Sauder School of Business/UBC Team wins first annual Northwest Real Estate Challenge

Students present winning proposal for redevelopment of 47 acre Boeing property.

Vancouver – Six UBC students took top honours at the First Annual Northwest Real Estate Challenge, a competition that included two other student teams from the University of Washington and Portland State University, on April 15, 2004.

The UBC team, comprised of Steve Bruckall, Evan Campbell, Chris Kay and Cam MacGregor, all Sauder School of Business Bachelor of Commerce students concentrating in Real Estate, and Darren Enns and Peter Russell, master's students in Community & Regional Planning, successfully presented an award-winning proposal for a mock redevelopment of a 47-acre Boeing site in Tukwila , Washington . The winning plan by UBC proposed an air cargo and fixed base operator use. The key ingredient was an overpass constructed for the transport of airplanes over East Marginal Way to Boeing Field, creating a newly expanded King County International Airport .

“The students on the UBC team put a tremendous amount of work into creating an economically viable and creative solution for a complex and challenging site,” says Tsur Somerville, Director of the Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate at the Sauder School of Business, and UBC team mentor. The Centre, which serves as a focal point for research and education in real estate and urban economics at UBC, fosters a number of initiatives, like this competition, that link Sauder School of Business students with the real estate community.

The student teams presented their proposals to a panel of judges that included representatives from Boeing Realty Corp., the Mayor of Tukwila and local industry experts. As part of their presentations, the students were required to address the marketability, master plan feasibility, financial viability, and political palatability of their redevelopment plans.

“It was evident by the quality of the ideas brought to the judging panel that each university team had put a great deal of time and effort into its conclusion,” said Stephen Walker, managing director, Heartland and part of the judging panel. “Although this was an unparalleled opportunity to be a part of a real world exercise it was also an extremely challenging project with no clear ‘right' answer. In the end we were most impressed with University of British Columbia and its logical, well researched, viable solution.”

The event was co-presented by three chapters of the National Association of Office and Industrial Properties (NAIOP) Washington , Vancouver and Oregon , and sponsored by Boeing Realty Corp (a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company). Northwest Real Estate Challenge will be an annual event, with hosting duties rotating between sponsoring NAIOP chapters. The competition will be hosted by Vancouver in 2005.

NAOIP Vancouver and members Doug Avis, Canada Lands ; Sandy Cruickshank, Royal Le Page Commercial; Gary Fawley, Anthem Properties; Michael Katz, Katz Architecture; and John Scott, CEI Architecture, helped mentor and select the team from three Sauder School of Business Real Estate student groups to send to the competition.