Does Working in Commercial Development = Leasing

Really just need to bounce some thoughts of other people's heads. The question is if you are working for an office/retail developer does that mean a large part of your job is acting as a leasing broker?

The one I'm at involves at least 50% leasing, and I'm being told that is just a part of working at a developer. I just want to see if that is the typical structure or if there are places that I could go where I won't have to spend most of my time networking with tenant rep brokers.

 
Most Helpful
Associate 1 in RE - Comm:
Really just need to bounce some thoughts of other people's heads. The question is if you are working for an office/retail developer does that mean a large part of your job is acting as a leasing broker?

The one I'm at involves at least 50% leasing, and I'm being told that is just a part of working at a developer. I just want to see if that is the typical structure or if there are places that I could go where I won't have to spend most of my time networking with tenant rep brokers.

definitely possible to escape this. as you might have picked up on, the smaller shops in real estate can be a shitshow, and the biggest are super-structured and smartly organized. better question is whether your experience is good enough for you to successfully slide into one of the better-organized firms.

if it helps, i don't see anything wrong with a chunk of your time spent on leasing strategies, but i'm definitely not a Hines-type guy.

 

No, totally depends on the developer. The larger the shop, the more discernible the individual silos. Companies like Trammel, Related, etc. have a specific leasing group responsible for that work, as do smaller regional companies. The smaller developers is usually where the boundaries are fuzzy, where you may indeed have the development group also working actively on leasing.

 

Leasing is a super critical role in development, more so than in investment mngt (well, until a big vacancy comes up). Our firm has people on each development team that focus on leasing, they work with the brokers, work with marketing on strategy, and negotiate the deals.

This is considered an advanced role as it is negotiating and deal making, and only more senior people (like Director and above) get that type of assignment. This isn't to say they do it 100% of the time, but landing a big tenant in an office development makes you a hero. If not much to lease, then these people focus on land acquisitions (as you can imagine, there is an inverse relationship in demand there).

 

Depends on the firm.

Most firms I know have a dedicated leasing team, but the development team is responsible for the overall leasing strategy (i.e. what kind of tenant mix do we want for the property, who will our anchors be, etc.)

The senior dev guys might take responsibility for negotiating with the anchors and any specific tenants they want (let's say a developer wants to bring the first Ikea to a region), then the leasing team will work on filling the in-line units.

 

My 2c: from an LP's perspective, the developer's purpose is to de-risk the project/deal from ideation through completion. Each step in de-risking solidifies/increases value. leasing is probably the single most value-additive step in the entire lifecycle of a property. Being awesome at leasing and having great prospective tenant relationships/network can make up for a lot of weaknesses. If I had to pick only 1 skill in which I wanted my dev partner to excel, it would be leasing. (Not that the rest aren't obviously important. Sourcing deals is a big one too. Just trying to emphasize how important this one is)

 

Sed molestiae ducimus enim id et. Facilis accusamus consequatur enim necessitatibus quia nihil officia. Autem vel inventore quod et qui error. Voluptate eius dolor maxime itaque eos repellat maiores dolor. Temporibus qui ab fugiat rerum deleniti quidem porro. Dolorem sit debitis ipsum cupiditate quisquam molestias ex.

Quod ut quas et nobis magni qui adipisci. Deserunt necessitatibus ut eaque modi. Ea sed necessitatibus vel qui. Itaque voluptates iure et repudiandae ducimus vero praesentium autem. Consequatur qui incidunt iusto vel. Numquam minus excepturi veniam quia.

Nam natus et omnis similique. Voluptatum quibusdam rerum ut illo et. Non ea molestias ea natus.

Career Advancement Opportunities

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Lazard Freres No 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 18 98.3%
  • Harris Williams & Co. New 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 04 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (20) $385
  • Associates (91) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (68) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (205) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (146) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.8
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”