Schulich students are celebrating success at the 2018 Developers’ Den competition. A team of students from the Master of Real Estate and Infrastructure program won first place, and a team of Schulich MBAs took third, after an exciting competition with teams from leading graduate schools, over 100 industry leaders and a 14-judge panel.
The Developers’ Den Competition was presented by Altus Group and hosted by the Brookfield Centre in Real Estate and Infrastructure along with the Schulich Real Property Alumni Association. Teams were challenged to provide a 10-year strategic plan to boost value for a large mixed-use centre in Montreal. In an exciting second phase of the competition, competitors received an unsolicited offer to purchase the retail and residential property for a price well above its market valuation. They had to assess and respond to the offer and defend their decision to sell or hold the property.
Winning team Jordan Trinder, Allanah Bird, Derek Wei and Bao Nguyen received the $6,000 grand prize, just one term into the MREI program. The students began the Master of Real Estate and Infrastructure in January 2018.
“It was a unique experience to be given a challenge that tied in all aspects of developing mixed-use communities, only a few weeks into our program,” said team spokesperson Jordan Trinder. “It was a great bonding experience as we attempted to solve a complex problem with little time.”
Finalist teams were judged by an impressive panel of industry experts, representing SmartCentres REIT, Infrastructure Ontario, Trinity Development Group, Great Gulf Homes and Dorsay Development Corporation.
“Our four team members all came from different industries, and our skills complemented each other,” said Jordan. “We pushed each other to think of realistic solutions and eventually came up with four guiding principles.”
Having a shared vision and unified compass for their project helped the team impress during their presentation.
“We were confident in our idea, which made it easy for us to pitch to the judges,” said Jordan.
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