UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. –– A team of Penn State Smeal College of Business finance students collaborated to claim first place in the inaugural BIRES Real Estate Case Competition on April 2.
Sponsored by the Borrelli Institute of Real Estate Studies, the competition attracted 12 student teams that submitted written analyses of the live case. The experiential learning initiative connected students with a real-world challenge faced by a business in the local community. From that highly competitive pool, three finalist teams were selected to advance to a live, final round.
The competition was intentionally designed to include students across years and majors in order to broaden exposure to real estate and attract students who may not otherwise have engaged with the field. Participating teams were interdisciplinary and included students from a range of academic backgrounds and class years within Smeal and across the University.
“A key feature of the competition is that teams were led by students affiliated with the Penn State Realty Association, who brought prior interest or experience in real estate and helped guide their teams through the case analysis,” said Eva Steiner, professor of real estate, Elliott Professor of Risk Management and associate director of the Borrelli Institute.
“This structure allowed students with little or no prior exposure to real estate to participate meaningfully, learn from their peers and gain insight into real estate finance and decision-making in a collaborative setting," Steiner said.
The case centered on Climb Nittany, a Boalsburg-based indoor climbing gym operated by 5.Life that is facing significant financial pressure tied to its real estate and lease structure. Despite strong community ties and a clear mission, the business has struggled to achieve profitability and must now evaluate critical strategic options.
Students were tasked with developing actionable recommendations on whether the business should renegotiate its lease or pursue property ownership — decisions that involve trade-offs in financing, risk exposure and long-term operational control. The case highlighted key issues in real estate finance, lease-versus-own decisions and small-business sustainability in a local economic context.
Team Schroeder, which earned the first-place prize of $4,000 in scholarships, included:
- Saravanan Eswaran, a first-year intended finance major
- Pranav Kallavi, a first-year intended finance major
- Tanner Kavalir, a fourth-year finance major
- Krish Kumar, a first-year intended finance major
- Derek Schroeder, a second-year real estate major
Two teams –– Team Datt and Team Donaghy –– tied for second place and split $3,000 in scholarship money ($2,000 for second and $1,000 for third).
Team Datt included: Shreyas Datt, a second-year finance major; Robert Dewey, a fourth-year biomedical engineering major; Christopher Ji, a first-year intended supply chain and information systems major; and, Ohm Sohagia, a fourth-year mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering dual-major.
Team Donaghy included: Baomu Ding, a third-year finance major; Zachary Donaghy, a second-year real estate major; Amav Jain, a fourth-year finance major; Chynna Kelly, a first-year undecided business major; and, Eromosele Odanlumen, a first-year intended real estate major.
During the final event, each team presented its recommendations in a 10-minute presentation followed by 10-15 minutes of Q&A with a panel of judges. The panel was composed of industry professionals, policymakers and faculty, creating an environment that closely mirrored real-world decision making.
The panel included:
- Business owners — Mardi and Matt Roberts of 5.Life
- Real Estate professionals — Pam Arms from Columbia Bank and Brad Thomas from iREIT and Wide Moat Research
- Policymakers — Harris Township Manager Mark Boeckel, Centre County Commissioner Mark Higgins and Pennsylvania Rep. Paul Takac, D-Centre.
- Penn State faculty — Cynthia Nyamudeza, assistant teaching professor in risk management; Tony Talbert, professor of practice in risk management and executive director of the Borrelli Institute; and Steiner.