BOSTON – Boston Realty Advisors, the largest independent real estate firm based in Boston, has joined with the Real Estate Club at the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University to establish a permanent year-round internship program for students focusing on careers in the industry.
‘‘We’ve always had lots of interns, and the Northeastern Real Estate Club reached out to us to formalize the program and increase the opportunities for student members to get real-world experience,“ said Wil Catlin, Managing Director and Senior Partner at Boston Realty Advisors, which celebrated its 20-year anniversary last year.
First-year through senior-level students who are members of the Northeastern Real Estate Club, now numbering about 75, will gain experience in the many aspects of the industry – commercial, residential, sales, leasing, development – during regular semester and summer internships. The program is expected to commence in April and involve about 10 students a year.
“This program will get more talent for BRA and more experience for Northeastern students interested in pursuing a career in real estate,” said Ryan Cotler, a senior at D’Amore-McKim from the Chicago area who is Co-President of the Real Estate Club, sharing leadership with Will Argibrite, a senior from northern Virginia. “Boston Realty Advisors are big players in the market and can share their experience, and this will open doors for students. BRA offers the scale and services of the global players with a high-touch development program.”
“I couldn’t think of a better firm to partner with,” said Cotler, who is from the Chicago area and said he reached out to Catlin after hearing him speak.
Boston Realty Advisors, which focuses on commercial real estate, and its residential sales platform, Advisors Living, has regularly employed student interns from multiple educational institutions since shortly after the company’s inception in 2021. Catlin said BRA currently has an intern who is a senior at Wayland High School and swim team captain.
“This is a more formal program where we are trying to be a resource for Northeastern,” said Catlin. Interns will be paid on a minimum wage scale. "The real value is in the experience and exposure," Cotler said.
Boston Realty Advisors and Advisors Living finished the year 2021 with a record number of completed transactions, more than 750 sales and leases of commercial and residential properties in the Greater Boston area -- and more than $1 billion in total volume.
“Interns will roll through commercial leasing, sales, property management, finance and operations, residential project sales and home resales,” said Catlin. “All the food groups.”
Cotler said he came to Northeastern because of its experiential learning model and business school and wanted to expand internship opportunities for business school students, especially those focusing on real estate. Real estate is not a separate major at Northeastern but constitutes one of a number of focus areas for business students. Cotler said the demand outweighs supply at Northeastern for courses for students interested in real estate.
The Northeastern Real Estate Club, 12 years old, offers resources for students interested in the industry. Members meet on Wednesdays, hold speaker events, and arrange building tours around Boston. Recently they toured Echelon, a new residential building in the Seaport, and they are touring the St. Regis Hotel and Residences, which is under construction there, as well as a new Northeastern building and a data center.
About two thirds of the 75 or so Real Estate Club members are majoring in business, Cotler said, and others in areas like computer science, engineering or other sciences.
“I’ve always had a passion for real estate,” Cotler said. “And this program is something like no other company has ever done in the area. We are confident our members will greatly benefit from interning at BRA as experiential learning is the lifeblood of Northeastern.”
Commercial leasing transactions for Boston Realty Advisors numbered 112 transactions in 2021, constituting 569,808 square feet over the year. The Capital Markets Group of Boston Realty Advisors was a broker or advisor on more than 34 transactions that closed during the year, totaling $214 million. Moving into 2022, the Group is under contract to market 38 more properties or portfolios totaling more than $437 million in value.
Resales of homes by Advisors Living reached 202 in 2021, pushed higher by more than 30 new agents added to the Advisors Living team, new offices being opened in Boston’s suburbs, and some highly experienced leadership added to the seasoned Advisors Living team.
