Strategy
Our analysis charts the way forward.
WOWA creates and implements real estate development strategy for developers, organizations, communities, and industry leaders. As advisers, we structure decision-making throughout the development process so that every choice directly supports our client’s goals. Our work focuses on the crucial early stages from pre-development through design to entitlements, when strategic definition and direction have the most power to determine long-term success.
Real estate development today faces unprecedented uncertainty and risk. WOWA’s strategic approach ensures that clients’ developments can be successfully marketed, readily approved, and physically constructed, and that they perform and adapt optimally in use. We consider the big picture from every angle, centering the owner’s and users’ requirements and anticipating future change. Our emphasis on architectural excellence, health and environmental stewardship, and digital leadership realizes each development’s highest potential, now and for decades to come.
Definition
The strategic definition of a development requires rigorous and comprehensive analysis to clarify the rationale, hone the vision, and set core goals, followed by preparation that maps out future action and decision-making.
Analysis
We engage with client stakeholders, gather information, explore options, and help the client make foundational decisions about the direction of a development. As first steps, we:
- Assess context, sites, and overall real estate portfolio
- Define market potential and development program
- Analyze financial viability
- Study development feasibility
- Research lessons learned from industry best practices
Preparation
We organize and structure the development process, with clear criteria and a concrete path to success. To prepare for implementation, we:
- Synthesize client requirements into a strategic brief
- Integrate client targets for health and environmental stewardship
- Incorporate client’s digital leadership objectives
- Connect client’s aspirations for architectural excellence
- Embrace problem finding and framing
Implementation
We oversee the implementation of development strategy from concept design, spatial coordination, and technical design to manufacturing, construction, and use, ensuring that decisions and actions at every stage directly support the client’s objectives.
Design
Architectural excellence does more than achieve aesthetic beauty; it maximizes utility, gains public buy-in, and ensures the longevity of real estate performance. We create the conditions for excellence, supporting the client and design team by:
- Stewarding human-centered design
- Guiding health and environmental features
- Selecting digital tools and processes
- Procuring the design team
- Framing ideation and solution generation
Entitlements
We establish an early and evolving understanding of the public approval process to streamline this crucial development phase. We effectively:
- Maximize the value of the development
- Guide the entitlements process
- Identify healthy community goals
- Evaluate smart community objectives
- Provide advocacy and representation
Manufacturing and construction
The elements for the successful delivery of every building project must be in place well before groundbreaking. We keep clients ahead of the construction curve by:
- Introducing preconstruction services
- Defining the procurement approach
- Ensuring healthy and sustainable construction
- Evaluating manufacturing innovation
- Assessing quality of delivery
Evaluation
At every stage of development, we establish rigorous criteria for success and evaluate outcomes against them, learning and adapting in response. This iterative process ensures that outcomes align with our clients’ business intentions and best interests.
Process and metrics
Evaluation begins with analysis, continues through implementation, and examines post-occupancy performance in use, including:
- Health and environmental metrics
- Digital operations and services assessments
- Human-centered design benchmarks
Findings
Our findings benefit real estate owners and the wider industry by:
- Guiding clients’ long-term decision-making
- Augmenting WOWA’s knowledge base
- Helping advance industry best practices