Lendlease has promoted Theodore T. Weldon III from senior vice president of development to executive general manager of development for Chicago. Weldon previously reported to Tom Weeks, who has accepted another position in New York City and is leaving Lendlease at the end of the month.
In his new role, Weldon will manage Lendlease’s significant pipeline of Chicago projects. These include Southbank, a seven-acre neighborhood development along the South Branch of the Chicago River whose first tower, The Cooper at Southbank, opened in fall 2018, as well as 845 West Madison, a two-tower mixed-use development in the West Loop being developed in partnership with The John Buck Company and Intercontinental Real Estate Corp.
Later this month, Lendlease will celebrate the groundbreaking for two of three planned residential towers in the Lakeshore East neighborhood: Cirrus, a 47-story, 363-unit condominium tower, and Cascade, an adjacent 37-story, 503-unit rental tower—both of which are joint ventures with Magellan Development Group.
“As a senior member of our leadership team who was instrumental in launching Lendlease’s Chicago development business, Ted was a natural choice to fill this position,” said Jason Alderman, president of Lendlease Development. “His deep knowledge of each project, the integrated teams behind them, and the core principles that shape them will help ensure a seamless transition as we continue to grow as a company in Chicago.”
Weldon’s 30-year career as a real estate developer has included executive roles at RN Realty, Capstone Equity Corp. and Related Midwest, formerly LR Development Co. Much of his career has been spent working alongside Weeks, first as actuaries at Hewitt Associates in the mid-1980s, and then again at Related. During his time at Related, Weldon worked on a number of high-profile condominium developments including Park Tower, 840 North Lake Shore Drive and 340 on the Park. Weldon and Weeks left Related Midwest in 2007 to join Sailrock Development Ltd., which is the developer of the Sailrock resort in the Turks and Caicos.
After joining Lendlease as acquisitions director in 2015, Weldon was responsible for management of the Lakeshore East project, which included overseeing the master planning, zoning/entitlements and predevelopment work for the new towers. He also assisted in advancing Lendlease’s other two Chicago developments, Southbank and 845 West Madison. He was promoted to senior vice president and project director in October 2018.
Weldon graduated with distinction from Carleton College with a bachelor of arts in mathematics and received a full academic scholarship to earn a master of science in statistics from the University of Iowa.
