A team of aspiring developers from the University of Southern California won NAIOP SoCal’s annual USC vs. UCLA Real Estate Challenge with a plan to build a transit-oriented complex on a vacant lot in southeastern Los Angeles.

The five-member USC team secured the Silver Shovel trophy at the Nov. 20 competition, which gives graduate students a real-world development assignment and serves as a talent pipeline for the Southern California commercial real estate industry. USC's second win in a row ties the long-running collegiate matchup at 14 wins each for the crosstown rivals.

This year’s challenge focused on strategies for developing a 2.85-acre site in Los Angeles County's Pico Rivera near a future Metro E Line extension. It's an issue on many Southern California developers' minds as they consider strategies to benefit from California's new SB 79 measure, which incentivizes housing development near transit stops.

The USC team — Desiree Bieber, Alex Blecksmith, Hugh Garvey, Matin Roshan and Paris Sato — proposed a mixed-use project called Rosemead Crossing that would include rental townhomes, 206 apartments with 10% designated affordable and grocery-anchored retail.

UCLA’s team — Isabelle Donatelli, Natalie Jones, Alexa Nourafchan, Sammi Weintraub and Mark Yu — responded with Proxima, a transit-oriented plan that would deliver 230 affordable apartments, ground-floor retail and public open space.

Industry veterans served as honorary team captains. Brett Dedeaux, chief executive of Los Angeles-based industrial development firm Dedeaux Properties, was honorary captain for USC, and Mary Ricks, former president of Kennedy Wilson, was honorary captain for UCLA.

A panel of judges included executives from MetLife Investment Management, Raintree Partners, Langdon Park Capital, ECM Management, Allen Matkins, Optimus Properties and Ware Malcomb.

The competition continues to serve as a pipeline for the industry, said Greg Brown, chair of the LA Real Estate Challenge and senior managing director at JLL Capital Markets.

“The student presentations were incredibly impressive, showing the creative skill and commitment of these young people,” Brown said.

The competition, in its 28th year, is organized by NAIOP SoCal, which represents more than 1,200 CRE professionals and developers. The association will rebrand as CREDA in 2026.