A team of students at the University of Texas at Dallas – Naveen Jindal School of Management recently took second-place and a $3,000 prize in a real estate case competition.
The student team participated in the 12th annual Texas Shoot Out Real Estate MBA Case Challenge, which was organized by the North Texas chapter of the National Association for Industrial and Office Parks. Student teams represented a number of schools throughout Texas, such as Baylor, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UT Arlington, SMU and more.
The Jindal student team was assembled by Danielle Walts, who heard about the case competition in her Introduction to Real Estate course taught by Dr. Randall S. Guttery. Walts, who is pursuing a joint MBA and MS in Finance degree, put together a team of fellow MBA students Daniel O’Dell, Marco Pisterzi, Brian Korver (from the Professional MBA Flex program) and Miguel Limongi (Executive MBA 2016).
The competition required students to submit plans for developing two undeveloped parcels in Plano making up 13.64 acres. Currently, the land is part of Legacy Central, a large office and mixed-use development space. Teams had just over two weeks to work together and develop their plan.
“I walked the team through a highest and best-use analysis and told them to focus on clarity rather than complexity on the financial analysis part,” said past competitor and Jindal alumnus Edmund Lord, MBA 2016, who the student team asked for advice. With his help, the team assembled a presentation which they presented to a panel of real estate professionals in April.
Not only did the Jindal team walk away with second place and a cash prize of $3,000, (UT Austin took the top prize of $6,000) but also had crucial opportunities for networking. At the competition, Walts had the opportunity to meet Julie Lynch, principal at LYNOUS Talent Management, who offered Walts an temporary position. “When she found out I used to be a commercial real estate property manager before I came to the full-time program, she offered to turn it into an internship, so I ended up taking it,” said Walts. It’s a great company and a great opportunity. If it all works out, they’re looking to add someone to their staff in about year. That’s right about the same time I will be graduating.”