A FEW MINUTES WITH CORE INVESTMENTS INC.’S LUIS MEJIAS
Luis Mejias is Senior Development Manager at Core Investments, Inc. He joined the company in September 2022.
What do you actually do for Core?
At Core, I lead and shepherd projects through the development process, starting from planning, permitting and entitlements, through construction and completion.
Luis, what did you do before Core?
I have worked both in the private sector and public sector as a development manager, and as an urban and transportation planner. Most recently, I was Senior Development Manager at Massport, where I worked on development in the Seaport, including 88 Black Falcon Avenue. Before that, I worked in San Francisco for Crescent Heights, a Miami-based multifamily developer. My projects included high-rise apartment buildings in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. Before attending MIT, I was working as a Transportation Planner at the U.S. Department of Transportation, at the Volpe Center in Cambridge, and before that at Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, where I got my start in Boston. I worked on the Big Dig – everybody did. I did an analysis of the MBTA Silver Line in South Boston and on some development permitting projects – from large master planning efforts such as North Point [now called Cambridge Crossing] for Spaulding & Slye to community projects such as the Ray & Joan Kroc Community Center in Roxbury.
Where did you go to school?
Before moving to California, I received my Master’s Degree in Real Estate Development at MIT and wrote a thesis on the housing crisis and innovation in construction technology. While I’ve been in Boston most of my adult life, I’m not a local, but half my head is here. I moved here in 2001 after finishing undergrad at Penn State. I had a couple of stints of a few years in California, including one to complete a graduate program in civil engineering and city planning at UC Berkeley.
And where did you grow up?
I was born in New York, and my family moved to Miami when I was 8. While most of my development years were in south Florida, I did finish high school in Tennessee, about an hour west of Nashville.
Where do you live now?
In Cambridge.
What do you do to have fun or outside work?
I like to travel. In winter, I enjoy skiing at Sugarbush in Vermont. It’s one of my favorite places in the world. In the summer it depends, but I like biking, walking, and exploring the city. I love to travel, including short and long trips to explore New England.
What’s a favorite place of yours in the Boston area?
I haven’t really thought about it. But I always return to feeling that Boston is the best city in the country. There are so many great places. The Public Garden is beautiful, being along the Charles.
Is there anything new in your life?
Being at Core is still the newest thing in my life, it’s been less than two months. I did check off a bucket list item before I started at Core, I went skiing in Argentina over the summer (their winter).