WS Development?
Was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on WS Development as some threads are older, and if anyone has any thoughts on their rotation program (I believe it's called their CORE associate program).
Curious on this too. Spoken with someone at WS before and they say they run the program every two years.
You think they'll be recruiting for this year? Iirc they had postings back in February of 2022 advertising the role
They are a solid shop. Cant speak to comp or culture, but they are one of the few Class A developers based in Boston.
Top notch developer, who historically were retail-only, but have expanded into mixed-use, office, labs in recent years. They are cash-on-cash driven as they never sell their properties or at least that's what they were when they were retail only, maybe different today. They are basically the developer for all of Boston Seaport (they sold parcels to other developers to build, but they were behind the master plan). Their development team is separate from their acquisitons/investment team, so if you are looking for a role where you wear both hats, they might not be for you; however, I think they were trying to have more overlap between dev team and investment. I was literally about to get an offer from them a couple years ago, but the VP who I was supposed to work under left just as I finished the final rounds. Interview consisted of phone screen with VP, in person interviews with VPs/directors, case study, final round interviews with leadership (COO, CFO, etc...). Happy to answer any questions
Definitely curious and have some questions regarding the firm. Regarding their investments team, are they investing out of a fund? Raising capital on a deal-by-deal basis / going with a programmatic JV partner?
And outside that, was wondering what their focus is as of now - e.g, do they have the capital to be able to look at deals now, or are they more focused on recapitalizing their portfolio?
Can't answer with 100% certainty since I never worked for them, but I'm pretty sure they do not invest out of a fund. They have a lot of flexibility with their projects, for example, after master planning Boston Seaport they develop some of the parcels, but sell others and they retain all the retail. I imagine it would be difficult to have this type of flexibility with a fund. They also operate in multiple states, so they probably raise capital on a deal by deal basis.
Tbh not really sure since I don't work for them. I know Seaport is still a major focus for them since it is their largest development ever and they have a development team solely focused on Seaport. They have some other projects in Boston area such as The Streets in Chestnut Hill which I believe they are expanding, but since they operate in about a dozen states, they probably have projects going on in multiple states. As for capital to pursue deals, they probably do since they've sold off a good chunk of parcels in Seaport in previous years.
Any insight on the case study you did for WS? Was it an Acquistion? Specific asset class?
Directly across from their development at The Street Chestnut Hill, they have a 99 year ground lease for 1290, 1300, and 1330 Boylston St. The case study is for you to pitch a redevelopment plan for those parcels. It's been a couple years, but IIRC, I proposed mixed-use with ground floor retail and multifamily above. In my opinion, I believe that The Street Chestnut Hill is an incredibly boring area despite how new it is. There are no shops or retailers there that appeal to younger crowds (13-30). My retail strategy would be to pursue tenants such as Microsoft or more experiential tenants such as Level 99 or other VR retailers so that the area could be the new hot spot for higher school/college/young adults. The tenants that live in the residential above would also drive demand for the retailers below. I think I also proposed a walking bridge over Boylston St to connect The Street with the new development and in doing so, you could also use the parking spaces at the Street for the new development because I think The Street as more parking than it needs. There's also an existing parking structure at 1290 Boylston, so I proposed increasing the number of stories on that parking structure. However, nowadays, Life Science is really hot and can hit $/SF rents far higher than any other property type, so you may want to consider proposing a mix of retail, life science, multifamily (WS Development is also hot on life science because of all the Life Science they are building at Seaport). You technically aren't required to build a financial model, but I built a simple one because i think it was difficult to justify my strategy without numbers. It was a take home case study. I think they gave me like 3-4 days
Also curious as well during the interviews, what was the vibe like for your in-person interviews (e.g, how everyone acted together during group interviews)? Did you notice anything that they emphasized that may have stood out?
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