UMKC/KU/KState Team beats out Harvard and Yale for $50,000 prize
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A team of students from three regional schools, including the University of Missouri-Kansas City, won first place in a national competition to redevelop part of downtown Minneapolis. The UMKC/University of Kansas/Kansas State University team beat out 149 others, including groups from Yale and Harvard.
The team will share the ULI/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition’s $50,000 top prize. UMKC student Tyler Knott is enrolled in the Henry W. Bloch School of Management’s Master of Entrepreneurial Real Estate Program.
The ULI/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition, now in its 11th year, offers graduate-level students the opportunity to form their own multidisciplinary teams and engage in a challenging exercise in responsible land use. Student teams had two weeks to devise a comprehensive design and development program for a real, large-scale site. Submissions consisted of boards that include drawings, site plans, tables, and market-feasible financial data.
In this case, the specific task was to design a plan for Minneapolis’ Downtown East neighborhood, which will eventually become the site of a new stadium for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings.
Their winning plan transformed the Minneapolis Armory into an indoor market. The plan also called for additional retail, residential and office development. Other team members were Kevin Cunningham, Derek Hoetmer and Kylie Harper, all landscape planning students at Kansas State, and Lauren Leigh Brown, a KU architecture student.
Walt Clements, director of the UMKC Bloch School’s Lewis White Real Estate Center, credited Knott for completing the in-depth analysis that helped secure a first place finish.
“Tyler was responsible for determining the market demand for a complex parcel of real estate adjacent to the Minneapolis stadium. In addition to researching the market to determine how much and what types of real estate should be developed, he performed an extensive multi-page financial analysis showing the financial feasibility of the project,” Clements said.
About the University of Missouri-Kansas City
The University of Missouri-Kansas City, one of four University of Missouri campuses, is a public university serving more than 15,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students, and celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2013. UMKC engages with the community and economy based on a four-part mission: life and health sciences; visual and performing arts; urban issues and education; and a vibrant learning and campus life experience. For more information about UMKC, visit www.umkc.edu. You can also find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and watch us on YouTube.
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