Vice President, Product Development - Toronto, ON, Canada - QuadReal Property Group

Description

About QuadReal Property Group

QuadReal Property Group is a global real estate investment, operating and development company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its assets under management total $73.8 billion. From its foundation in Canada as a full-service real estate operating company, QuadReal has expanded its capabilities to invest in equity and debt in both the public and private markets. QuadReal invests directly, via programmatic partnerships and through operating companies in which it holds an ownership interest.

QuadReal seeks to deliver strong investment returns while creating sustainable environments that bring value to the people and communities it serves. Now and for generations to come.

QuadReal: Excellence lives here.

Overview

The VP, Product Development will fill a critical role within the development team as the 4th leg of a 4 legged stool consisting of Development, Construction, Sales and Marketing and Product Development.

Responsiblities

• Working with the asset managers, operations teams and cross-functional groups on an ongoing basis, the VP PD will work at a national level, using primary, internal and market research and relationships, to establish key product standards, tiers, brand/vendor direction, processes and priorities; providing the development team a working/live "manual" for development that is tailored to each project.

• The level of involvement will vary between condo projects and build-to-core projects. The VP PD will work to establish areas of focus for partnered projects and use the size of the condo pipeline to leverage better vendor and brand (see note below) relationships for QR build to core projects. This person will also use its expertise to support the visioning and positioning of condo developments (where it makes most sense to do so) to provide guidance to partners with regarding to tier and product selection and critically assess partner assumptions on same. Brand and vendor relationships will be critical to the role but trade relationships remain a construction management responsibility. With the above in mind, leading product research and brand/spec development and ensuring efficient execution by bridging the gap between Sales & Marketing, Asset Managers, and Development & Construction.

• The VP, PD will work with the Development team at key moments throughout the entire project life cycle with a focus on: Key support-establishment of project vision & charter

• A collectively developed research-based vision for the project to go beyond identifying key target markets and customers; delving into the establishment of key design parameters, amenity and suite programmatic requirements, and high-level project-specific spec to help guide and direct the design team in its early efforts.

• Support Development in vetting/selection of design partners/team with key target market in mind . Establishment of a Project Specification

• With product vision understood, VP PD will work with Asset Managers, Development and Construction to establish a standards-based project-specific product specification. The spec will be based on a synthesizing of existing QR playbook requirements with market and project-specific considerations and will be easily communicable to the design team and easily trackable

• Development of a national procurement strategy may be considered but at a minimum establishment of key relationships with vendors, brands and design assist partners is critical. The goal being to drive efficiency, product knowledge, and standardization back into the design process across several projects. VP PD role in terms of Procurement Strategy will be to provide the supply relationships required for construction and project teams to accurately tender projects and resolve any supply-chain issues. Direct purchasing and trade relationships remain with construction/project teams (see note above). Performance reviews at project milestones

• Supporting the Development team the VP PD will review pre-determined key issuances—100% SD, 50% DD, 100% DD (and others as determined). The key focus will be evaluating the consultant team's design product opposite the project vision statement and charter.

• Ideally VP DP will have internal design resources (TBD). It will provide plan review and QC services to Development focus being on the quality of suite plans, amenity offerings, suitability to the desired target market and so on. These design resources may be accessed for discrete interim reviews of unit plans and amenity layouts to determine if the team is on course. In practice, this will be a joint effort between development, construction and PD. PD will focus on adherence to performance and brand specs, and any layout guidance given at project inception.

Execution Phase & Turn Over Role

• The VP PD will provide key support to the Construction team; ensuring vendor relationships are leveraged, product spec is met and vetting of product and design alternatives where necessary.

• The VP PD's team will provide pre-delivery QC alongside the GC and internal construction team to ensure QR requirements and standards are met prior to internal turnover to IPP.

QR will rely on condo partners for this role in the case of condo projects, with assistance/oversight from the VP PD as required.

Year 1 goals

• Establish key relationships with all Development team staff, key department heads and asset management leads

• Assess existing resourcing, processes etc. within Development + within other QR groups. Identify gaps and how they can be filled with New resources. Recalibrations of existing roles and team construction. Improvement of internal processes

• Establish key National priorities—What needs to be consistent across the country and what needs to be able to adapt to each market ----work with asset teams to calibrate playbooks accordingly

• Identify candidate projects for initial ramp-up of the PD role and onboa rd

Qualifications and Key Characteristics

•15 years experience working in a senior leadership role primarily focused on product development, standards, delivery/implementation and quality/program control. Candidates with experience working for developers and with strong backgrounds in design, sales, marketing development or construction will be given preference

• Experience delivering mixed use/residential product is a requirement. Experience delivering other asset types are a secondary consideration (hospitality/office/alternatives)

• Experience working within and leading multidisciplinary teams and direct reports in team based settings where collaboration is integral to the culture and is baked in to internal processes.

• Strong business acumen/business case decision making mindset

• Deep Market knowledge in business areas

• Deep network of product, brand and market professionals

• Clear and concise communicator

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