Boston University graduate class ‘adopts’ Waterstone at Wellesley development

A class of 21 graduate students from Boston University’s School of Management have adopted Waterstone at Wellesley, the 138-apartment luxury senior living community being built at 27 Washington St. on Route 16, for a semester-long real estate development project. Led by BU Master Lecturer Keith Munsell, the class visited the project site in March.

“There are many moving parts to a large real estate project,” Munsell said. “Students benefit from seeing busy, complex job sites. Real estate development is not all about being in an office, so I hope it is snowy, wet, and cold when we visit so the students get a sense of how complicated these jobs are.”

The class breaks into groups to dissect four issues:

• Physical environment, including the design, architecture and technical aspects
• Entitlement issues, including community relations, permitting, zoning, and site history
• Marketing, including market needs and marketing strategies
• Financial, including risk-reward factors for investors.

“For the students, this is real world development 101,” Professor Munsell said. “This will be an excellent development and it will be useful for students to see it from the ground up.”

Ted Tye, a managing partner at National Development and project manager for Waterstone at Wellesley, will speak to the BU class later this semester.

Professor Munsell said this development is perfect for the class in its size, scope and complexity. The five-acre site where Waterstone at Wellesley is being erected has been vacant since Grossman’s hardware closed in 1994. At the center of the Lower Falls village, Waterstone at Wellesley will feature a fitness center, pool, theater, restaurant-style dining, designer kitchens, riverfront walking trail and a parking garage. Set on the Charles River, Waterstone at Wellesley will offer independent and assisted living apartments when it opens in spring 2012.

The site also will include 33,600-square feet of retail and office space at 25 Washington St. CVS Pharmacy has signed a lease for space there, and Newton-Wellesley Hospital will open an ambulatory surgical center.