NEWS RELEASE
Utnehmer Honored for Non-Profit School Development in Los Angeles
Receives 2007 Counselors of Real Estate Creative Counseling Award
(Chicago) April 23, 2007 — Taking a non-profit school from concept to reality in less than two years is no easy task.
For his successful work on meeting this challenge for Los Angeles’ new Rudolf Steiner Waldorf School, Bill Utnehmer, CRE, is the honored recipient of the 2007 James Felt Creative Counseling Award of The Counselors of Real Estate, which was presented to him at the CRE Midyear Meetings in Montreal. Utnehmer is a principal of CW Development Partners of Los Angeles, Calif.
Utnehmer was selected for his creative real estate consulting work on the overall development, financing, and ongoing stability of a new campus of a Rudolf Steiner Waldorf School, which opened January 8, 2007. The Waldorf School’s educational philosophy is a 90-year-old methodology based on nurturing children to think critically and cultivate a deep sense of moral, social and ecological integrity.
Says Jeffrey Graham, Director of Development at the Westside Waldorf School, “I am personally and deeply grateful to Bill for his selfless commitment of his professional expertise to the school in accomplishing this truly colossal task. His efforts in developing this dream project for our school will be serving our children, teachers and community for generations to come. As a seasoned real estate attorney myself, I congratulate Bill for this outstanding personal and professional achievement.”
Utnehmer’s vision and dedication made it possible for the Waldorf School to navigate through myriad administrative and civic requirements, and take the project from initiation to completion in less than two years.
Utnehmer’s consulting work addressed an array of issues:
- Enlisting the pro bono assistance of a licensed architect to determine space requirements
- Retaining an experienced real estate broker to survey the local real estate market
- Leading an extensive search of potential properties
- Drafting and executing a letter of intent with the owner of the land determined to be an ideal location
- Completing a comprehensive study of existing zoning code, building permits, certificates of occupancy and land use requirements to ensure efficient and rapid progress
- Developing an itemized construction budget and schedule
- Creating and launching a tiered capital campaign program, then presenting it to the overall school communityas well as outside investors
- Drafting the loan and guarantee documents
- Recapitalizing the project through tax-exempt bond financing from the state of California's Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank
Utnehmer’s firm, W Development Partners, is a privately held commercial real estate company with over one million square feet in development with an aggregate value of approximately $200 million.
Its wholly owned subsidiary, CW Development Partners, is a real estate development firm formed to build luxury homes with environmental integrity. CW Development Partners has approximately $30 million of real estate under development in Venice and Santa Monica, Calif.
THE JAMES FELT CREATIVE COUNSELING AWARD
The Felt Creative Counseling Award honors outstanding achievement and ingenuity in real estate counseling by the members The Counselors of Real Estate, a professional organization for leading advisors. A peer-review committee selects the award recipient.