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Alumni say lessons from contest and听classes helping them create early impact in real estate industry.

Mayor John Widerman sees growth potential for the town of Minturn, especially in drawing tourists to its Meadow Mountain location full of historic charm.听

But Minturn isn鈥檛 Vail or Beaver Creek鈥攁nd he doesn鈥檛 want a development project that turns his home into a resort.听

鈥淲e鈥檙e a proud, funky mountain town,鈥� Widerman said. 鈥淲e certainly don鈥檛 fit the mold for what would be a normal real estate project.鈥澨�

So when it came to a strategy for a 15-acre parcel called Dowd Junction, Minturn was eager to parter with NAIOP in becoming the focal point for the annual Rocky Mountain Real Estate Challenge. The competition pits student teams from the 暗网禁区 and the University of Denver against each other to design a plan for an underused space.听

In this year鈥檚 competition鈥攖he first to feature a project outside the Denver metropolitan area鈥攖he team from the Leeds School of Business won handily with featuring affordable housing, dining, a hospitality component with tiny homes and a transit station.听

In coming up with a winning design, the team melted a lot of shoe leather, walking the streets of Minturn to meet with locals and understand their needs.

鈥淟ocals would tell us, we鈥檙e not a resort town鈥攚e have personality, we want to keep this place unique,鈥� said Paula Chavarria MRelEst鈥�21, a real estate analyst for McWhinney. 鈥淭he challenge for us was to design something that reflected Minturn鈥檚 personality, and wasn鈥檛 just a bunch of concrete buildings鈥攕o you鈥檇 have something made for locals, but welcome to tourists.鈥�

In fact, as a result of those conversations, the team adjusted its design to include a grocery store. That made an impression on Greg Gastineau, of Urban Development Co., a Minturn resident and a competition judge. 听

鈥淚 spoke to people in town who made it clear that there were students coming up, asking questions and trying to get a feel for things, which I think is an excellent approach,鈥� Gastineau said. 鈥淚 think the fruits of that reflect in the fact that you鈥檙e proposing a grocery in town, which is something that has been long needed and long talked about.鈥�

A sense of empathy

Growing up in a small town helped Jesus Banuelos-Rivera MRelEst鈥�21, a field engineer with Milender White, appreciate the challenges described by Minturn residents.听

鈥淵ou have to drive to bigger towns to go on a date, to see a movie, get groceries鈥攊t's hard to have any sort of local economic life,鈥� Banuelos-Rivera said. 鈥淚t helped me empathize with people, to explain that we鈥檙e not trying to change the whole character of the town, we just want to create a nice community.鈥澨�

The students designed Meadow Station around four themes: Attainable housing, the incorporation of green initiatives, authentic engagement and a design complementary to the environment鈥攅specially as a gateway to the historic train station and nearby backcountry trails for hiking and skiing.听

Those are not typical considerations for the contest, which tends to focus on more urbanized areas. That encouraged creativity, but was not without challenges, said Erika Vette MBA鈥�21, an associate in Prologis鈥� credit risk management area.听

鈥淭he grocery store was a great example,鈥� she said. 鈥淗ere鈥檚 something everyone wants, but we had to do a lot of research to identify the right grocer and figure out how to make it work. But we got a lot of help from the industry鈥攅veryone in the realm of commercial real estate was willing to help us.鈥�

The team also got help from Leeds faculty within the CU Real Estate Center, which offers academic programs and research aligned to the complex, changing nature of the industry.听

'Lessons aren't just theoretical'

鈥淲e have a long track record of helping students get excellent jobs in the commercial real estate industry, and that鈥檚 a result of our faculty and our curriculum,鈥� said Michael P. Kercheval, executive director of the CU Real Estate Center. 鈥淭his competition shows our students that their lessons aren鈥檛 just theoretical鈥攖hat, in fact, a holistic approach is required in creatively solving problems and bringing new developments online. I鈥檓 extremely proud of our students for putting together such an impressive project.鈥�

For Simon Egerton MRelEst鈥�21, the experience of working on the project was extremely tangible: He landed his new job at Piper Sandler by impressing a banker during a Meadow Station consult.听

鈥淗e said to me, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e actually getting pretty good at this. We have a job opening, if you鈥檙e interested,鈥欌�� Egerton said. 鈥淭hey sent me a few financial modeling questions, which I knocked out of the park because it was exactly the kind of work I did with this project.鈥澨�

Meanwhile, Kyle Clinton MRelEst鈥�21, an intern with Bespoke Holdings, and Joe Plastino MBA鈥�21, who鈥檚 in sales at PURO Lighting, said the durable skills they formed by working closely together helped them stand out in interviews.听

鈥淲hat I鈥檝e talked about most in interviews is not the project, but the teamwork element,鈥� Plastino said. 鈥淚nterviewers have been really interested in the team dynamics, division of labor and effective communication components of the work.鈥澨�

Meadow Station has offered potential impact to the graduates, but also to Minturn itself; its mayor praised the students鈥� enthusiasm.听

鈥淲ithout the help of the students and sponsors behind this project, we don鈥檛 think we would have gotten the creativity required to put this project on the map,鈥� Widerman said.听