On the afternoon of Tuesday December 2nd students from the University of Virginia presented the results of their development feasibility studies of the Water Street parking lots to a panel of business and civic leaders at the Charlottesville Community Design Center (CCDC) in Downtown Charlottesville. The presentation was the culmination of the semester for students enrolled in Real Estate Development and Finance, taught by Cass Kawecki, an adjunct faculty at UVA in the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning and Vice President for CB Richard Ellis Charlottesville.

The student work examined the development feasibility for several top ranking design entries to the CCDC's Market Value Competition, an ideas competition, sponsored by the City of Charlottesville, for development of the Water Street parking lots that was held in September 2007. According to Mr. Kawecki, "the point of this course is to provide students with real world professional interaction as they learn about principles of the real estate development process, and to create a platform for university students to bring fresh ideas and have an impact upon the design and development of the greater community."

The class is comprised of both undergraduate and graduate students from diverse backgrounds, from planning to architecture to business to arts and sciences. This semester students were challenged to work in multi-disciplinary teams that simulated a small real estate development consulting company, in order to provide additional layers of practical analysis to the development ideas that were generated from the Market Value Competition.

Aubrey Watts, Director of Economic Development for the City of Charlottesville agrees stating, "exchanges such as this between the community and the university are very important, particularly around such a critical development opportunity for Charlottesville."

According to Kawecki, the conclusions of the student analysis were generally consistent. "The students found that most of the top design entries presented through the competition were strong, and are generally feasible depending on two major factors: purchase price of the land and adjustments to the design related to density and use. More stringent lending requirements within the capital markets definitely raise the bar and add an additional layer of complexity to large scale developments such as this."

According to Jane Fisher, of the CCDC, "having the students present their work to the greater Charlottesville community is an excellent way to leverage the work that has already been done, and to keep the dialogue around the highest and best use for these sites active and transparent to the community and grounded in good design with market and financial reality. "

Students also examined the design proposals in terms of environmental sustainability. All projects were assessed using the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system. In addition, students evaluated the economic savings from investments in specific green building technologies, such as solar panels, high performance curtain walls, and green roofs.

According to Mr. Kawecki, the class is an important step forward, and goes beyond the technical results of the student analysis. "The more important lesson here is the power of bringing the community together, and educating the next generation to be actively engaged leaders in the development and shaping of the built environment."