Big V Property Group Celebrates 2026 Summer Internship Program

An 80-year-old company knows something about planning for the future — and that’s why Big V Property Group recently graduated its latest class in its annual Summer Internship Program. The summer internship program is a testament to the company’s commitment to advancing the commercial real estate industry by fostering early career talent and equipping the next generation of property professionals with actionable, real-world experience.

Begun in 2025, the company brings on a select group of college freshmen, sophomores and juniors who are curious about careers in real estate, finance and development and want to learn the business in a multifaceted, collaborative environment, for a paid, eight-week internship that ran in June and July.

“Our summer internship program strengthens our corporate visibility and allows us to invest in the future of commercial real estate,” said Buffy Farnsworth, Executive Director of Human Capital. “Beyond giving back to the industry, it creates a direct talent pipeline for the future recruitment and infuses our teams with fresh perspectives.”

Applicants apply via Big V Property Group’s website, bigv.com, and can come from any college or university. This year’s group consisted of Real Estate majors Viviana Correa from the University of Georgia and Leon Hoang from Tulane University; Finance majors Konner St. Clair and Kyle Vogt, both from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Business major Bays Quarrier and Political Science and Management and Society major Cooper Spaeth from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Business Administration major Matthew Sjogren from the University of New Hampshire.

The seven interns rotated through Big V’s departments including research/acquisition-disposition, capital markets, leasing, construction, asset management and property management/marketing to get a 360-degree view of what it takes to finance, build, own, operate and sell shopping centers.

Along the way, they learn strategic thinking, numerical rigor, departmental integration, decisiveness, risk awareness, executive communication and Q&A performance through their capstone project, “The Lifecycle of a Shopping Center.”

Utilizing all of the knowledge gained as they learned every aspect of Big V’s largely Sunbelt-based portfolio, the group was divided into three teams for a Capstone Project, where they analyzed the lifecycle of a real shopping center in Big V’s portfolio, evaluated its performance and then offered a recommendation for the next step. One team was assigned to make the case for holding the property, another for repositioning it, and the third for disposing of the asset.

Presentations had to include debt structures; updated proformas, IRRs, overview of previous results including rents, possible new leases, common area maintenance, and other costs compared to the original underwriting; and why they rejected other options.

Based on their analyses, each team then defended its assigned angle to Big V Property Group’s Investment Committee during their final week, and were evaluated on their strategic thinking, numerical rigor, departmental integration, decisiveness, risk awareness, executive committee and performance during the Q&A section of the presentation.

Big V’s leaders learn as well.

“The key insight we gained was that our departmental rotation structure is a major competitive differentiator for prospective talent,” Farnsworth said. “That feedback strongly validates our approach and highlights the value early career professionals place on gaining cross functional exposure.”

The program will continue in 2027. Students interested in commercial real estate, finance, development, leasing, construction, or property management are encouraged to visit Big V Property Group’s Careers page for application information.