DANIEL FREEDMAN WINS UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE GRAND PRIZE!
The son of Firm Partner Robert Freedman recently won the Bond Companies' University Challenge Green-Building Grand Prize. In its official news release, Bondscompany.com states:
"SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 16, 2006 – Bond Companies, a real estate development firm focused on smart growth and revitalizing urban communities, today announced that a UCLA student is the grand prize winner in the company’s first 'green-building' real estate competition.
Daniel Freedman from UCLA was awarded the competition’s grand prize for creating an innovative and cost-effective real estate development project employing green-building technologies, products and processes.
The University Challenge grand prize winner was announced by Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti on May 15 at an awards presentation in Santa Monica, Calif.
A group of judges -- comprised of Gwynne Pugh of Pugh + Scarpa Architecture, Stephen Tomlinson of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Greg Reitz of the City of Santa Monica, Bharat Patel of the Los Angeles Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council and Vicky Schiff of Wetherly Capital Group – selected the grand prize winner following oral presentations and questions and answers.
As grand prize winner, Freedman won $5,000 for himself and $5,000 for UCLA. Freedman had previously won $5,000, along with the other finalists in the competition - Tina Lin and R. Michael Sung from USC and Adam Cibik from the University of Wisconsin-Madison -- for their university level-winning entries.
According to the judges, 'Daniel deeply understood the issues of sustainable development…when it came right down to it, he had the best chance of developing a successful green development.'
Bond Companies started the University Challenge competition this year to encourage students to think in smart growth terms and create sustainable, environmentally friendly projects.
'We started this competition to get students to think about smart growth and why it’s important to build sustainable real estate development projects,' according to Larry Bond, chairman of Bond Companies. 'Through research required as part of the challenge, we wanted the students to realize that it is possible to build green without sacrificing the project’s bottom line.'
Rob Bond, president of Bond Companies, says, 'Green building is rapidly working its way into the mainstream real estate development consciousness. These students, who are our future urban planners and developers, will need to incorporate sustainability in their projects if they want to be successful. Through innovation and creative thinking, these students will help us change outdated building practices, conventions and norms.'
Under the program, open to undergraduate and graduate students at UCLA, USC and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, students had the opportunity to include green-building recommendations for hypothetical office, retail and mixed-use developments in urban settings.
'All I can really say, is thank you to Bond Companies for giving me the opportunity to take part in this challenge; their sponsorship really goes to show, that the future of real-estate is going green,' according to Freedman, who is completing his masters in planning at UCLA with an emphasis on environmental policy and analysis.
'As for my success in the challenge, I view it as an enormous compliment to the hard work I put into researching and answering this challenge, and I thank the judges and again the Bond Companies for that building green doesn't require a real-estate-paradigm shift -- just some innovative thinking, commitment, and progressive minded people to lead the way.'
'This competition is a wonderful exercise for students,' says Garcetti, 'giving them an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in the real world. We all benefit from buildings that are environmentally responsible. I commend Bond Companies for developing an innovative idea that raises awareness about the need to create sustainable buildings.'
Bond Companies is an award-winning real estate development company focused on bringing positive change in urban communities needing economic revitalization. Focusing on urban, mixed-use and infill projects, Bond Companies is a national development firm with offices in Chicago and Santa Monica, Calif.
Last year, Bond Companies was selected as one of the top three multi-family developers in the U.S. by the National Assn. of Home builders (NAHB). The Los Angeles Business Journal named Bond Companies as 2004’s residential developer of the year in Los Angeles."
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Related Attorney(s):
Robert M. Freedman
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