Master of Real Estate Development

Clemson University’s December 2017 graduates from the Master of Real Estate Development program completed their final Practicum projects in November of 2017, presenting to a professional jury that consisted of Julie Franklin, Justin Hirsch, David Rosenberg, and Craig Stipes. Since 2004, these capstone projects have been sponsored by the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) Foundation®, through the SIOR Carolinas Chapter, which awards an annual scholarship to the winning team.

In years past, students used the practicum to prepare a detailed feasibility analysis and development proposal for real sites across the Southeast region. This was the first year where teams submitted packages on mix-used development sites in a case study format. Teams were able to select their own projects for the case study and were required to highlight site, market, and financial analyses in their reporting. Each team incorporated information about the developer’s goal, while highlighting the history, challenges, and benefits that these developments have stimulated. This year’s competition also marked the first year there was a three way tie. Below are the following teams that were awarded a scholarship by the professional jurors:

Drayton Mill – Hemadi Hamam, Kurt Wallenborn, and Daniel Wright
Midtown – Brunson Miller, Andrew Simmons, and Wes Whitlock
Pacific Box and Crate – Andrew Cohen, Stuart Hall, and Craig Gearhart

Drayton Mill: Drayton Mills is a historic textile mill, located in Spartanburg, SC, that has been transformed into a thriving mixed-use development with 289 luxury apartment units and 70,000 square feet of office and retail. The once prosperous textile mill closed in 1994 and was slated for demolition. TMS Development could not tolerate destroying this piece of history and decided to purchase and redevelop the property. Working with the community TMS has successfully recreated the mill village, which is the largest historic rehabilitation in the state of South Carolina to date. Most local residents had forgotten that mill village once existed here, so repositioning the site was a challenge. Through a tremendous collaboration between the Developer and local officials, the mill quickly became an attraction to the area.

Midtown: Midtown is an urban infill mixed-use development project located in the renowned historic district of downtown Charleston, South Carolina, with frontage on King, Spring, and Meeting Street. Overcoming a fourteen-year development process, the project represents what can be achieved in real estate development through perseverance, creative thinking, public-private partnership, and resilience. CC&T Real Estate Services assembled the property, which consisted of five parcels owned by 70 individual property owners. The phased project, completed in 2015, brought a Class A apartment complex, a dual flag hotel, a parking garage, and several retail and office spaces to the historic peninsula.

Pacific Box & Crate: With a company mission to breathe new life into neighborhoods, the Raven Cliff Company purchased a ten acre site on Charleston’s upper peninsula – an area more commonly known as “the neck.” Completed in 2017, the developers delivered a unique office and commercial space in a mixed-use campus setting, consisting of two, 20,000 SF buildings, which are now fully occupied with tech companies, a brewery, and restaurant incubator. The development has launched a spike in land prices in the surrounding area and has caused more businesses to tap into land north of the sacred peninsula.

The MRED student Spring 2017 Practicum Presentations were presented on Thursday, April 20 to a five panel jury. The jury consisted of Shelby Dodson (CBRE); Mary Douglas Hirsch (City of Greenville); Laurens Nicholson (Windsor Aughtry); Ryan Johnston (Upstate Business Journal); and Holly Douglas Schaumber (Douglas Development).

Three teams presented redevelopment proposals on three different comparable sites in the Village of West Greenville. Now an upcoming arts district, in the early 1900s, West Greenville was home to the textile mill “crescent.” Everything in the crescent at that time revolved around the mills, in a true live, work, play community.

The Mosaic at West Village Team included David Bivens, Vera Han, Ace Richardson, and Cliff Timmons.

Their 2.3 acre team master plan for the arts district included a two phase plan for 65 co-living apartments totaling 43,600 sqft, a 16,000 sqft market, and 12,600 sqft of retail in Phase 1. Phase 2 included additional co-working Class A office space and additional retail.

The Saltbox Team included Randy Clack, Wain Owings, and Scott Rogers.

