The annual ULI Hines Student Competition, hosted by the Urban Land Institute (ULI), is a design-based contest that pits graduate students, from across the United States and Canada, against each other for a chance at winning a lucrative prize pool.

This year, the competition's main objective was to redesign a large-scale urban area in the business district of Toronto, located east of downtown. Teams were required to "illustrate innovative approaches" to 5 different aspects of the design, which included: 1) planning context and analysis, 2) a master land use plan, 3) urban design, 4) site-specific illustrations of new development and 5) development schedule and finances.

The Cornell team won the competition with their design, "Montage," and were awarded the first place prize of $50,000. The University of Maryland and two different teams from the Georgia Institute of Technology each won $10,000 as finalists of the competition.

Cornell's in-depth, submission can be viewed in full HERE). The team was led by graduate student Peter Romano (regional planning and real estate) and included: Gary Esposito (architecture), Paul Heydweiller (real estate), Rawinthira Narksusook (real estate), and Jamie Mitchell (architecture).
Jury chairman Carl Weisbrod stated that Cornell's submission stood out for its thoroughness and cohesiveness. "Each of the proposals had strengths and weaknesses, but the Cornell team really took a deep dive into the economics of the assignment. They prepared a market analysis, a cost analysis, an impressive financial plan and a site plan that was feasible and which worked," he said. "All the finalists had interesting and creative ideas, but on balance, theirs was the strongest."