March 8, 2021 (Southern California) – UCLA took home the coveted Silver Shovel at the 23^rd annual NAIOP SoCal USC vs UCLA Real Estate Challenge held virtually on March 4.

Each year five-member graduate student teams from the Ziman Center of Real Estate at UCLA’s Anderson School of Business and the Lusk Center at USC’s Marshall School of Business and Price School of Public Policy compete head-to-head to determine the highest and best use for a unique parcel of land. This year’s first-ever all-female team from UCLA featuring students Sana Jahani, M.Arch; Kelly Kaine, MBA; Davana Linkon-Fryzer, MBA; Christina Moller, MBA; and Songyi Wang, MBA, won the competition with their proposal for Greenlight Studios.

The 2021 competition site was the 8.3-acre Greyhound Bus Terminal site located at the entrance to the Arts District and adjacent to several significant redevelopment projects in downtown Los Angeles. The project is owned by Prologis. The winning team had to accrue the most points during written and oral presentations from the judging panel featuring a diverse panel of commercial real estate and public sector leaders.

The Greenlight Studios proposal by UCLA was for a large-scale, ground-up studio development in Downtown LA, one of the first in 20 years. It included eight studio sound stages with 150,000 square feet of support space and parking. According to the students, the studio space was proposed for a number of reasons citing its recession-resistant characteristics, ongoing demand for studio space, positive jobs impact for Los Angeles, and revitalization potential for the Arts District.

“Both team presentations were strong. We were impressed with how the students took advantage of a unique market demand and were able to provide proposals that were impactful and innovative. These young people further exemplify how bright a future we have for the commercial real estate industry in Southern California. I look forward to seeing where their careers take them,” said Rob Antrobius, 2021 president, NAIOP SoCal, and Senior Vice President - Market Officer, Los Angeles for Prologis.

“As the first all-women’s team, we are honored to have been chosen to represent UCLA Anderson at this years’ NAIOP SoCal competition. We learned so much these past few weeks about this new and exciting asset class and are thrilled with the outcome,” shared Davana Linkon-Fryzer, MBA Candidate, Class of 2021, UCLA Anderson School of Management.

An exciting part of the virtual Real Estate Challenge was inspiring messages by the honorary Trojan and Bruin team captains. UCLA’s team captain was Valorie Kondos Field. "Miss Val”, is a Hall of Fame former UCLA Women’s Gymnastics Coach who was named NCAA Coach of the Century in 2018. The USC team captain was Clay Helton, USC Head Football Coach, who led the Trojans to a 19-home game winning streak.

"Congratulations to UCLA, our first all-women's team, for taking the Silver Shovel back to Westwood," said Eric Paulsen, emcee and chairman of the NAIOP SoCal 2021 Real Estate Challenge. "It was a fantastic evening with so many people to thank for making it happen, from our students to our sponsors, to our judges, and especially to our audience members for not only showing up virtually but also for donating over 90 student memberships to NAIOP SoCal."

 About NAIOP SoCal -- NAIOP SoCal is a chapter of NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, and comprises more than 1,000 members serving the counties of Los Angeles and Orange.  NAIOP is the leading organization for developers, owners, and related professionals in office, industrial, and mixed-use real estate, with more than 18,600 members in North America.  NAIOP advances responsible commercial real estate development and advocates for effective public policy.  For more information, visit www.naiopsocal.org,