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The GSB won the 2008 Kellogg/GSB Real Estate Challenge with an innovative, long-term solution to post-Olympics housing, should the city of Chicago host the 2016 Games, said David Pio, a student in the Evening MBA Program and a member of the winning team. “To allow for a creative solution to deal with the absorption issue after the Games, we proposed including some modular housing that can be built off site in a factory,” Pio said.
The challenge is an annual competition in which a team from each school responds to a request for proposal for redevelopment of property controlled by the city of Chicago. This year at the May 30 competition, students were asked to propose housing for 17,000 athletes and a post-Olympics strategy in the event the city is awarded the 2016 Games.
A minimum of 4,200 housing units are needed, but the GSB team proposed 6,200 units to provide a better mix of market uses, Pio said. “Because of issues with absorption and post-Olympics use, we cut absorption in half by planning to move modular units to the surrounding neighborhoods and other off-site locations after the Games,” he said. “Our plan allows a parallel construction process to produce units in a factory while others are built on site. That would create an economic engine for the manufacturing industry.”
Once constructed, the modular housing would be shipped via train or truck to the Olympics site, Pio said. “The modular housing would arrive just in time and serve housing needs during the Olympic Games. Afterward, the city could remove the modular housing and redevelop it offsite after the Games as student housing, affordable housing, or hotel-motel use with joint-venture partners.”
Pio and teammate Jeff Broaden agreed the differentiating factor in the GSB victory was the modular housing. “We were told that both teams had great proposals but the GSB stood out in terms of creating a vision for the site, coming up with creative solutions, and having a well-rounded plan,” said Broaden, first-year student in the Full-Time MBA Program and co-chair of the student-led Real Estate Group.
“Another big reason we won was because we considered the end audience—the city of Chicago, the Olympic Committee, and potential investment partners,” Pio said. “They wanted a long-term vision for the site, 20 years plus. Our plan would allow them to build out in the context of the surrounding neighborhood and what is best for the area. It would allow them to switch uses as the market dictated.”
Broaden said the contest was realistic and enjoyable. “It gave us a chance to work on a complex, high-profile interdisciplinary challenge with a diverse group of fellow classmates, then present these challenges to a distinguished panel of judges – not at all different from what we will be required to do after graduation,” he said. “We had fun, it was a great learning experience, and it was nice to take home the win.”
The GSB team boasted two classically trained architects, a landscape architect, and students specializing in development, asset management, real estate, investment management, and investment banking, Pio said. “We had a great team with very diverse backgrounds,” he said. “Everyone had their own specializations and skills sets, all related to real estate.”
—Phil Rockrohr