IN DEPTH: Wingate CEO Mark Schuster
As Boston-based Wingate Cos embarks on its latest project in Atlanta—the development of an 80-unit affordable senior housing complex in Old Fourth Ward—we got a chance to sit down and chat with CEO Mark Schuster. As a boy, Mark was mesmerized by his father’s stories of the family real estate business and thrilled that Dad took him along “as a pal” to construction sites. Now, Mark runs Wingate from six regional offices to develop/acquire multifamily properties and manage 15,000 apartments. Outside Atlanta, Wingate has projects underway in Boston and Austin.
Grandfather Benjamin Siegel, a developer, built the Boston master planned community Oak Hill Park. Mark’s father Gerald formed Continental Wingate to develop affordable housing. Profits were thin so he diversified into property management, equity syndication and construction to control the profits and risks. In ’77, Mark joined the business and got an education in development, finance, property management and equity syndication. In time, Mark converted the equity syndication group into a lender. In the late ‘80s, when real estate was out of favor, Mark formed his own development/management and investment firm. He plunged into the tumultuous Texas market—440 banks had failed and oil prices had collapsed.
By 2010, with a solid business of his own—Bluestone Holdings—Mark purchased Gerry’s management company. Mark’s enterprise now operates under the Wingate banner. Among the many golden nuggets Gerry taught Mark: mentor, listen to as many people as possible, and retain good employees for decades. A great investment tool: find markets where industrial space is flourishing. It indicates a robust economy, ready for multifamily development and acquisitions. Another lesson: multitask and diversify. In his latest pivot, Mark’s getting into affordable housing development with federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit financing; it's an especially good business now that multifamily prices are “off the wall,” he says.
Married in ’83 to Audrey, Mark’s “been blessed” with a son and two daughters, including Nikki (Schuster's 4-G in commercial real estate). Nikki was at his side earlier this year in Atlanta, when Wingate broke ground on City Lights, the first new senior housing in this neighborhood in the reviving Old Fourth Ward. Wingate is planning a second building for families and together the two will have 170 units. Over five to 10 years, Wingate plans to invest $350M in a total of 1,500 units of multifamily housing in a neighborhood once infamous for its proliferation of crime. Total project will consist of half affordable, half market rate with retail. Mark credits Councilman Kwanza Hall for the vision and leadership to plan the revival and attract developers who will supply housing, retail and office.
