An innovative partnership between Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Project Destined, Los Angeles World Airports and the USC Marshall Master of Business for Veterans (MBV) program is aiming to create the next generation of business and airport leaders while helping military veterans, active duty and reserve personnel transition to civilian life.
Taking place this Spring, the USC MBV capstone project paired student teams with a group of mentors from URW’s Airports team and tasked them with developing an exciting new customer experience vision for LAX’s Terminal 3 – home to the new Delta Sky Way. Teams then had the opportunity to pitch their visions, “Shark Tank” style, to a panel of judges composed of executives from URW, LAWA, and Delta Air Lines. To provide a comprehensive experience in real estate fundamentals for students, each team’s comprehensive presentation included a commercial plan, leasing strategy, new customer experience and financial projections.
“We were blown away by the fresh ideas and creative thinking these students brought to the table – that’s what we need in our airports and across our portfolio,” said Eileen Hanson, Senior Vice President of Commercial Strategy. “This partnership and this experience has not only provided a wonderful opportunity for these students, but also invigorated and inspired our teams to think bigger and bolder about the future of airports.”
The capstone expanded on the existing partnership between URW and Project Destined, an education-focused social impact platform that works to advance diversity and representation within the real estate industry. Project Destined and URW have also partnered on a program with high school students in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood.
“Project Destined started by training under-resourced youth, and we saw similar challenges around the country in the real estate sector among military veterans,” said Cedric Bobo, founder and CEO of Project Destined. “This partnership with URW, LAWA and USC’s MBV program gave us a chance to scale our efforts at exposing folks not only to real estate, but to retail and airports, too.”
Terminal 3 at LAX is currently undergoing a massive, $1.86 billion modernization that will connect terminals 2, 3, and the Tom Bradley International Terminal.
