This year marked the twenty-sixth anniversary of the Alexander Bodini Foundation Prize Competition, which was held in-person at Columbia Business School’s state-of-the-art Manhattanville campus.
The competition served as the final project of the Capstone: Real Estate Investment course taught by Adjunct Assistant Professor of Business Jane Yang ’10 (Founder, Cooper Square). Over the course of the semester, the participating students were divided into seven teams and worked directly with a sponsor on a real-world project, completing both quantitative and qualitative analyses, and ultimately developing a comprehensive business plan and investment committee memo and presentation. This year’s project sponsors included Eagle Rock Properties, Noble Investment Group, Ray, and Starling. The top four teams, each representing a unique project, were selected to compete in the final round of the competition on May 6, 2025.
The panel of judges was comprised of a distinguished group of real estate alumni, including Andrew Jacobs ’96 (Chief Investment Officer, BGO Strategic Capital Partners), Demetrios Yatrakis ’10 (Partner, Lonicera Partners), and Matt Giammanco ’13 (Vice President of Development, AvalonBay Communities).
1st Place: The team of MBA students, which included Chris Byrns ’25, Haneke Manoharan ’25, and Graham Murphy ’25 helped Eagle Rock Properties evaluate a potential off-market Mixed-Use portfolio acquisition from the original developer comprising a 1,000-unit multifamily community, 350,000 sf commercial (industrial, retail and office) portfolio and a 400-acre vacant land portfolio. Students conducted extensive research on the submarket (including two site visits) and supply and demand conditions, developed a detailed value-add capital expenditure programme, optimized the project’s capitalization from an equity and debt perspective, underwrote the portfolio’s complex and multi-faceted income streams and projected potential returns to arrive at a proposed purchase price and business plan. Ultimately, the students arrived at a final recommendation that Eagle Rock should pursue the acquisition of the whole portfolio, with a spin-out of the commercial parcels and a raise co-invest equity, alongside Eagle Rock’s most recent $425m fund, to capitalize the multifamily and land acquisition. Rishi Gupta ’11, Chief Investment Officer at Eagle Rock and Mitchell Levine, Senior Acquisitions Analyst at Eagle Rock acted as the executive sponsors providing guidance to students on this project.
2nd Place: The team of MBA students, which included Hayley Holzinger ’25, Rachel Lee ’25, and Juan Tawil ’25, helped Starling develop a seniors housing acquisitions strategy that targets development sites best suited to capitalize on Starling’s operational strengths. The team analyzed Starling’s existing operations, established the optimal operating model, created a development plan with the optimal unit density, mix, and acuity that maximizes Starling’s operational strengths, and formulated a recommended acquisitions strategy for Starling to pursue. Bill Long 10, Principal and Co-Founder of Starling acted as the executive sponsor providing guidance to students on this project.
3rd Place: The team of MBA students, which included Julian Boyman ‘25, Matt Ghidotti ‘25, and Jake Hanson ’25, was tasked with assisting Noble Investment Group to create a strategy pertaining to eight remaining hotel investments within its existing fund which is due to expire on December 31, 2025. Students analyzed each of the eight deals to determine a value-maximizing strategy for the fund, considering individual business plans, hold/sell analyses, value-add opportunities, and risk/return for Noble and its investors. George Dabney, Managing Principal and CFO of Noble Investment Group acted as the executive sponsor providing guidance to students on this project.
4th Place: The team of MBA students, which included Yoel Fainchtein Kaplan ‘25, Han Pin Ser ‘25, Nico Silva ‘25, and AJ Whitsell ’25, helped Ray to determine which of three development opportunities in Tampa Bay, FL, Charlotte NC, and Dallas, TX would be the best fit for the Ray brand based on the deal economics and market fundamentals. Students performed an analysis of the three markets and then completed a detailed underwriting of the deal located in their recommended target. The students drew on their findings to synthesize their conclusions and make a recommendation to the sponsor. Will Kluczkowski ’10, Head of Real Estate at Ray acted as the executive sponsor providing guidance to students on this project.
Columbia Business School is immensely grateful to Mr. Daniele Bodini ’72 for his continued and generous support of this longstanding, annual tradition. His commitment to advancing real-world learning and experiential education has made the Bodini Competition a cornerstone of the MBA real estate experience at CBS. The Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate and Columbia Business School are deeply appreciative of Mr. Bodini’s generosity and dedication of time and the impact it continues to have on shaping the next generation of real estate leaders. We also extend our sincere thanks to this year’s executive sponsors for their time, mentorship, and thoughtful engagement with our students throughout the semester.
Haneke Manoharan ’25 is a second-year student at Columbia Business School (CBS), where she is Co-President of the Real Estate Association and VP of Collaborations in the Hospitality & Travel Association. Prior to business school, Haneke was an Investment Manager at Tanarra Capital focused on traditional private equity and previously an investment banking Associate at Macquarie Capital focused on mergers & acquisitions across Australia and New Zealand. She was an MBA intern at Brookfield Asset Management in their Real Estate Investments team over the summer and will be returning post-MBA. Haneke holds a Bachelor of Law and Bachelor of Commerce (Finance Major) from Monash University, Australia.