Joshua D. (J.D.) Wild
Managing partner, Elevated Realty
Age: 35
Industry experience: 10 years
After starting out in suburban home construction, J.D. Wild is adding to the multifamily inventory in Boston neighborhoods that are seeing a surge of condominium construction. Wild leads Boston-based Elevated Realty’s development business with a focus on finding and permitting sites for condo construction in emerging markets from East Boston to Mission Hill. After founding the firm in 2012, the Milton resident formed a partnership with Daniel Duval on Elevated Residential, the firm’s sales and marketing arm. The firm has completed more than 75 units and brokered over $300 million in transaction volume.
Q: How did Elevated expand and reshape its business model to incorporate multifamily development and brokerage over the past decade?
A: Our first couple of projects were single-families in the Milton and Quincy area in 2010, as developer and construction company. I was wearing the hat of the general contractor, the developer self-performing, and also selling it myself at the time. I have a business partner, Daniel Duval, and we started sourcing multifamilies in the Boston market: Dorchestrer, East Boston, South Boston and Somerville, and we started converting three-families. We’d take a traditional triple-decker with flats and turn them into individual condos.
When my partnership with Dan formed, the role that he took on was helping build out the brokerage and sales. I was focused on the acquisition and development and construction, and that really took off in 2014. As the projects grew, I brought in support internally, hiring project managers and that really formalized the construction company. Before, I was really wearing every hat. Now we have five full-time employees including myself on the construction side. We went from single-families to three-families to teardowns and new construction, and now we specialize in that.
Q: What criteria do you use to evaluate your investments and potential development sites?
A: Our main core markets are East Boston, South Boston and Dorchester and 95 percent of our work is in those markets. We know them well, we know the neighbors and we have a reputation. The next thing is: Is it the right amount of work for the right return based upon what we have in our pipeline? Two projects in Boston of the same size and style might be totally different. Some might be in a neighborhood where neighbors are more opposed to development, or soil conditions are different and require site improvements.
Q: East Boston’s condo market has shown strong gains in price and volume this year. What was the buyer response to The Two Eight Seven at 287 Maverick St. that you’re marketing?
A: We are the exclusive broker for that one and it’s predominantly sold out. We have three projects in East Boston: Two are active and one is just about to break ground. We have an eight-unit building at 347 Maverick St. that’s going to open in September. It’s a beautiful building, it’s fully sold out and we’re just getting that across the finish line. The average pricepoint is around $800,000. We just completed four units at 143 Trenton St. in East Boston, and the prices were in the $600,000 to $750,000 range.
Q: What does the current transaction activity tell you about where the condo market is headed?
A: When the pandemic first hit, across the board there was a stoppage immediately, but it picked back up pretty quickly. People had time on their hands and wanted to get out and look. By August [2020], the market was really strong. Starting in late August through the remainder of 2020, we saw the market slow down pretty significantly between the pandemic and the change of presidency. When 2021 turned the corner, we saw people being bullish and optimistic and that led to a really robust spring market. The city was alive and well. It’s slowed down a little bit this summer. People are traveling and enjoying themselves. I do expect the fall in the city to be pretty strong.
Q: What’s next for Elevated’s development pipeline?
A: We are starting 173-177 Maverick St., and that’s nine residential units and one ground-level commercial unit where we’re hoping to put a restaurant. We have an eight-unit project in Mission Hill that is fully framed at 3-5 South Whitney St. The Mission Hill buyer is being priced out of Brookline and the Fenway. So, if somebody works at a hospital, Mission Hill has come up enough that people feel good about buying there, not just renting.
Wild’s Five Favorite Podcasts
- The EdMylettShow
- The Model Health Show
- The Aubrey Marcus Podcast
- On Purpose
- The Playbook
