UW team places 1st in NAIOP case competition

Congratulations to the UW-Madison undergraduate real estate team for placing first at the highly competitive NAIOP 2010 University Real Estate Challenge hosted by the Minnesota chapter.

Our passionate team consisting of Andrew Berger, Alissa Kearney, Scott Larson, Katelyn Murray and Nate Ross worked hard on this project--under the supervision of Arif Qureshi, UW lecturer in commercial real estate development--with the determined goal of WOW'ing the judges and 130+ Minnesota NAIOP Chapter members in attendance. Thank you to everyone who helped prepare our team and provide valuable feedback.

Look for more information on the competition in our May newsletter. Click here to join our email list (via Constant Contact).

MBA Spring Ball

Meet Our Current Students, a series of posts from current real estate MBA students on their experiences in the program:

The Graduate Business Association (GBA) hosted the Spring Ball (aka MBA Prom) last weekend. The event was held at the Monona Terrace, a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece on Lake Monona in downtown Madison. The event's theme "A Night in Las Vegas" suited the glamour and excitement of the evening.

Dean Michael Knetter kicked things off by introducing students of the incoming class, and then we were off! Food and drinks were accompanied by Vegas-style gaming - but without real money (there are still laws against that here in Wisconsin). Elvis Presley made a brief appearance, and real estate's own Siegfried & Roy performed all night with their tiger, Montecore.

The "prom" was a welcome respite from the rigors of finishing up the year and finding an internship. Now it is back to the grindstone until May 14th!

Travis Campbell is a first year MBA student in the James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate at the Wisconsin School of Business. He is presently enjoying a beautiful spring day in Madison.

Spring meeting of our Board of Advisors

Last week we were in Chicago at the Gleacher Center for the spring meeting of our Board of Advisors. The spring 2010 meeting featured a particularly compelling agenda including our keynote speaker Sam Zell and panels addressing the state of the industry, opportunistic investing and the outlook on healthcare.

Pictured: Academic Director Stephen Malpezzi, Sam Zell, Executive Director Michael Brennan

The board meets twice a year--in the fall on our hometurf in Madison and in the spring in nearby Chicago--to hear from experts on important issues facing the real estate industry and to discuss the economy and business trends. The next meeting will be September 15-16, 2010 in Madison.

The Board is a core support group for the Graaskamp Center, advising the Center on its agenda, participating in exclusive bi-annual board meetings, and contributing to the Wisconsin Real Estate Tradition as guest lecturers and mentoring students. Comprised of representatives from the professional community including the private, corporate, public, and non-profit sectors, board members work in the wide array of functional areas related to real estate and urban development such as brokerage, property management, consulting, development, appraisal, investment, asset management, law, mortgage banking, lending, corporate real estate, institutional investment, syndication, planning, regulation, and design. We're grateful to board members for their support of the Wisconsin Real Estate Program. Board membership is by invitation only.

We will have more photos and a recap of the meeting on our website very soon. To stay up to date on the Wisconsin Real Estate Program events and opportunities, sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Photos by Steve Becker © Steve Becker Media

Graaskamp real estate MBA in review

Joe Stampone, NYU real estate student and blogger at A Student of the Real Estate Game, talked to first-year Wisconsin MBA student Alex Livadas recently about his experiences within the Graaskamp Center MBA program. In particular, Alex highlighted the "balance of finance and development courses along with a large and loyal network of alumni around the country" and the unique "international focus and the Applied Real Estate Investment Track (AREIT)."

Every year, students take an international real estate seminar and first year students attend the MIPIM conference in Cannes, while second year students choose an international location to visit (Brazil and China were past trips). Also, the AREIT track allows a small group of students to manage an active portfolio of REITs (~$1 M) which offers great investment management experience and exposure to capital markets.

My classmates also provide a broad range of experiences from design, development, finance, planning, etc and the professors do a great job tying in their outside work and research into the classroom, which gives a unique perspective on different real estate topics. All in all, my first year has been a great experience and I’d highly recommend it.

Thanks, Alex! You can read the rest of the review here, and you can find out more about our real estate MBA program here.