The View - Insider's Viewpoint: Silver Shovel Crosses Town, Next Goes the Victory Bell

In a world divided by so much, it is good to see people reach across the great divide in recognition of excellence. What I am referring to is the universal applause bestowed on the winning student team from the divided crowd of more than 500 people at the 10th Annual UCLA/USC Real Estate Challenge.

The event, presented Nov. 15 by the Southern California chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties on the court of the University of Southern California's new Galen Center, recognized the storied rivalry between USC and the University of California, Los Angeles' athletic programs and the two schools' top-flight commercial real estate programs, the Lusk Center for Real Estate and the Ziman Center for Real Estate.

In the competition, student teams from each program had five weeks to evaluate the highest and best use for the former Howard Hughes aircraft facility at Playa Vista and come up with a proposal for a 2.2 million-square-foot project. A panel of industry experts judge the presentation and award the Silver Shovel along with $5,000 contribution in the name of the winning school to NAIOP's Challenge for Charity.

This year, the UCLA team of Adam Horowitz, Scott Kend, Tyler Morris, Ian Ream and Britta Tracy won with their proposal for Hercules Studios, which repositioned the site as an independent movie production studio with an internal rate of return of 21.7 percent on a $149.2 million investment. The USC team of Dominic Boitano, Matthew Ciriello, Blake Hysni, Sandy Schmid and Scott Zengel fell short with its proposal for Hughes Heritage Park, which incorporated a data center, office and film production space, for a slightly higher IRR of 22.9 percent, but at a cost of $325 million.

It was clear that both teams stepped up their efforts this year, even as the banter that proceeded the student presentations dipped a little more low-brow. Emceed by Paul McDonald, vice president of national commercial services for First American Title Insurance Co. and a former USC starting quarterback, the gloves came off between Matt Stevens, a vice president with Churchill Mortgage, and former starting quarterback for UCLA, and Brandon Hancock, a former USC fullback.

"We tried to get Karl Dorrell, but word is he is brushing up on his resume," McDonald said.

"For the second-best basketball team in L.A., this Galen Center is nice," Stevens said.

That was about as nice as things got as Stevens and Hancock took aim at each other's win/loss records and arrest records of former players, among other colorful topics.

The banter also featured two video montages of recent game highlights, with USC's featuring spectacular plays from its domination of most of this century. UCLA's highlights were limited to last season's improbable victory at the Rose Bowl and kept showing the same two linemen high-fiving and a guy waving a towel, apparently for lack of anything better to do.

There was a return to decorum with guest speakers Gary Beban, senior executive managing director of CB Richard Ellis' Global Corporate Services, and Carl McLarand, chairman and chief executive officer of McLarand Vasquez Emsiek & Partners.

"This is the first time I have been on the USC campus and you've made it a pleasurable experience," said Beban, a UCLA Heisman Trophy winner.

Indeed, it was a great experience, even as the outcome was a little disappointing for loyal Trojans. UCLA has had quite a year in the football and real estate crosstown rivalries. Change is in the air, however, and while the Silver Shovel is now in UCLA's hands, something tells me the Victory Bell won't be on Dec. 2.