Update - Nov. 18, 2015:

Cornell team wins
The six-member winning team representing Cornell was Yiwei Chen '16, Jackson Foo '16, Ryan Helkowski '16, Jack Henry Kapp '17, Sarah Murdoch '16, and Tia Wei '16. For taking first place, the team walked away with $10,000. The other finalists of the competition were University of Sydney in second place, Indiana University in third, and University of Wisconsin at Madison, fourth, and New York University, fifth.

The School of Hotel Administration’s seventh annual Cornell International Real Estate Case Competition will feature a record-high 20 teams of undergraduate students from top real estate programs in the world, who will compete for a share of $21,500 in prize money Nov. 9-10 in New York City.

“We are very excited about this year's competition; this will be our largest competition in the seven years of its existence," said Daniel Quan, professor and the Arthur Adler '78 and Karen Newman Adler '78 Academic Director of the Center for Real Estate and Finance. Quan developed the competition, in which nearly 150 students will participate this year.

Each team of six real estate students has five days to prepare an analysis of a case, based on an actual commercial real estate transaction, and make a recommendation. Teams are judged on their investment recommendations, approach to the problems and presentation skills. Judges select five finalists, all of whom will receive a share of the prize money. First, second and third place teams receive $10,000, $6,000 and $3,000, respectively.

Representing Cornell University this year are Yiwei Chen '16, Jackson Foo '16, Ryan Helkowski '16, Jack Henry Kapp '17, Sarah Murdoch '16 and Tia Wei '16. The team recently presented a case to the School of Hotel Administration Dean's Advisory Board, followed by a Q&A with board members to help them prepare.

Participating universities are Brown University, Cornell, Indiana University, Konkuk University, McGill University, New York University, Pennsylvania State University, Renmin University of China, Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Aberdeen, University of British Columbia, Sauder School of Business, University of Cambridge, University of Connecticut, University of Guelph, University of Michigan, University of Sydney, University of Texas at Austin, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Villanova University and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

The competition is sponsored by Access Point Financial, Robert D. Kline and Chartres Lodging Group, Blackstone, Cantor Commercial Real Estate, Convene, Criterion Real Estate Capital, Grove International Partners, Macklowe Properties, Proskauer, Prudential Real Estate Investors, Related Urban Development, Sawyer Realty Holdings, Silverstein Properties, Starwood Capital Group, TIAA-CREF, Tishman Realty Corporation, Witkoff Group, and WX: New York Women Executives in Real Estate. The competition is funded in part by the Marjorie Boas Levins and Jack Levins/F.H.T. Rhodes Real Estate Case Competition Fund.

Gina Parker is a writer for the School of Hotel Administration.