Maryland’s Real Estate Development Program kicked off the Fall 2019 Capstone competition on Friday night, December 13th, with five dual degree students (MRED/M.ARCH) presenting their projects to a panel of industry experts. Casey Huntington took top prize with her project, 1600 Nexus, a mixed-use, mixed-income development in the Point Breeze neighborhood of South Philadelphia that judges cited as beautiful and equitable development for a low-income community facing gentrification. Runner up went to Adan Ramos for Poppleton Place, a mixed-use project in Southwest Baltimore that employed grant funding for public housing redevelopment and Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), which allows the conversion of public housing to project-based Section 8 contracts. Both students were mentored this semester by Jessica Jones.
Nine students competed in round two on Saturday, December 14th, with MRED student Scott Glickman taking first place for his project, Preserve at Piney Hill, a planned neighborhood on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Xingchen Liu was awarded second place for Park View at Landover, a mixed-use development in Landover, Md. Elsa Escobar Pedrin took third place for The Mall at Landover, a residential and retail development in Landover, Md. Honorable mention went to Rahul Chawla for Landover Medical Park, a mixed-use project containing a medical center and retail, also in Landover, Md. Seydina Fall and Robert Rauch served as professional mentors.
The bi-annual capstone competition allows students to combine all of the skills learned in the program and put them to work on a real-world project, while challenging them to create a full-blown feasibility study for the development of a property in just one semester. Students complete the project by presenting a 15-minute overview (20 for dual degree students) of their development to a live jury of leading industry professionals at semester’s end. The winner must deliver and present a financially viable development plan that incorporates the program’s “quadruple bottom line”—an economically viable, environmentally respectful, socially responsible and beautifully designed concept. This year’s jury of highly-accomplished development professionals includes Malcolm Haith (MRED ’09), Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners; Goyer Roberts, The Duffie Companies; Timur Ryspekov (MRED ’14), Telesis Corporation; Barbara Kelly, Citibank; John Lin, CapStar Commercial Realty; Derek McDaniels (B.S. Architecture ’82), Efficient Home; Paul Rowe, E2 Property Investments LLC; and Jason Zell, JM Zell Partners, LTD. This year’s poster judges, Catherine Ryckman and Mithila Mattoo, are both 2018 MRED alumni.
Project architects on this year’s capstone are: Jack DeVilbiss, Nicole Hinkle (M.ARCH ‘13), David Ensor (M.ARCH ’14), Mike Fischer (M.ARCH ’08), Alla Elmahadi (M.ARCH/M.RED '18), Paul Rogers and Rachael Whiting (B.A. Architecture ’18).
Congratulations to all the students who presented their projects: Richard Bedrick, University Park at Landover, Landover, Md.; Andrea De Carlo, Hoboken Exchange, Hoboken, N.J.; Dennis Holste, The Park @ Glenarden, Landover, Md.; Kyle Huck, Nanticoke Landing, Eastern Shore, Md.; Andrea Nichols, Schuylkill Place, Philadelphia, Pa.; Tachit Pultunya, LakeYard, Eastern Shore, Md.; Akiel Pyant, The Pavilion at EastLake, Eastern Shore, Md.; and Bradley Robertson, Landover Square, Landover, Md.