Vice President of Leasing (L-7104)

Myrtle Beach or Charleston, South Carolina, LOCATION: Myrtle Beach or Charleston, SC Our client is a privately held commercial real estate company headquartered in the Southeast. Operating as a private REIT, the Company develops, owns, and manages a retail and mixed-use portfolio across South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. The portfolio spans experiential retail, downtown street retail, neighborhood, grocery-anchored, and power centers, ground leases, and freestanding buildings. POSITION SUMMARY: The Vice President of Leasing is responsible for leasing strategy and execution across an assigned commercial portfolio, with accountability for occupancy, net operating income, and tenant mix. The role spans the full deal lifecycle, from sourcing and merchandising through negotiation, approval, and renewal, and partners closely with the development, acquisitions, finance, and legal teams on new projects and growth opportunities. KEY OBJECTIVES: Performance in this role is measured against the following ongoing objectives:

Meet or exceed portfolio occupancy and lease-up targets for assigned assets. Achieve annual leasing volume (new deals, renewals, and expansions) and rent-growth goals. Maintain a healthy, strategically curated tenant mix that strengthens each property and supports percentage-rent performance. Drive renewal retention and proactively manage upcoming expirations and unexpected vacancies to minimize downtime.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES: Deal Origination & Negotiation

Canvass markets, source new deals, and maintain an active pipeline of prospective tenants across retail, food and beverage, entertainment, experiential, and service categories. Manage the leasing process from start to finish, including commission agreements, confidentiality agreements, letters of intent, leases, amendments, renewals, and expansions; negotiate terms that protect the Company's position and preserve negotiating leverage; and work with internal and outside counsel to prepare lease documents. Foster and grow relationships with existing tenants, prospective tenants, and brokers, and maintain an active presence in the regional brokerage and tenant community, including ICSC conferences and local networking.

Portfolio & Merchandising Strategy

Create and execute leasing and merchandising plans for existing assets, new acquisitions, and new developments using void analysis, tenant sales data, merchandise-mix planning, and market-rent research. Select, direct, and manage third-party brokers: set leasing strategy, deal parameters, and performance expectations; lead regular leasing calls; review pipelines and broker reporting; and step in on negotiations as needed. Strategically assess and manage near-term and long-term risks associated with the assigned assets.

Financial Analysis & Underwriting

Use data and financial analysis to evaluate deals, including effective rent, tenant improvement payback, and NOI impact over the lease term. Assist in preparing the annual budget, including rent forecasting and leasing-related operating and capital budgets, and the cost/benefit analyses that support leasing decisions. Support the development and acquisitions teams with income projections for pro formas and with market-rent and tenant-quality input for acquisition underwriting.

Reporting

Prepare leasing forecasts and consolidated pipeline reporting across broker-led and direct deals for senior management; report to the Senior Vice President, Leasing & Development, and perform other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS: Required

Bachelor's degree required; concentration in business, finance, accounting, or real estate preferred. Eight or more years of relevant commercial real estate experience as a landlord representative, including a documented track record closing new shop and anchor or junior-anchor deals across a retail or mixed-use portfolio. Demonstrated people-management experience, including developing and leading leasing staff. Proven success negotiating deals from start to finish (procuring deals, negotiating terms, drafting letters of intent, negotiating leases), completing renewals and terminations, and managing unexpected vacancies. Strong financial-analysis skills, including the ability to build and interpret deal models in Microsoft Excel and prepare professional documents and presentations in Word and PowerPoint. Command of retail leasing economics, including demographics, sales-per-square-foot benchmarks, merchandising, and concession structures (tenant allowances, free rent), with the ability to model net effective rent and lease-versus-renewal tradeoffs. Experience selecting, directing, and managing third-party leasing brokers across multiple markets. Willingness to travel as required.

Preferred

Experience leasing experiential, entertainment, and food-and-beverage concepts, and familiarity with mixed-use and development leasing. Familiarity with REIT considerations affecting leasing (for example, qualifying income) and with CAM reconciliation and tenant-improvement structuring. Established broker and retailer relationships in the Southeast. Experience with lease administration and analysis platforms (for example, MRI or Argus) and with data-analytics and AI-enabled tools for leasing research and reporting.