This February, as part of their Spring Leadership Retreat, NAREIM hosted the final round of the MIT Center for Real Estate's 2016 CASE Competition, “The Caribbean Way”. Annually since 2011, the Alumni Association of  the MIT Center for Real Estate has conducted challenging case study competitions for real estate programs around the country.  2016 was no exception.  “The CASE focuses on real estate acquisition, development programming and financial underwriting, which mimics the professional circumstances and requires the participants to have a full understanding of real estate development process” said Georgetown team member Connor Bell. This year, thirty-one teams submitted proposals and twelve teams were selected to compete in the February 11, 2016, semifinal round in Boston, MA. Three finalists were then selected and invited to present at the NAREIM Executive Officers Leadership Retreat in Miami, Florida, on February 25, 2016. “This was an amazing event and to participate and present in front of CEO’s and Managing Directors of our nation’s top investment firms was an honor”, stated Jerry Ricciardi of Georgetown. Georgetown's proposal for the redevelopment of a nine-acre site in Port of Miami’s Dodge Island included a 2.4 million square foot, vibrant mixed-use complex that included hotel, office, residential and retail space. “It was a challenging yet rewarding experience to submit a Letter Of Intent, including a bid price and development program, the capital structure for the development venture, a fully-functional financial model and a 15-page summary presentation in five days” mentioned Azjargal Bartlett or Georgetown. Georgetown’s proposal was favored over submissions from Harvard, MIT, Columbia, Yale, UCLA, Cornell and others. "This was an excellent opportunity to present our proposal to the leaders of the real estate industry" said Amanda Young. “The judges responded well to our unique proposal for a strategic joint venture, and it was rewarding to receive such an enthusiastic response to our hard work.” [caption id="attachment_3295" align="alignleft" width="376"] From left: Jerry Ricciardi, Amanda Young, Azjargal Bartlett and Connor Bell. Miami, Florida. February 25, 2016[/caption] The winning Georgetown team was comprised of Azjargal Bartlett, Connor Bell, Jerry Ricciardi and Amanda Young, master's degree candidates at the Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies.