“Cal Team Wins the 30th Annual NAIOP SFBA Cal-Stanford Real Estate Challenge for Second Consecutive Year”
NAIOP
April 29, 2019
Photo Credit: NAIOP
University of California, Berkeley’s team, Golden Bear Real Estate, took home bragging rights, the coveted James W. Brecht Memorial Golden Shovel, and a $2,000 check for charity compliments of Mechanics Bank at NAIOP SFBA’s 30th Annual Cal-Stanford Real Estate Challenge Luncheon. The team of graduate students included CED students Bianca Doerschlag (M.Arch ’19) and Brynn McKiernan (MRED+D ’19), as well as Haas students Matt Tortorello (MBA ‘20), David Eisenman (MBA ‘20), and Matthew Anderson (EWMBA ‘19).
The Real Estate Challenge is a friendly competition between Stanford and Cal designed to give graduate students hands-on experience in real estate development. Over the course of ten weeks, teams tackle a real-life development project and engage with a large number of city officials and real estate professionals for guidance and mentoring during the process. The final concept is pitched to a jury of six executives from the banking, real estate development, property management, and public utilities sectors.
This year’s project was sponsored by the City of San Jose, which challenged students to create a plan for an undeveloped 159-acre site located adjacent to Highway 237 and Zanker Road in North San Jose. Teams were charged with devising a plan to meet the City’s goals of maximizing revenue, creating mixed-income economic opportunities for its diverse population, while promoting the City’s environmental goals and vibrant culture.
Coaching the Cal Team was Bill Falik, Managing Partner of Westpark Community Builders. At the luncheon, the team presented their proposal for Zanker Yards, a vertical industrial district estimated to deliver 14,474 jobs and comprised of 3 million square feet of industrial space, 2.7 million square feet of office, a 600-key hotel, and 40 acres of open space.
The proposal, which outlined a three-phase development approach, featured a cluster-based leasing strategy targeting tenants in the food distribution/agriculture, manufacturing, watertech/plant synergies, technology, and medical office markets. They substantiated demand by securing LOI’s (letters of intent) from an impressive list of 10 tenants including Sutter Health, Simplewater, and Farm Ecology. The deal structure involved the City entering into a 99-year ground lease with a master developer to complete the initial phases with an option to complete all phases.
Read more about the projects here.