Second Year Annie Evans presents her case to the residents of Chapel Hill

On September 30, 15 second-year MBA students showcased the UNC Kenan-Flagler real estate program to a group of 77 local business-persons, civic leaders and citizens at the "Friends of Downtown" Chapel Hill meeting in the Franklin Street Hotel. Following Dave Hartzell's overview of the Real Estate Concentration, two teams led by students Annie Evans and Jeffery Danford presented their re-development analysis of the West Side Plaza building located at 306 West Franklin Street (i.e. the Vespa Ristorante building). The presentations were an amazing success! Pat Evans, who facilitated the meeting, said later in an email to Professor Hartzell, "I can't tell you how many people came up to me and told me that the students were the best program we have had, EVER!!!!! And you have tough competition such as Holden Thorp, Scott Maitland, mayors and business people! "

The two teams were given less than a week to analyze the 306 West Franklin site and propose a re-development plan. Both teams reviewed key issues including, zoning, site layout, the Chapel Hill master plan, upcoming developments, market demand and financial feasibility. The first team operated under the assumption that any re-development would be constrained to the existing site. They proposed a renovation and addition to the existing building, resulting in a mixed-use project featuring 36,000 square feet of student housing and 11,000 square feet of retail space. The second team, assuming a "swing for the fences" approach, also proposed a residential/commercial mixed use project. However the plan was larger in scale, encompassing several adjacent parcels to solve the difficult site layout challenge.

The event was a great opportunity for the real estate students to analyze a real-world development opportunity and gain experience presenting to concerned citizens. We'd like to thank the following students for representing UNC Kenan-Flagler so well: Annie Evans, Heather Moylan, Kim Bucklew, Craig Miller, Mike Baker, Matt Benson, Jason Bockenek, Matthew Henney, Kevin Jennings, Nicholas Olaya, Jeffery Danford, Paul Lysko, Michael Skena, Bruce Klaber, Wes McAdams, and Mike Aiken.