Wuest Joins Marcus Partners

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Frank Wuest

Frank Wuest, former president of Forest City Enterprises’ Boston office, has come aboard Marcus Partners as a principal with a focus on acquisitions and redevelopment.

Wuest also served as president of Forest City’s Science & Technology Group and served on the company’s executive and investment committees. Among his responsibilities with the company was overseeing Forest City’s strategic use of private equity capital across its business lines in recent years, helping the company raise and deploy over $1.2 billion from domestic and foreign investors.

Prior to his 13 years with Forest City, Wuest spent four years as principal of AEW Capital Management, 10 years with Copley Real Estate Advisors and three years as a senior accountant with Price Waterhouse.

“I’ve known Frank for more than 20 years, in business and through mutual friends, and his work at AEW and Forest City is work I’ve always admired,” , Marcus Partners’ CEO, told Commercial Property Executive. “He brings a broad range of real estate skill sets to the organization.”

Wuest graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and from Harvard Business School in 1987 with his MBA. During his career, he has been responsible for the acquisition, development, sale or financing of more than $8 billion of real estate, including office, industrial, residential, retail and mixed-use properties.

“Frank has had an enormous amount of value-add and redevelopment experience over his tenure, which fits very well into what Marcus Partners has always been known for,” Marcus added. “Frank will be working with the other members of the team to successfully invest Fund II over the three-year investment period. Fund II is $250 million of equity, which equates to approximately $600 million in property acquisitions.”

Wuest serves as the vice chair of the Advisory Board of the Boston District Council of the Urban Land Institute and is on the board of directors of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, where he is also a member of its national Research Foundation and Industry Trends Task Force.

“I have known and respected Paul for over 20 years, and Marcus Partners has a superb reputation as one of the best value-oriented investors and operators in the market with an excellent team of professionals,” Wuest said in a company release. “I look forward to partnering with Paul, Kyle O’Connor, Bill McAvoy and the other members of this outstanding team to build on their significant past success, enhance the Marcus Partners platform and help drive performance on behalf of our investors.”

As for the rest of 2015, although no immediate changes are on the horizon at Marcus Partners, Marcus said the firm will continue to add selective, high-quality personnel as opportunities present themselves.