Monmouth U. students win intercollegiate real estate competition

A team of four Monmouth University students won the second annual Intercollegiate Real Estate Academic Competition hosted by the Kislak Real Estate Institute, the West Long Branch-based university announced on Wednesday.

The team was comprised of business students Brittany Leventoff of South Fallsburg, New York; James Azarian of Franklin Lakes; Isaac Beda of West Long Branch; and Michael Pavicic of Princeton.

The competition included teams of four students each from Baruch College, Lehigh University, Monmouth, Montclair State University, Rutgers University and Villanova University. They all had four weeks to prepare a analysis of a redevelopment property in Toms River and then present it to two panels of judges.

Monmouth’s team, coached by Professor Irene McFarland, a professor at the Kislak Real Estate Institute, won due to its combination of ideas, feasibility analysis, methodology and presentation, the school said. Baruch finished second.

“We are extremely proud of the hard work and creative ideas the team put together,” McFarland said. “This was their first time competing in this type of competition and the students learned much about real estate along with teamwork.”

Judges included Russell Sterling, principal, Sterling DiSanto and Associates; Neena Miller, senior vice president and chief credit officer, OceanFirst Bank; David Roberts, municipal planner, Toms River Township; Jonathan Fisher, senior vice president, K. Hovnanian Homes; Steven Denholtz, CEO, Denholtz; Kenneth Orchard, president, TriState Capital Bank; Stephen Santola, executive vice president, Woodmont Properties; and Matt Weilheimer, senior vice president, The Kislak Company.

“We enter our students in several intercollegiate real estate academic competitions each year. No matter the result, we hear from our students how much they learn from participating in the competition. Many of our alumni tell us that competing is one of the highlights of their academic career,” Peter Reinhart, director of the Kislak Real Estate Institute, said.