Their 2.17 acre team master plan recommended on the 1st floor: a 9,500 sqft Co-Op grocery store, 2,500 sqft GHS Primary Care physician, and 2,500 micro Bank of America branch. The 2nd floor included 15,000 sqft of office, with 15,000 sqft of an art co-work space on the 3rd floor. Their master plan also included 12 townhomes and a hostel.

The Village Crossing Team included Walker Sojourner, Kaki Smith, Arthur Chen, and Gilbert Liang.

Their 2.94 acre team master plan recommended a mixed use development that included a 9,000 sqft community owned Co-Op grocery store, 12 apartments above ground floor retail, 15,000 sqft of class A office space, adaptive reuse creative art studios and an outdoor public space.

Saltbox Development’s plan and presentation was announced the winner of the 2017 Practicum Presentations.

MRED students in the August and December 2017 classes toured Charlotte on Friday, April 7, 2017. ABRED Director Dave Chandler of Faison and MRED Alumni Charlie Rulick, ’07 and Chad Platt, ’15 both of Miller-Valentine Group discussed NoDa and Chadbourn Mill as part of a walking tour. Chadbourne Mill, a 1947 hosiery mill, was the site for the 2015 MRED Practicum Presentations. MRED Alumni Rob Turk ’15 of Levine Properties gave a tour of First Ward Park and the Google Fiber Building. Faison hosted students for lunch in their offices followed by a presentation on city trends from Michael Smith with Charlotte Center City Partners in their offices.

Andrew Baysden ’15 and Jim Kwasnowski of Crescent Communities ended the day’s tours with a presentation on current construction and timeline for Stonewall Station set to open in late 2017.

Nashville and Chattanooga, TN were new city destinations for the MRED Program in late March 2017. Stops and tours on Day 1 in Nashville included ONE Nashville Place, 505 Nashville, Capitol View, and Gulch Crossing. MRED alumni Trevor Cross ’11, Matt Evans ’13, Brent Janan ’16, Derek Lisle ’08, and Josh Mitchell ’16 hosted the first year students for an evening reception at LA Jackson’s.

Day 2 of the trip began with a tours of Hill Center Brentwood and Berry Farms before the group headed to Chattanooga, TN. Hutton Company CEO Karen Hutton and MRED alumni Matt Phillips ’07 met the group upon arrival for a tour of Hutton. While in Chattanooga, Lamp Post Properties provided a tour of the Tomorrow Building and they heard the Chattanooga Story from River City Company’s Jim Willamson.

Unfortunately the scheduled Day 3 tours in Atlanta had to be cut short due to the I-85 bridge collapse.

The Colvin Case Study Challenge is a national retrospective written case study competition that challenges teams to document a recent innovative real estate project within the its own metropolitan region. Projects are judged on the depth of understanding of markets, project valuation, finance, urban design, entitlement processes and operational issues by leading real estate professionals. The first-place team received $10,000, with the second place and third place winners receiving $5000 and $2500, respectively. Sponsored by the University of Maryland’s Colvin Institute of Real Estate Development, the national competition required student teams to complete a semester-long, case study to demonstrate their depth and breadth of markets, project valuation, finance, urban design, entitlement processes and operational issues.

Master of Real Estate Development (MRED) students David Bivens, Randy Clack and Wain Owings represented the Clemson University team at the 2016 Colvin Case Study Challenge in Baltimore, MD. The MRED team finished third out of 20 graduate real estate programs that participated in the 2016 challenge. The first stage of the competition consisted of a written case study of an existing development project. The Clemson MRED team submitted: “Redefining the Intersection of Downtown – ONE”, the story of the ONE development in downtown Greenville. The Clemson MRED team was then selected as one of four finalists invited to present in front of prominent real estate professionals from across the country in Baltimore. First place went to the MRED team from Columbia University. By finishing third, Clemson’s MRED team was awarded $2,500 and more importantly, gained national exposure. Dr. Robert Benedict served as the team’s faculty advisor with Chandler Thompson (MRED ’15) and Robert Hughes of Hughes Development Corporation serving as professional advisors.

