices, self storage and affordable, multi-family units that use small spaces in innovative ways — at least according to the entries in this year’s Utah Real Estate Challenge.
The intercollegiate competition is celebrating 10 years, and one student group will win $20,000 for their proposed development. But the incredible experience students gain by competing is almost as valuable, says Flyn Dawson, director of the Ivory-Boyer Real Estate Center at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah.
“This is a fantastic and rare opportunity for students to generate a full development plan and have that plan reviewed and critiqued by industry professionals — developers, bankers, leasing brokers and general contractors,” Dawson said.
To compete students choose a real-world site and create a proposed development. They submit a five-page proposal for the initial judging, and then a 25-page final project that is judged by industry experts from fields including construction management, architecture, development, leasing and real estate finance. Students from across Utah participated this year, with the University of Utah, Brigham Young University, Utah State University, Utah Valley University and Weber State University all represented. Sponsors from the development and finance communities provide the prizes — $20,000 for first place, $10,000 for second and $5,000 for third.
This year’s final presentation and judging will take place in the Varsity Room at the Rice-Eccles Stadium Tower at 11 a.m. on April 6. Each finalist will be on hand with a rendering of their final proposal and available for photos.
About the Utah Real Estate Challenge
The Utah Real Estate Challenge is an intercollegiate real estate development competition for undergraduate and graduate students throughout the state of Utah. The competition fosters understanding of real estate development by giving students the opportunity to prepare and present a real estate development plan to a panel of expert judges. Students are judged on whether their design is promising and economically viable.
About the David Eccles School of Business
The Eccles School is synonymous with ‘doing.’ The Eccles experience provides a world-class business education with a unique, entrepreneurial focus on real-world scenarios where students put what they learn into practice long before graduation. Founded in 1917 and educating more than 6,000 students annually, the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business offers eight undergraduate majors, four MBAs, seven other graduate programs, a Ph.D. in seven areas and executive education curricula. The School is also home to eight institutes, centers and initiatives that deliver academic research and support an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation. For more information, visit Eccles.Utah.edu or call 801-581-7676.