Indiana University wins NAIOP University Challenge

Indiana University Kelley -Bloomington won first place in the 2022 NAIOP Indiana University Challenge on November 3rd. Team members (pictured at top, from left) Jacob Pierce, Drake Wang, Adrian Rupar, Ben McHenry, and Max Kocour led their team to victory with their case focused on developing an industrial air cargo and special manufacturing facility on a parcel of land at the Indianapolis International Airport.

The Kelley-Indianapolis team (pictured at bottom from left) of Vivek Patel, Jaylen Shelley, Andrew Smekens, Daniel Mattimore, Sahil Agarwal, and Sally Al-Ejel came in a close second with the final decision coming down to audience voting. They proposed a development centered around economies of the future, including logistics R&D, autonomous trucking paired with cold storage, advanced manufacturing, and an aviation trade school on 73 acres near the Indianapolis International Airport.

Judges heard impressive presentations from six teams and then narrowed it down to two finalists: Kelley -Bloomington and Kelley -Indianapolis. The audience then heard the presentations from the two finalists and participated in a live vote, which resulted in the Bloomington team being named the winner with the tally being 51% Bloomington and 49% Indianapolis! Special thanks to case sponsors The Opus Group and Holladay Properties for their support. The winning students will share a $5,000 scholarship awarded by The Opus Foundation.