First Competition Held in Midwest Asks Students To Redevelop Mock Blighted Urban Neighborhood

Should a five-block, blighted area of the city be redeveloped through a low-priced, “big box” chain store?

This may sound like a hot issue currently facing Chicago’s City Council, but it is actually one of the hypothetical questions under consideration by 50 DePaul University undergraduate students participating in a unique real estate education competition. The competition involves local real estate executives posing as city officials in charge of a mock request for proposal (RFP) to redevelop an urban neighborhood in the mythical city of Yorkville. It challenges students to respond to the RFP by considering conflicting issues to determine the best use of urban land.

Student teams will work with Lego building blocks and a computer simulation to put the final touches on their redevelopment proposals for the competition from 2:50 p.m. to 4:20 p.m. May 19 in DePaul’s Lewis Center, 25 E. Jackson Blvd., Room 1003. Then, the teams will make 20-minute presentations about their proposals in front of the competition’s mock city council from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. May 21 in the DePaul Center, 1 E. Jackson Blvd., Room 8205.

The Urban Plan Competition is the brainchild of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), a national nonprofit education and research institute dedicated to responsible land use. The competition is based on a ULI-developed case study that has been successfully used at the University of California-Berkeley. DePaul was chosen to be the first Midwestern university to present the competition because of its longstanding reputation as a leader in Chicago real estate education through its Real Estate Center at DePaul. ULI and DePaul have recruited real estate executives to serve as advisors and mock city council members who will judge the competition. The institute hopes to expand the competition to other colleges and high schools across the nation.

The fictional RFP outlines a realistically challenging redevelopment project for students. In addition to a site map and a market study outlining the demand for a variety of land uses, students are given letters from several community groups that express their concerns regarding the future of the neighborhood.

“The request for proposal challenges students to meet an array of conflicting community goals,” said Finance Professor Susanne Cannon, who teaches the course and directs the Real Estate Center at DePaul. “It asks them to decide whether to propose a Wal-Mart-like store for the site or advocate smaller retail establishments in an existing row of historic Victorian homes. Other issues involve various community members’ desires to create more jobs, decrease urban blight, expand affordable housing, keep density low and maintain a church-run homeless shelter. The city wants to increase tax revenue, too. It’s a very complex case that should provoke a lively and relevant discussion because it involves issues that big-time developers face.”

Each student on the team takes a particular role as financial analyst, market analyst, city hall liaison, community liaison or site planner. Working with a sophisticated computer model and a set of Lego building blocks representing different land uses, the teams create a proposal for the site based on their analysis of the issues and facts involved. The computer model calculates the tax-generating capability of proposed land uses and the financial return to the developer.

ULI supports the competition’s hands-on approach because it takes advantage of the latest experiential learning techniques to teach participants a variety of analytical skills, while providing them with insight into the complex field of real estate development and the challenges of land use decisions in their region.

Editor’s Note: Reporters interested in covering the May 19 or May 21 course sessions involving the Urban Plan Competition should make prior arrangements by calling Robin Florzak, DePaul director of media relations, at 312/362-8592. Photos of the competition also will be available after May 21 – call Florzak if you are interested in receiving copies.