Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Title: Principal and President, Jamestown
Age: 48
Experience: 27 years
Under Michael Phillips’ leadership, Atlanta-based developer Jamestown has emerged as a high-profile player in Boston’s commercial real estate market. Its Innovation and Design Building on the eastern edge of the Seaport District has attracted relocations by big-name tenants such as Autodesk, America’s Test Kitchen and Reebok, which began occupying its new headquarters in early September. The 1.3-million-square-foot complex has since added food and fitness amenities, as well as transit shuttles. Now Jamestown is narrowing down a list of operators for a new 4,000-square-foot restaurant expected to open by the end of the year.
Q: What was your first job in commercial real estate?
A: I guess I started developing real estate when I was 21. My first project was an industrial conversion of a 30,000-square-foot warehouse to loft office space: the same thing I’m doing now, 27 years later. That was in Atlanta. I got the building through another business I owned, a manufacturing company for dinnerware and home accessories.
Q: How does Jamestown select metro areas for its portfolio?
A: We’ve invested in 24-urban areas with high barriers to entry, typically coastal cities. And also where we think the macro trends in population, job growth, density and specific sectors are interesting. Boston was first on Jamestown’s radar in the early 2000s with One Federal, a partnership with Boston Properties. In the last round, we came back and invested in 2011 with the Newbury Collection, and then moved into Cambridge.
Q: How would you rate the performance of the retail sector?
A: Retail is going through a change obviously. Retail sales are soft in-store. Main street retail is retaining its sales stronger than other sectors. But what is growing is the online sales in areas where people have stores. Retailers open stores in areas where they have strong online sales. So the symbiosis between the two is essential. Bonobos and Warby Parker opened with no retail plan and quickly adopted one. Newbury Street is softer than it’s been, but we think it’s an essential location for retailers’ brick-and-mortar strategy.
Q: Did the Chelsea Market project in New York shape your approach to the IDB?
A: No, I think you can say it’s less Chelsea Market and more of a building like Industry City in Brooklyn, or some other adaptive reuse. Urban manufacturing buildings really are the predecessors. The opportunity was to create a total ecosystem. For example, we have Autodesk which designs the software, Continuum which designs the furniture and we have the showrooms in the Design Center which present and wholesale the furniture. That’s a kind of complete value chain. Finding a building that was big enough to do that in and was central and could appeal to all of the different sectors was unique and a challenge. In some regards, it really doesn’t have a predecessor. It stands in its own. We have some biotech, and at the same time we have a strong concentration on design and furnishings in the built environment. Now with America’s Test Kitchen and Reebok, we have media and entertainment, which is also interesting.
Q: How much space is available?
A: We’re 95 percent occupied. We might have 60,000 or 80,000 square feet.
Q: What prompted your involvement with the James Beard Foundation?
A: It started almost 20 years ago with a tenant that I had incubated over time who became involved in the foundation, and she asked me to support it. I’ve been on the board for almost nine years. It’s an outstanding institution really focused on bringing education around food and sustainability and women and leadership in the culinary space.
Phillips’ Five Favorite Dishes:
- Chocolate chip cannoli, Mike’s Pastry, Boston
- Ham sandwich, Harry’s Bar by Cipriani, Venice, Italy
- Prune stuffed gnocchi, No. 9 Park, Boston
- Steak frites, Francine, Camden, Maine
- Papaya salad, Ayada Thai, Queens
