2024 UC San Diego NAIOP Team

A team of eight students from the Urban Studies and Planning Department at UC San Diego competed in and won the annual NAIOP San Diego University Challenge on April 17th, 2024. This was the 14th year of competition in San Diego and UC San Diego's 13th year as a participant. This was UC San Diego's sixth victory.

For more about the competition and our team's winning proposal, scroll through this web page.

naiop-2024-team-photo

Image: 2024 UC San Diego NAIOP Team holding the NAIOP University Challenge trophy. Pictured from left to right: Bryan Fernandez-Muñoz, Taylor Kaczmarek, Jillian Sasaki (Co-Captain), Alex Patterson (Co-Captain), Liam Winstead, Andras Lengyel, Sophie Werwage, and Dasha Okolysheva.

About the NAIOP University Challenge

NAIOP (the Commercial Real Estate Development Association) is one of North America’s leading commercial real estate organizations. It provides advocacy, education, mentoring, student scholarships, business and networking opportunities. It has local chapters across the country including one here in San Diego, NAIOP San Diego.

NAIOP chapters across the country sponsor an annual competition, the University Challenge, to provide students with an opportunity to compete in a head-to-head real estate competition. Here in San Diego, teams from UC San Diego, the University of San Diego and San Diego State University compete to develop the highest and best use for an actual development site in San Diego County. Teams address issues such as financing, sustainable development, market analysis, affordable housing, site design, transit-oriented development, community benefit, entitlements, feasibility and investment returns. A judging panel of nine senior level commercial real estate professionals serves as a mock investment committee. Each team must defend their development proposal privately in front of the committee and then present it to an audience of real estate professionals, industry leaders, university faculty members and fellow students.

About this year's site

The case study for the 2024 NAIOP University Challenge was East Harbor Island. Situated between the San Diego International Airport and the San Diego Bay, the site is uniquely positioned to serve as a new gateway and landmark for the City of San Diego. NAIOP San Diego presented the unique challenge of redeveloping on Port Tidelands, which precluded residential development for this year's competition.

About this team's winning proposal

Synergizing with surrounding developments, SALT San Diego provides San Diegans and visitors easy access to numerous publicly accessible recreational open spaces. The recreational slop rises over 200 feet into the air, providing stunning views of the bay and downtown, with a hilltop restaurant to further taker in the views. Guests are invited to ski down the slope on a synthetic surface to the heart of SALT San Diego where they will find an expansive lagoon and beach. Enlivened by the local shops and a beach club, the waterfront is the perfect place to relax or socialize any time of the year.

SALT San Diego is thoughtfully designed to maximize views of the bay and downtown San Diego. Signature restaurants and a variety of retail shops border the waterfront, adorning the nearby harbor. Triton Capital creatively utilizes the parking garage to create a 35-foot-tall podium that not only shelters pedestrians from the noise of Harbor Drive, but also creates elevated space for a new Port of San Diego office building, "eatertainment" space, conference space, and both luxury and affordable hospitality. SALT San Diego's diversity and thoughtfulness in programming not only makes it a prime location for visitors and residents but an exciting investment opportunity.

Team Info

Team Name: Triton Capital

Team Members:
Alex Patterson - Co-Captain
Jillian Sasaki - Co-Captain
Liam Winstead
Bryan Fernandez-Muñoz
Sophie Werwage
Andras Lengyel
Dasha Okolysheva
Taylor Kaczmarek

Acknowledgments

The team wishes to thank the following individuals.

ARCHITECTS

John Martinez, Carrier Johnson + Culture

Marco Lopez, Carrier Johnson + Culture

FACULTY ADVISORS

Paul Gherini, Lead Faculty Advisor

Mirle Bussell, Ph.D, UC San Diego

Susan Peerson, FAICP, UC San Diego

Nathan Moeder, UC San Diego

Robert Campbell, UC San Diego

INDUSTRY ADVISORS

Ariel Sanett, Ennismore

Don Moser, Retail Insite

Dene Oliver, OliverBuchannanGroup

Leigh Kyle, Spurlock Landscape Architects

Marc Brutten, Brixton Capital

Patrick Speer, Hilton

Taal Safdie, Safdie Rabines Architects

Ricardo Rabines, Safdie Rabines Architects

Thomas Jakobowski, The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company

Uri Feldman, Sunroad

Juli Beth Hinds, UC San Diego

Yehudi "Gaf" Gaffen, Gafcon