Congratulations to the winning team for the 2023 Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Expand Your Empire (EYE) Development Conference

The Civil and Environmental Engineering Department extends their congratulations to the winning team for the highly competitive 2023 Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Expand Your Empire (EYE) Development Conference (9^th annual edition). The team took home the First Place Grand Prize of $10,000 and the Most Feasible Design award of $1,250 in the competition.

Expand Your Empire is Canada’s largest real estate development conference and competition for undergraduate students which brings together students from all around the world that are passionate about commercial real estate.

The first-place team consisted of UWaterloo students Nathan Lee (4A Civil Engineering), Samantha Kerry (3B Architectural Engineering), Alan Mak (3A Accounting and Financial Management), and Matthew Van Bakel (4A Urban Planning). This team made it through three competitive rounds on the weekend of January 27-28, 2023 at the Cushman and Wakefield offices in downtown Toronto, including a pitch to CreateTO members and numerous industry experts.

The case prompt included the design and development of two acres in downtown Toronto, all while keeping an unrelentless focus on financial feasibility, affordability, and sustainability.

The team designed a two-tower, mixed-use arts district with a focus on opportunities for residents to demonstrate their artistic capabilities and develop unity through art, movement, and design. Included in the development were a fine arts workshop, performing arts centre, and post-production studio. For the food lovers, the development included a rooftop restaurant with views of the lake and a coffee shop with an outdoor patio in the park.

Congratulations to winning team!