FSU participates in 2nd Annual CREFC Case Competition

FSU real estate students Roman Federico, Javier Grevely, Eric Erhard and John Vann participated in the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (CREFC) Debt Case Competition. The event, hosted October 29, 2020, by Wells Fargo in its Manhattan offices, featured teams from programs at Columbia University, Georgetown University, Northwestern University, New York University, Rutgers University, University of Chicago, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Texas at Austin, University of Wisconsin, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University, in additional to Florida State. Assistant Professor Mariya Letdin served as the team’s faculty advisor.

Teams presented their analysis of a commercial real estate lending decision using a case study based on a real-world transaction. This year’s case focused on a perspective of a regional bank and an opportunity to finance a recapitalization of an office and an industrial property. The teams had to structure a loan that would address above-market leases, significant roll over, increasing supply, and a borrower cash out. The judges were senior credit officers from major banks and rating agencies and provided invaluable feedback to the teams.

CREFC is a trade association dedicated to the $4.3 trillion commercial real estate finance industry that comprises more than 300 institutional and 11,000 individual members. The objective of the competition was to expose students interested in commercial real estate debt to a unique educational contest and give them an opportunity to interact with senior CRE professionals from CREFC’s membership.