Signaling the Douglas Wilson Companies’ eye on the future, the longtime San Diego real estate firm has promoted Nicholas P. Wilson to chief operating officer and Michele Vives to senior managing director.
“Staying true to our credo of being nimble enough to respond quickly to evolving markets, I felt it was important to promote and engage DWC’s next generation of leadership in developing our changing vision,” said Doug Wilson, who founded the company in 1989 and has successfully steered it through the shifting tides of the marketplace. “These new leaders take on added roles as we move into the senior housing arena and begin our first single- and multi-family residential projects in San Diego.”
Wilson said the firm is embarking on a new product line of senior living communities with an assisted living and memory care focus, with the first local venture expected to break ground in early 2016. The venerable real estate firm is also expected to break ground next year on new single-family housing in West Chula Vista.
Wilson noted that he is particularly proud to watch his son’s growth since he joined the company in 2011 as a director. Since then he has identified new development opportunities in the Southwest, managed client relations and overseen DWC’s receivership group.
In his new role, Nich Wilson will lead the team seeking new opportunities in residential, hotel and medical office development. He also continues his efforts in commercial development, where he plays a key role in projects in the Tempe area where the Douglas Wilson Companies is building the $190 million One | Hundred | Mill in the area’s downtown core.
Before joining the company Nich was involved in international sports and consumer marketing.
A graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder with a bachelor’s in economics, Wilson, at 32, recently became the youngest member of the San Diego Downtown Partnership’s Executive Committee. He is also active in the local chapter of the Urban Land Institute and serves on the board of its Young Leaders. In addition, he is on the board of the San Diego Bankruptcy Forum and the San Diego Receivers Forum.
Vives, who joined DWC in 2014, steps up to senior managing director charged to oversee the senior housing projects on the company’s horizon. Among those is a new facility in Otay Ranch with 125 units that is set for a 2016 groundbreaking. Michele also manages the firm’s third-party fee development services group, overseeing development strategies, contract negotiations, entitlement, permitting and community outreach.
“Michele is leading the team to manage and grow our fee development practice, which currently includes several key projects in downtown San Diego,” said Wilson. “Combining the credibility we’ve earned as a court-appointed fiduciary, with decades of real estate development, allows us to assist REITs, individual investors and others who do not hold these resources in-house.”
Vives earned a bachelor’s in industrial psychology from Illinois State University and a bachelor’s in accounting at the University of Phoenix. Over the past decade in the real estate development industry she has built extensive expertise in public-private partnerships (P3) and third-party development services. She has been involved in projects totaling over 2.5 million square feet of space valued at more than $875 million.
Vives is the co-chair of the Downtown San Diego Partnership’s Revenue Committee and was recently named co-chair of the Partnership’s Planning and Public Policy Committee. She is a member of the Urban Land Institute, the San Diego Policy Forum and Circulate San Diego.
