Director of Leasing

Cedarwood Development, Inc., an established real estate developer, has an opening for a DIRECTOR OF LEASING to lease our commercial retail properties across the country. This position will work from our corporate offices in Fairlawn, OH with frequent travel required.

Job Purpose:

The Director of Leasing is responsible to secure prospective retail tenants for shopping centers within the Company’s portfolio. Responsibilities include determining ways to increase demand for the assigned projects, maximizing marketing efforts to minimize vacancy and generally improve the stature and occupancy of the Company’s shopping center portfolio. This position will be a direct report to the Vice President of Asset Management. Travel will be 20% – 30%.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Leases existing or yet to be developed space; develops and executes creative leasing strategies to increase occupancy in shopping center portfolio.
• Market and sell excess land parcels in portfolio.
• Contact potential tenants through cold-calling, canvass, email blasts and face-to-face meetings.
• Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with prospective tenants including local, national and regional tenants and tenant representative brokers.
• Negotiate Letter of Intents and Lease documents with support of Legal department.
• Collaborate with all departments including Property Management, Construction, Architecture and Legal. Coordinate with tenant coordinator to develop budgets and costs to implement the required scope of work to determine appropriate economics and rental structure.
• Develop leasing and strategic marketing plans to forecast/budget the lease-up timing, costs and rental rates for all vacancies or anticipated vacancy in assigned portfolio .
• Will have thorough understanding of all competitive properties in markets and monitor the activity in each to understand market dynamics/forces which may impact the supply and demand of space in the market.
• Review and qualify potential tenants by reviewing their financial statements and checking references.
• Canvasses markets to identify potential tenants by visiting existing retail centers and having discussions with existing prospects to see if they might be a fit for a relocation.
• Assist in the preparation of monthly and bi-weekly leasing reports.
• Provide information for input into budgets and forecasts.
• Attends local and national ICSC events; reviews industry publications to identify potential tenants and industry trends.

Education:

A Bachelor’s degree in a related field or an associate degree plus relevant work experience. Six to eight years of retail leasing experience preferred.

Skill Requirements:

Have in-depth knowledge of lease deal structure and terminology

Will have proven track record and provide deal sheet

Excellent negotiation skills

Outstanding oral and written communication skills

Rapidly absorb and understand new information

Ability to multi-task in a fast-paced environment

Ability to prioritize work and meet deadlines

Creative problem solving skills

Proficient in Word and Excel