The Weitzman Group’s Blake Shipp (UNT grad), Doug Hermann (UT-Dallas grad), and Daniel Morales (UNT grad) are gearing up for a throw-down, ICSC style. In November, 12 college teams will compete in the Texas ICSC Undergraduate Case Study Competition; Blake (who handles project leasing throughout DFW, including Denton's largest retail project, Golden Triangle Mall) will serve as team advocate for his alma mater's team from UNT. The competition gives students a real-world lesson in commercial real estate, from how to evaluate a property to creating a business model to improve asset values. Each team is four undergrad students, along with the team advocate, and a faculty adviser.

The teams will present their case studies on Nov. 12 during the Texas ICSC Conference in Dallas. Daniel (a retail real estate associate with Weitzman) is a veteran of the case study competition after being on the UNT team in 2013. Doug (an associate with Weitzman) repped the University of Texas at Dallas last year. Daniel says the competition may also lead to job opportunities—he personally received several calls from companies who wanted to talk to him about working with them, he says.