Competing against 18 teams in the Eisenberg Real Estate Challenge, Purdue earned second place with their innovative site development proposal. The five-student team represented three different Purdue schools, but all students are earning minors from the Dean V. White Real Estate Finance Program at the Daniels School of Business.
The Eisenberg Challenge brings together top undergraduate teams from select universities to compete on a high-profile development project in the Midwest. Each team is given the same site, information, and assumptions, and must craft a comprehensive development proposal. Their plan must combine both financial analysis and feasibility insight to demonstrate how best to maximize the potential of the site.
Held in Chicago on April 5, the Purdue team excelled in the competition, according to their faculty advisor and economics professor J.R. Stokes. Purdue placed first in their initial heat, beating out Indiana, DePaul, UPenn, Miami and Michigan State to advance to the finals. Joining Texas and Marquette in the top three, Purdue finished second overall, with Marquette announced as the winner.
“It was an amazing opportunity to showcase our program and the great group of real estate students we have at Purdue,” says Zane Barnett, a member of the team. “We’re fortunate to be part of a program that prioritizes building industry connections through classes, career treks and club events. One of our biggest advantages was being part of a program open to all majors. Our team brought together students studying business, construction and engineering — all united by a shared interest in real estate.”
This strong showing reflects the real estate program’s commitment to experiential learning, industry engagement and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
In addition to Purdue, competing teams competing were University of Illinois, Chicago; DePaul University; University of Arkansas, Little Rock; Auburn University; University of Pennsylvania; University of Texas; Marquette University; University of Illinois, Champaign; Rutgers University; Miami University; University of Notre Dame; Tulane University; Indiana University; Indiana University, Indianapolis; Carnegie Mellon University; Michigan State University; and Ohio State University.
The assigned industry advisors were Daniels School alumnus Tommy O'Brien, vice president and commercial real estate portfolio manager at Wintrust Bank, and Zachary Dillard, associate managing director of commercial real estate at CIBC.
