Beyond The Bio: 16 Questions With Lendlease Americas General Manager Of Development Nicholas Iselin

This series profiles men and women in commercial real estate who have profoundly transformed our neighborhoods and reshaped our cities, businesses and lifestyles.   

Lendlease may have Australian roots, but with its eyes set on the U.S. for growth, one Bostonian is making it happen. 

Lendlease Americas General Manager of Development Nicholas Iselin joined the company in 2014 as it continued to expand its U.S. development pipeline. The developer has provided construction management services for a variety of high-profile projects, including the Time Warner Center in New York City and Hines’ 33 Tehama residential tower in San Francisco. The company is now pursuing its own developments in U.S. gateway cities. Lendlease today has a $15.7B urban regeneration development pipeline, including the projects Iselin oversees. 

Iselin is currently working on Lendlease’s first Boston development, Clippership Wharf in East Boston, which made headlines for selling out its first round of 40 condos in 36 hours in summer 2017. The four-building, 478-residence waterfront project is noted for its resiliency integration while Greater Boston grapples with how to deal with rising sea levels causing regular flooding from Boston Harbor threatening $80B of real estate.

A Philadelphia native, Iselin first moved to Boston to attend Harvard. He started his professional career in architecture before switching to development, including a 14-year stint at Intercontinental Real Estate in Boston. While Iselin may have many years under his belt in real estate, Bisnow has learned he’s just as at home in the kitchen (or perusing a great wine cellar) as he is on a construction site. 

Bisnow: How do you describe your job to people who are not in the industry?

Iselin: I like not to think of myself as a professional meeting attender but that’s what it amounts to. The good news is the meetings are varied and (usually) stimulating, reflecting the interest and complexity of Boston real estate deals. My job is to make an impact on the places where we develop, and I have the backing of my company to ensure that’s the case, starting with our first development project in East Boston, Clippership Wharf, which is pioneering the integration of resiliency into waterfront development in the city.

Bisnow: If you weren’t in commercial real estate, what would you do?

Iselin: I would be an inventor. Caractacus Potts, the zany dad and inventor from "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," is my hero.

Bisnow: What is the worst job you ever had?

Iselin: I had a summer job in high school painting a furniture factory. A friend and I spent the entire summer prepping and spraying what seemed like acres of wall area. I would come home every night exhausted and caked with gray oil paint from the overspray.

Bisnow: What was your first big deal?

Iselin: The first real estate deal I was involved in was the Nine Zero Hotel [in Boston]. Definitely a baptism by fire and a great introduction to the many facets of real estate development.

Bisnow: What deal do you consider to be your biggest failure?

Iselin: I worked on a condo deal in Portland, Maine, that was fully designed and permitted when the financial crisis made it infeasible. Pulling the plug on it was painful but proceeding would have been more so. The experience has made me look differently at evaluating the long-term financial risks and opportunities of potential development projects.

Bisnow: If you could change one thing about the commercial real estate industry, what would it be?

Iselin: I would make it more accessible and transparent, so the default position of the layperson is not that developers are bad and greedy, but that we have vision and compassion. No one is more incentivized to create good outcomes, and not just financial ones, than developers. I am fortunate to work at a company with a commitment to leaving a positive legacy at each of our projects with a focus on safety, innovation and sustainability.

Bisnow: What is your biggest pet peeve?

Iselin: Bad grammar!

Bisnow: Who is your greatest mentor?

Iselin: Jim Righter (Albert, Righter & Tittmann Architects). He was my first boss after architecture school and I’ll never forget my interview. After an hour or so, I asked if he’d like to see my portfolio, to which he replied, “we hire people, not portfolios.” I learned as many life lessons as professional ones from Jim, chief among them the importance of enjoying what you do.

Bisnow: What is the best and worst professional advice you've ever gotten?

Iselin: Somewhat ironically, it was the same piece of advice. When I made the transition from architecture to real estate development, I was told I could learn everything I needed to know about real estate in six months on the job. That advice helped me decide to make the transition but was the biggest professional lie anyone has told me. Eighteen years later, I feel like I have something to learn almost every day.

Bisnow: What is your greatest extravagance?

Iselin: Wine is by far my biggest, and may be my only, extravagance.

Bisnow: What is your favorite restaurant in the world?

Iselin:  Unfair question but I’ll go [with] La Bastide de Moustiers in Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, France. Though it is a proving ground for chefs destined for Alain Ducasse’s fancy restaurants all over the world, it is incredibly fun and unpretentious. They serve what they grow and, when you stay there, you have access to the kitchen and can chat up the future stars of the culinary world.

Bisnow: If you could sit down with President Donald Trump, what would you say?

Iselin: I’ll bite my tongue on this one.

Bisnow: What's the biggest risk you have ever taken?

Iselin: I’m not really a risk taker but I’d say that abandoning my career in architecture at a time when it was on a decent trajectory seemed like a big risk at the time. I like to say now that I’m a much better architect as a real estate developer.

Bisnow: What is your favorite place to visit in your hometown?

Iselin: I grew up in Philly and it’s a toss-up between the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Dalessandro’s. The former because my great-grandfather was a painter and art collector and the paintings he collected are exhibited there (as is one that he painted). The latter because they made the best cheesesteaks of my youth.

Bisnow: What keeps you up at night?

Iselin: Besides being a challenged sleeper, getting development deals to pencil.

Bisnow: Outside of your work, what are you most passionate about?

Iselin: I have to put food (both cooking and baking) and collecting wine at the top of the usual laundry list of passions.