Alexander R – Cushman Wakefield – CA Work Experience Program

C&W Day 8

And it all comes to an end. The last day at Cushman & Wakefield was one of the best. I had the opportunity to tour the Alexandria Center for AgTech in RTP, a state of the art agriculture research facility. Multiple buildings containing over 100,000 sqf of greenhouse space, offices, labs and more. I never understood the magnitude of the RTP campus until today. All the numbers and headlines of companies in the area don’t do it justice. To be there in person on the leading edge of innovation was an experience I won’t forget. Seeing where all sorts of science that changes our Ives takes place, and learning about the facilities and real estate that supports it.

C&W Day 7

Today I had the pleasure of sitting in on a Tenants in the Market meeting. The meeting entailed having a giant graph with every company, sometimes anonymous ones, that was known or believed to be looking for real estate in the Triangle market. Seeing the list was crazy. We all know how many companies are moving here and already work here, but some still surprised me. From Blackberry & Nokia to BioTech, it once again put into perspective how much is going on in the Triangle. We have just begun to see the growth that is coming.

C&W Day 6

Not everything is up for grabs. Real estate as with anything, can have clients who prefer to be confidential. Today, I was unable to go into the office as all of my host’s meetings were confidential, and bringing me along would breach his NDA. This was a little unfortunate, but it does make me understand the significance of what I’m doing. Real estate gives companies the ability to be successful.

Cushman & Wakefield Day 4

The realities of the world are changing. Day 4 was spent not at the office, but at home. Commercial real estate was hit hard by COVID-19, with companies and individuals not going into the office on a daily basis, and today reflected that. I spent the day at home, and read over some documents regarding the market and the state of real estate in a post covid world. A fitting inclusion to that list is the image above, which posed 3 scenarios we might see in returning to the office and how best for companies to adapt to each one.

C&W Day 3

Day 3 allowed an excursion once again. First thing in the morning, my host’s team and I met a client, a private equity firm, and took them to tour potential future offices. While yesterday I got the chance to see a shell, today consisted of active buildings such as the Bank of America Tower in North Hills. In the afternoon, I got to see another of the many facets of commercial real estate: multi-family. I sat down with a director of C&W’s multifamily team and learned how to analyze a multi-family asset and the red hot state of the market in 2022.

Cushman & Wakefield Day 1

Artwork in the Lobby of Cushman & Wakefield

Today was day one at Cushman & Wakefield. I had a relaxed beginning to the WEP, arriving at 11am and meeting Sam Cronin, my host. It was great to have time just to talk with him at first, discuss our plans and expectations, and gain high-level information about what I would need to know. During a meeting over lunch, I had the opportunity to meet different people from different firms and fields and gain an understanding of the life science business in RTP. We hear all about major companies moving to the area and have witnessed the development taking place. To be given the opportunity to see what facilitates this development is amazing.

Alexander Rousseau

C&W Day 2

60,000 sqf shell for bio-medical facilities

Gone with the background info, on day 2 I had the opportunity to dive in. I spent half of the day with a broker at Longfellow, a development firm, and had the opportunity to experience their side of real estate. From marketing meetings on determining how best to advertise a new building, to personally visiting assets and viewing raw shells set to be converted into bio-medical labs at the pinnacle of innovation.