Giving Real Estate Development The Old College Try

A trio of young but idealistic Oberlin College students are developing a new mixed use project on a vacant downtown lot.

1 minute read

October 20, 2006, 10:00 AM PDT

By Christian Madera @http://www.twitter.com/cpmadera

"In this quaint but economically stagnant college town 50 miles southwest of Cleveland, Ben Ezinga, Joshua Rosen and Naomi Sabel spent their first four years as typical liberal arts college students, going to class, writing papers and looking forward to graduation. Their last four years in Oberlin, however, have been spent learning hard lessons in real estate.

Against long odds, the once young, naïve and inexperienced team is nearing the groundbreaking on the first major commercial development in the historic downtown since 1958. They hope they are building not just a mixed-use project, but a model for progressive urban redevelopment under financially difficult circumstances."

The students founded a company to encourage more sustainable urban development, and enlisted help of the town, the college, and former alumni to achieve their goal.

FULL STORY: Young, Idealistic and Now Developers

Wednesday, October 18, 2006 in The New York Times

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