On Wednesday January 23, Community Vision kicked off the second Community Facility Challenge at California State University, Fresno. Sponsored by Comerica Bank, the Challenge provides a unique opportunity for students to work with local community-based organizations (CBO) and municipalities to apply their skills to prepare a real estate feasibility analysis for a proposed community facility real estate project to benefit a low-income community in Fresno County.
About 30 students from the Lyles College of Engineering, the Craig School of Business, and the Department of Art and Design will participate in the Challenge. Poverello House, a homeless social service agency in Fresno, will be this year’s project site. Poverello House is exploring the feasibility of building a new campus at their existing site, comprising of six new buildings. Each team will be given a proposed building from Poverello House’s Master Campus Plan. Teams must propose a written real estate development proposal consisting of a financial analysis, preliminary design concepts, engineering review, construction schedule, and other relevant components. Each team will also give an oral presentation of their proposal before a panel of judges.
“The spirit of Community Vision is the backbone of what makes both Fresno State and our region so inspiring: innovation, collaboration, and opportunity for all.” Says Dr. John D. Welty, president of California State University of Fresno. “These are values that I believe in and that I hope each of our students takes with them as they graduate and become the next generation of leaders in our community, across the country and around the world.”
The students will begin their assignments on January 30, 2013, and will provide the final written analysis on April 17, 2013. Oral presentations will be given on April 24, 2013.
