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PSU Real Estate Students Win NAIOP Competition
Author: Students Take Home the NAIOP Trophy
Posted: April 10, 2006
A team of seven graduate students from Portland State University won the 3rd Annual NAIOP Pacific Northwest Real Estate Challenge in Seattle, Washington, defeating teams from the University of Washington, Washington State University, and University of British Columbia. For the next year, Portland State will display the “Bob Filley Cup” on the second floor of the PSU Urban Center.

The winning team consisted of:

Nic Fetter
Erik Floberg
Anil Krishnamurthy
Brad Lawliss
Brian Nelson
Loriel Stutzman
Nicole Wolters

The PSU team was supervised by Professor Will Macht of the Real Estate Development Workshop. The team consisted of six students in the Graduate Certificate program in Real Estate Development and one student in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning program.

The Real Estate Challenge is sponsored by three chapters of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP): Washington, Oregon, and Vancouver, BC. Students were asked to propose development solutions for a two-block site on the Seattle waterfront on the assumption that the Alaskan Way Viaduct would be taken down.

The PSU students proposed “Elliott Bay Lofts”, consisting of 8 retail spaces and 285 condominium units, targeted to young “creative class” workers, empty-nesters, and single baby boomers. With so many high-end condos opening in the downtown Seattle market, the team mitigated risks by focusing on individuals of more modest means. The team created added value by rehabilitating an existing parking garage, reducing the need for costly underground parking, and proposing roof-top gardens, energy savings devices, and other means to achieve environmental sustainability.

Congratulations to the team, and special thanks to the numerous mentors from the Portland area real estate community who assisted the team.