VP Retail/Garages

WHO YOU ARE

• Organized, Flexible, and Adaptable. You have a keen eye for detail and pride yourself on delivering quality work. You multitask well, re-prioritize accordingly, and meet deadlines consistently. You keep your cool during stressful situations, remain resilient, and quickly find solutions in order to meet the changing needs and priorities of the business.

• A Collaborator and Trusted Team Player. You enjoy partnering with others —whether internal or external— and build constructive working relationships that foster cooperation in order to get work done and deliver great results. You are united with teammates and follow through on commitments. 

• A People Person. Building professional and high quality relationships with vendors and area businesses comes naturally to you.  

• Creative. You like thinking outside the box to come up with smart solutions to new challenges, and you embrace the opportunity to live in the gray. 

• A Strong Communicator. Your writing and speaking skills are clear and effective, helping you connect well with others. Through your past experience, you’ve also built skills that help you effectively persuade and gain the support of others.

• Motivated. You invest extra energy to reach your goals.

• Energetic and Positive. You are an outgoing, gregarious brand ambassador who motivates and excites others to elevate their performance.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Work collaboratively across EQR departments and functions to establish and update a strategic plan that maximizes value and enhances returns for every asset within the portfolio.

• Work collaboratively with EQR Investment Officers and the local Retail Directors to establish a strategic plan for every retail space within the portfolio.

• Approve the underwriting of the proposed retail leases including the landlord and tenant improvement capital dollars. In some cases, the proposed lease transaction may not yield the maximum current return, but will make the overall real estate asset more valuable.  

• Work closely with the EQR Development Team to help identify, design, manage the construction and lease up of retail spaces within a new development site.  

• Build and maintain relationships with key retail brokerage teams and strategic retail owners within each MSA. 

• Provide oversight from an ownership perspective of the property operations for both retail and garage operations including monitoring asset performance against the annual budget, general markets and surrounding competitors.

• Work closely with the third party garage management teams as well as EQR’s property management team regarding the regular review of garage parking pricing including resident monthly, outside monthly, and transient parking customers.  

• Provide recommendations regarding the potential for new outside parking opportunities at select garages often times in concert with providing parking for retail customers. 

• Review the progress of operations and business plan implementation with Senior/Executive leadership, Investment Officers and Vice Presidents of Property Management. 

• Make recommendations to senior/executive level management on acquisitions and disposition opportunities. 

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree in Real Estate or Finance with 12 years of progressive experience in real estate including specific retail leasing or management experience required.

• Advanced degree is a plus.

• 6+ years of experience in identifying, underwriting, and closing transactions in a residential or commercial real estate environment required.

• Strong leadership skills and excellent analytical skills are required. 

• Ability to effectively and objectively communicate and work with internal and external customers, as well as strong organizational skills and a keen eye for detail. 

• Must be comfortable working autonomously and multi-tasking in a fast paced environment with changing deadlines.  

• Maturity, knowledge of work processes and strong presentation skills are essential.

• Familiarity and previous experience with Microsoft Excel and Google Applications (Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets) preferred.

About the Team

Being a part of our Investments team means that each day will be unique, requiring an ability to prioritize, take initiative, and employ a diverse set of skills. Expect to be challenged with a variety of assignments, from reviewing the annual budget, to monthly and quarterly operations review and providing recommendations for garage related operating capital.