Director, Retail Leasing Management

Core Spaces • Chicago, IL

6h • $150,000 - $175,000

About The Position

Core Spaces (Core) is a people-focused real estate company dedicated to inventing the future of living through collaboration and innovation. Founded in 2010, Core is a vertically integrated real estate investment manager specializing in student housing and build-to-rent (BTR) sectors. Their residential communities offer world-class amenities, progressive design, and hospitality-driven service. As of Q4 2025, Core's student housing portfolio includes over 59,000 beds owned or managed, with a pipeline of over 50,930 beds. The BTR division has over 3,000 homes under development, leasing, or in the pipeline in high-growth metros nationwide.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Real Estate, Finance, Business, or a related field
• 5–10+ years in retail leasing, retail asset management, or commercial brokerage
• Proven experience sourcing and managing third-party brokers across multiple markets
• Strong command of retail lease economics, deal structuring, and LOI negotiation
• Experience preparing deal approval memos and presenting to leadership or JV partners

Nice To Haves

• Working cross-functionally with Asset Management, Legal, Development, and Operations in a vertically integrated platform
• Retail leasing within mixed-use, multifamily, or student housing environments
• NER modeling and underwriting-level financial analysis
• Lease administration or deal management platforms

Responsibilities

• Drive leasing velocity across the portfolio by sourcing, vetting, and selecting best-in-class local retail brokers by market.
• Lead broker onboarding and set clear expectations around target tenants and use types, deal economics, underwriting constraints, and activity and reporting cadences.
• Manage broker coordination across tours, LOIs, negotiations, and deal progression—holding partners accountable for execution quality, velocity, and communication.
• Coordinate broker commission agreements in alignment with internal approval processes.
• Develop and maintain market rent comps by asset and submarket to anchor leasing assumptions in current market conditions.
• Establish target rent, TI, and deal parameters by suite type and use—refreshing regularly to reflect shifts in the market.
• Ensure alignment between retail leasing strategy, underwriting assumptions, and asset business plans across the portfolio.
• Lead negotiation of Letters of Intent (LOIs) in coordination with brokers and Legal, balancing rent, term, TI, guaranties, and security to optimize deal outcomes within internally approved parameters.
• Prepare comprehensive LOI approval memos covering key business terms, comparison to market comps and underwriting, Net Effective Rent (NER) analysis, and tenant financial and operator background.
• Support Asset Management leadership and JV approval processes as required.
• Partner with Legal to advance deals from LOI through lease execution, and coordinate with Development and Operations on suite layouts, delivery conditions, landlord work letters, and tenant build-out questions.
• Drive open issues to resolution while protecting asset value and maintaining deal momentum.
• Facilitate smooth tenant handoff to Property Management upon lease execution, supporting Asset Management and PM as needed if pre-opening issues arise.
• Provide monthly retail portfolio updates covering active broker activity, LOI pipeline, lease status, and key risks ensuring leadership has a clear and current view of the portfolio.
• Perform all other duties and tasks as assigned by management.
• Must be able to complete all physical requirements of this role with or without a reasonable accommodation.

Benefits

• A culture that provides you with a sense of belonging
• Competitive pay that values your contributions
• Incentives designed to reward your achievements
• Paid flexible PTO to disconnect or celebrate life milestones
• Paid 14+ holidays, including your birthday, to disconnect and celebrate
• Paid Parental Leave that begins after 90 days
• Paid volunteer time off to give back to your community
• Monthly workshop weeks; fewer meetings & more collaboration
• Robust health plan options that begin within at least 30 days of your employment
• Monthly phone reimbursement
• Wellness allowance and perks, including a yearly subscription to a meditation app
• An environment that provides you a voice to share your perspectives
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for access to confidential support services
• Company retirement options including 401(k) + matching & Roth account option

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director