Hungry for High Urban Parcel Utilization
California Real Estate Journal
By Carla Pineda
... USC students were challenged to convert a hot dog restaurant into an essential stop along the Exposition Light Rail Transit Line
... The task was to wake up a sleepy hot dog joint by maximizing the elements of the surrounding urban neighborhood and determining the best use of the site. The presenters were students of the Ross Minority Program in Real Estate's winter session at the University of Southern California, but the "student" label should not detract from the professional members of this group, which included architects, financial advisors and a City Councilman...
... The judging panel was rounded out by a mix of high-profile real estate figures, some of who are alumni of the Ross Program: Richard K. Green, director of USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate; Stan Ross, chairman of the board of the Lusk Center and retired vice chairman of Ernst & Young; Renata Simril, senior vice president of Forest City Development's West Coast operations; J. Monique Lawshe, senior vice president at GH Capital LLC; and Robin M. Billups, vice president of corporate procurement/national supplier diversity manager of U.S. Bank. With that line-up, the teams had good reason to be nervous about implementing their knowledge.
"The opportunity to have that face time with these amazing people is a major draw," said Melissa Beene, an assistant at a real estate investment and development firm. Judges focused on how well the teams grasped the urban development fundamentals taught by the program, including construction and operational costs, entitlement, affordable-housing elements, law, land-use and zoning fundamentals, architecture and presentation skills...