Real estate deals are made on paper, but the assets that lie at the heart of those deals aren’t just tangible; they’re central to both the economy and the lives of the people who live, work and shop in them. Jessica Sawyer works on both ends of that spectrum. At Colliers Meredith & Grew, she helps clients weigh their real estate needs, floor by floor, building by building.

“We try to come up with a process for evaluating some pretty emotional decisions,” she says.

And as one of two newly installed vice-chairs of the Boston district council of the Urban Land Institute, she’s pushing an industry-wide conversation about sustainability and responsible land use.

Name: Jessica Sawyer
Title: Assistant Vice President, Development and Advisory Group, Colliers Meredith & Grew; Co-vice-chair, Urban Land Institute Boston
Age: 29
Experience: 8 Years

How did you wind up at Meredith & Grew?

I started at AEW Capital Management, in research, and I really enjoyed it. I really liked the writing and the analysis. I got an opportunity at AEW to move into acquisitions, and there, I got to do financial modeling, looking at deals, putting together investment write-ups. That’s sort of a 30,000-foot view of real estate. You’re looking at drivers and supply, and looking at all the factors that go into making a market a good market to invest in. I really wanted to get more involved with real estate at the building level. I was getting more and more interested in doing real estate locally. Most of our clients were looking outside of Boston. It was Miami, Charlotte, Atlanta – those kinds of markets. I really wanted to focus on Boston, and Yanni Tsipis gave me a call, mentioned they were looking for an analyst to do development consulting, develop pro formas, to do that kind of work. So I took the position as an analyst here.

Could you see the slowdown happening? Or is it only once you look back that it comes into perspective?

You saw it. It was becoming clearer that you needed significant pre-leasing to move forward with a project, especially in office buildings. Some of them didn’t move forward because they didn’t have pre-leasing. It seemed like things were becoming more challenging.

Have the types of projects you’re working on changed over the past year?

Definitely. We’ve seen an uptick in work for institutions. Their endowments are down, and they’re looking at their real estate as a possible way for them to free up some capital. Universities that have excess space, or that have satellite campuses, are looking at ways of partnering with other institutions to share space, or possibly disposing of assets and then redeploying that capital to really focus on their growth plans on their current campuses. And while it may not seem like an ideal time to sell, if you have capital, it could be a great time to buy. So, certainly, universities are looking at their neighbors and looking at opportunities.

How did you get involved with ULI?

I went to an event six or seven years ago. I met planners and architects and bankers, and I thought, this is a really cool, interesting group of people. It’s networking and it’s business-related, but it’s just really interesting. The programs got me to think about the macro trends of real estate, about demographics and infrastructure and sustainability. Land use is a key component to not just our daily lives but the future of economic development. I was interested by the content, and I think you get the most benefit from an organization when you get really involved. I joined a committee, so many committees, and I got to meet people and really build relationships. It was something great and fun to be part of, and that’s evolved to now, to being a vice-chair.

Is your involvement with ULI changing the way you think about land use in your day job?

Definitely. In my day job, I think an awful lot about single buildings or single clients. I don’t really think as much about the relationships, how the buildings interact. When I go to a ULI program and we talk about infrastructure – that really impacts the development projects I’m looking at. Do we want more highways or more transit, and what does that mean? It’s funny how, maybe because I’m a young real estate professional, I feel like the talk about sustainability as a buzzword or a trend is surprising to me. For most young professionals, it is just a factor in the development process. This is something that is so important. It’s not just a buzzword anymore. It must be incorporated into everything we do. I really like how we go beyond just discussing green as this global topic, and actually talk about what people are doing right now, where it moves beyond just the surface, and talk about implementation and best practices.

What’s next for ULI? Is it building up Portland, Manchester, Providence and Hartford?

ULI’s focus is to consistently offer great programming locally, and in those markets as well. There are so many critical real estate issues out there, it’s really key to keep raising our voice and bringing together the experts on these topics and provide that public forum. Sometimes we forget about how important real estate is to the economy, and to our daily lives. We live in buildings, we work in buildings, and issues like sprawl and density and what should happen with the Greenway, they’re important. Real estate is very accessible to people. It’s a part of all of our lives, so people have opinions, which is great. We want to provide a forum where they can express those opinions, and the experts can weigh in. That’s really what ULI is working on. And also broadening the discussion to workforce housing, infrastructure, sustainability. They’re key issues that sometimes get overlooked for the big, sexy high-rise tower. So it’s making sure we’re talking about all aspects of real estate.

Sawyer’s top five Issues in land use:

1.) Sustainable land use/smart growth

2.) The creation of more affordable housing

3.) Investment in our infrastructure

4.) Sustainable design and development

5.) Promotion of safe walking environments for health, transportation and recreation