Friday, May 16, 2008

GSU Students Win REIAC Challenge


From left, Nick West, Professor Julian Diaz, Seth Coan, Andrea Ivory and Paul Welch Goggins.


ATLANTA, GA – Four graduate students from the Department of Real Estate at Georgia State University have received $1,000 each for envisioning an environmentally-friendly residential community along the BeltLine.

The Southeast Chapter of the Real Estate Investment Advisory Council REIAC hosted the yearly REIAC Challenge at Georgia State University on April 24. Each of the four competing teams chose a brownfield parcel in the Boulevard Crossing area that would both match the overall vision for the Beltline and deliver high returns to investors.

Winning team members Seth Coan, Paul Welch Goggins, Andrea Ivory and Nick West (above group photo) designed a $30 million, 250-unit luxury apartment community called “Hamilton Plaza Apartments,” which would theoretically be built on a 3.6 acre Grant Park site. The “green” community would be constructed to LEED standards.

“We are very grateful to REIAC for its support of this case competition,” said Julian Diaz, III, Ph.D., Chair of the Real Estate Department. “This is a wonderful opportunity to reinforce classroom learning with real world problems. The value to our students and therefore to the community is clearly significant.”

Judges for the competition included K. C. Boyce, (left bottom photo) Senior Project Manager with Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.; Paul Vespermann, Director of Real Estate for Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.; Simon Bloom (top right photo) and Stephanie Dyer, (top left photo) Partners at The Bloom Law Firm; Jon Callaghan, (photo at left) Director of Real Estate and Added Values for RMK Timberland Group; Kurt Wassenar, Vice President of ING Investment Management; and REIAC Board member Paul Gallimore, a Professor in GSU’s Department of Real Estate in the Robinson College of Business.

Several other top real estate executives donated their time to help coach the teams. They include Stephen DeVinney, Principal of Goddard Investment Group; Peter Mitchell, Vice President Acquisitions for Wells Real Estate Funds; Michael Pelt, President of MDH Partners; and Mitchell Powell, CFO of The Integral Group, and member of the REIAC Board.

The Real Estate Investment Advisory Council (REIAC) is a national nonprofit trade association that provides an open forum for the exchange of ideas, concerns and experiences between professionals who conduct commercial real estate transactions.


The organization is comprised of real estate owners and senior executives of institutions and real estate investment firms who, acting as principals, are primarily engaged in the areas of equity transactions and debt origination. (Georgia State University building is at right below)
REIAC also provides opportunities for improving the knowledge and professional standards within the industry; and acts as a vehicle for community service. For more information visit http://www.reiac.org/.
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Media Contact: Terri Thornton, 404-932-4347, TerriThornton@mindspring.com

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