The Case Study Challenge is named for Baltimore Developer John Colvin, who founded the Colvin Institute for Real Estate Development in 2008. The Colvin Institute for Real Estate Development supports the interdisciplinary approach of the University of Maryland’s Master of Real Estate Development curriculum that comprehensively covers finance and capital markets, law and public policy, structure and site design, construction management, property, portfolio and asset management as well as marketing and commercial leasing. 

MRED students and faculty attended the Urban Land Institute Fall Meeting this year in Dallas, TX from October 23-27, 2016. The five day trip began with ULI Mobile Workshop tours as part of the conference. Mobile tours for the MRED students included: Bold Actions: The Forth Worth Story, Uptown Density, Icons and Innovation, Sales in the City, TOD in Uptown and Beyond, Follow the Trail: Trinity Trail, and the Trammell Crow Legacy.

MRED students also got an exclusive presentations as part of this year’s ULI trip.

Harvin Hunter and Tyler Potts with the Dallas Cowboys Corporate Partnership Services provided the group a tour of The Star. The Star in Frisco, Texas is the official name for the 91-acre development that will be home to the Cowboys new world headquarters, training complex, a 12,000-seat multi-use event center, and a wide range of mixed-use elements on the property.

Alan Owings with Forest City discussed the current phase of 3700M, with representatives from Rogers O’Brien, the project’s general contractor. Alan discussed the project details and reviewed the BIM model for the new 21-story residential tower in the West Village of Dallas’s Uptown district. Students toured the construction site and visited the model units and amenity deck at the phase one project-3700M located next door.

Students attended Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2017® as they’ve done in previous years. They heard about the success of Klyde Warren Park, a 5-acre urban green environment built over the Woodall Rogers freeway and had dinner at The Rustic, a well-known Dallas restaurant with local, farm-fresh ingredients.

The Fall 2016 Coffee with an Advancement Board Director featured Russ Davis, founder and president of Davis Property Group and Urban Homes, LLC. Russ, current vice-chair of the Advancement Board, was accompanied by Lisa Lanni of McMillan, Pazdan, Smith Architects. Both guest lecturers discussed their professional careers and lessons learned with the MRED students. Davis transitioned from a large corporate entity (Trammell Crow Residential) to become a highly respected developer who has partnered with development icons such as Ron Terwilliger and Henry Faison. Lanni joined a small architectural firm (Pazdan Smith) after graduation from Clemson University to become a principal of McMillan, Pazdan, Smith that has grown into a 300-employee firm with multiple offices. Davis and Lanni also had an open discussion of their mixed-use and multi-family projects. Davis and Lanni first worked together on McBee Station, a highly successful, mixed-use development in downtown Greenville, SC. Davis assembled a unique site that included the acquisition of a subsidized housing project that required the successful relocation of residents and overcoming a difficult site with topographic challenges. Davis’ interaction with the neighborhood residents and Greenville’s city planning and community development officials was a lengthy and difficult process. His explanation of the relocation process and the benefits of having a good private-public partnership was a meaningful lesson for the students. Lanni’s discussion of the design challenges and working with a developer to achieve a cost-effective but well-conceived plan was insightful. Their collaboration has continued with other projects in Greenville and throughout the Carolinas. Davis and Lanni also discussed current development and architectural trends. At the conclusion of the session, they offered advice and suggestions to the students covering a wide range of professional and personal perspectives.

MRED CSM 8660 students had an opportunity to tour Clemson’s Littlejohn Coliseum on Tuesday, September 13, 2016 as part of Dr. Bausman’s fall Contractor’s Role in Development Class. Zach Olsen and Jeffrey Turner of Turner Construction, provided the facility tours and explanation of project scheduling and safety requirements of each project.

Clemson MRED students spent Friday, September 9, 2016 volunteering at the Salvation Army in an effort to give back to the Greenville community. Students learned the objectives of the Salvation Army Greenville Area Command Campus and toured the facilities. Volunteer projects included removal of a 25′ chain-link fence, food pantry re-organization, and packing food boxes. Lance Byars, MRED ’14 alumni helped organize student volunteers with project needs.