A student team from San Diego State University and The Corky McMillin Center for Real Estate submitted the winning development plan at NAIOP San Diego’s 8th annual University Challenge, held on Wednesday, April 25 at Paseo Del Mar.
The SDSU student team, comprised of Jeremiah Taylor, Trey Golston, Holly Miller, Shelly Chen, Nick Zalkow and Cristian Goodson, presented their development plan for a mixed-use, 26.44-acre development site on Avenida Encinas in Carlsbad. Other teams competing for the prize included University of California at San Diego (UCSD) Department of Urban Studies and Planning and University of San Diego’s Burnham Moores Center for Real Estate.
The participating institutions send a team of up to six students to the Challenge with the objective of creating a development plan to compete as the highest and best use for the proposed site.
The SDSU students proposed a dynamic mix of culinary school, community garden, hotels, apartments, for-lease office space and office condos. Their decision to make a culinary school the highlight of the proposed development stems from the widespread incidence of health issues that can be mitigated with a healthy diet.
Entries were judged by San Diego real estate luminaries Nelson Ackerly of Kilroy Realty, Ben Badiee of Badiee Development, Dennis Cruzan of CRUZAN, Dan Feldman of Sunroad Enterprises, Kevin Heinly of Gensler, Kelly Moden of Murfey Company, Mike Paris of U.S. Bank, Nick Psyllos of HFF, Adam Robinson of RAF Pacifica Group, Steve Scott of Cisterra Development, Marco Sessa of Sudberry Properties and Chris Wood of Ryan Companies.
Throughout the competition, the university teams had access to volunteer experts from LPA Inc., Carrier Johnson + Culture and SGPA Architecture and Planning. They were also allowed to turn to Linda Menashe of Chicago Title, Mark McGovern of CBRE for finance, Mike Leake of Sheppard Mullin for legal assistance and Dave Davis of DF Davis Real Estate for appraisal. The teams also accessed their alumni in the industry for assistance.
Proceeds from University Challenge will fund scholarships for each participating school.