Real Estate Challenge Participants - Where are they now? Featuring Alexandra Stoelzle
Alexandra Stoelzle is real estate development professional and self-professed “plannerd” who loves the challenge of shaping the urban environment. As Director of Development and Land Planning at Kilroy Realty she has ample opportunity to indulge her passion. In her role, Stoelzle manages Kilroy’s planning and entitlement efforts, working closely with architects, engineers, city planners, community groups, and a team of environmental and public relations consultants. Additionally, she acts as a resource to her colleagues on the investment and asset management teams with regard to due diligence, planning and zoning code issues. “The most rewarding aspect of my career is the ability to implement the combined vision of the City, the community, and the company to create longstanding, iconic buildings that positively shape the future of cities and the people who work and live in them,” she said.
When Stoelzle first started with Kilroy as an Associate in 2014, she was looped into the company’s One Paseo project in San Diego, where she coordinated with the project team on sustainability and political issues. She had the opportunity to present on the project’s sustainability features and initiatives at Planning Commission and City Council project approval hearings. “I found the experience exhilarating,” she said. “I knew immediately that this was the career path I was meant to travel.” The project, which was approved in 2016, is a 1.1 million-square-foot mixed-use office, retail, and residential project currently being developed in Carmel Valley.
Stoelzle’s current endeavors are equally exciting and even more challenging. She is the Assistant Project Lead for Kilroy’s high-profile project, the Flower Mart, a proposed 2.3 million-square-foot, LEED Platinum mixed-use development in the heart of San Francisco’s SoMa district. The development includes Class A office space above a new, 125,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art wholesale flower market, 100,000 square feet of experiential retail, and nearly an acre of public open space. “This is an exciting and dynamic project to work on, as it involves monitoring and collaborating on the recently adopted Central SoMa Plan, managing the project approval and entitlement process, leading CEQA analysis and City Planning review, leading community outreach efforts, and coordinating and providing input on project design,” she said. “Additionally, we are in the process of identifying a temporary relocation site in San Francisco for the project’s 60 existing wholesale tenants. It is inspiring to have the opportunity to preserve the San Francisco Flower Mart, which is a 100-year-old institution and the hub of the Bay Area floral industry.”
NAIOP played a pivotal role in helping Stoelzle get her real estate career started. She competed on Cal’s 2014 NAIOP Real Estate Challenge team. The Challenge, which plays upon the legendary Cal-Stanford rivalry, is a unique program designed to give graduate students hands-on experience in real estate development. The task that year was to re-envision Brooks Hall and Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco. While her team was defeated in the Challenge, Alexandra considered the experience a big win for her career. “As someone new to real estate, the Challenge helped prepare me for the real world,” she said.
“It gave me valuable experience working with a multidisciplinary team, developing a robust development proposal, navigating the intricacies of the development process and working with the City and stakeholders throughout the process.
Stoelzle credits her participation in the Challenge with helping prepare her for her job at Kilroy. “Working with the City of San Francisco during the planning process certainly gave me a boots on the ground perspective on entitlements, public-private partnerships, and creative capital structuring,” she said. “When the opportunity came to secure a full-time position at Kilroy, I realized that expertise in this area was something the company was missing and was a sought-after skill set that I could provide.”
Another way NAIOP enhanced Stoelzle’s career was through her participation in the Young Professionals Group (YPG). She completed the intensive 12-month program in 2016 and indicates she views her involvement in it as one of her best decisions to date. “I also experienced a bit of redemption as I DID win the coveted YPG Cup with my rock star final presentation group!” she said. “I am very grateful for the growth I achieved as a result of YPG’s rich professional and personal development offering.”
Last year Stoelzle upped the ante on her involvement in NAIOP stepping into a chapter leadership position as Co-Chair of the Challenge. “Next year’s program will be especially exciting to work on, as it is the competition’s 30th anniversary,” she said. “I believe NAIOP will continue to play a big role in my life and career. In addition to remaining involved in the Challenge and the YPG Alumni group, I plan to play a larger role in expanding and improving NAIOP’s diversity initiatives.”
In terms of advice for the younger generation, Stoelzle encourages them to network, network, network! She believes that despite the fact that she and her colleagues are delivering product to the market, real estate is fundamentally a people-focused business. “We are drawn to – you guessed it – people and relationships,” she said. “Build your network, make friends, surround yourself with a myriad of perspectives, and you will go far in the industry.”
Originally from West Bloomfield, Michigan, Stoelzle also calls Stuttgart, Germany home, where she spent most of her childhood summers with her father’s side of the family. After graduating with BBA’s in International Business and Marketing from Grand Valley State University in Michigan and working as a project manager in the automotive industry, she moved to the Bay Area in 2012 to pursue her Master of City Planning at UC Berkeley and has resided here in the Bay Area ever since. Currently Stoelzle lives in the Hayes Valley area of San Francisco, and enjoys exploring all that the neighborhood as to offer. “It is fascinating to see how the neighborhood has transformed since the removal of the Central Freeway north of Mission St. in 2003, as a result of both the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and some routine San Francisco politics,” she said. Outside of work she is passionate about traveling and learning languages. She is currently planning her next trip, a week long kiteboarding adventure in Cabarete, Dominican Republic later this month with a group of friends from Cal. “In addition to travel and water sports, I also enjoy cooking (read: eating) and tennis,” she said. “I love music too, especially classical piano. I was recently inducted into the Board of Directors for SF Symphonix and am passionate about getting young people to the symphony.”
