Berkadia and NYU | Stern partnered recently to create a new opportunity for students at top business schools across the U.S. During the inaugural Multifamily Investment Case Competition, held from Nov. 14-16 at New York University Stern School of Business, teams of students addressed the nation’s affordable housing crisis.

 As an introduction to the housing affordability topic, student teams from Columbia Business School, UCLA Anderson School of Management, the University of Florida, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Wisconsin and New York University Stern School of Business heard from David Leopold, SVP and head of affordable housing at Berkadia; Bob Hart, president & CEO of TruAmerica Multifamily; Mark Willis, PhD., senior fellow at the NYU Furman Center; and Sharon Wilson Géno, president of the National Multifamily Housing Council. Students were given an overview of today’s challenges related to housing affordability, and the solutions being deployed across different states and municipalities.

During the in-person case competition, teams were asked to present a comprehensive investment strategy and pitch for a workforce housing fund tailored to the needs of middle-income renters, and creative solutions to address the nation’s affordable housing crisis.

The panel of judges included Gregory Bates, president and CEO of GID; Kalin Bracken, Head of Real Estate for the World Economic Forum; Rachel Diller, senior managing director and CIO at Bridge Workforce and Affordable Housing; Sharon Wilson Géno; Mary Ann King, co-head of institutional solutions at Berkadia; Dillon Lorda, director and portfolio manager at AEW Private Equity Group; and Stella Pappas, senior managing director and head of investor relations at TruAmerica Multifamily.

“Meeting all the case competition participants was something I enthusiastically enjoyed, and I was honored to be selected as a judge,” said King. “This event wouldn’t be possible without the dedication of the University teams, the contributions of my fellow judges and the support of NYU.”

New York University paid $69.2 million to acquire a 13-story dormitory at 35 Cooper Sq. in NoHo from a partnership between Sherwood Equities and Bhatia Development Organization, reported the New York Business Journal. Sherwood and Bhatia have been leasing the 45,000-square-foot, 56-unit building to nearby Marymount Manhattan College.

The duo bought the “distressed” building site in late 2010, according to Sherwood Equities. The Business Journal reported that Sherwood and Bhatia paid $8.5 million to acquire the building from Principal Real Estate Investors.

NYU already has 20 different dorm buildings in Manhattan. Its new dorm acquisition comes as the college works with the New York City Economic Development Corp. to bring the Innovation East life sciences hub to life in Manhattan’s Kips Bay neighborhood. NYCEDC unveiled renderings of the 444,000-square-foot development, which will replace an obsolete building at 455 First Ave., earlier this month.