2026 Ones to Watch - Rising Stars: Luis Mendonça, Elite Wellness Amenity Group

“Luis Mendonça is redefining how wellness is understood in multifamily real estate by positioning it as operational infrastructure rather than a passive amenity. His work challenges conventional underwriting by linking activation to measurable outcomes like engagement, retention, and NOI. The author of Underwritten Wrong, Luis Mendonça is helping set the tone for how the next generation of real estate will be understood.”

What inspired you to pursue a career in commercial real estate, and what path brought you to your current role? I was drawn to commercial real estate because of its direct connection to value creation at scale. Early in my career, I saw how small operational improvements could drive meaningful financial outcomes. My path evolved through fitness and service-based businesses, where I understood behavior at the ground level. That perspective led me to found Elite Wellness Amenity Group, focused on bridging the gap between physical assets and human behavior to drive performance.

What accomplishment or project so far in your career are you most proud of? I’m most proud of building and helping advance a more performance-driven way to think about wellness in real estate. My work has focused on reframing fitness from a passive amenity into an operating layer that can influence retention, engagement, and NOI. Developing that thesis, giving it language, and bringing it into industry conversations has been especially meaningful because it challenges conventional underwriting and offers owners a more disciplined way to think about asset value.

Who has been a mentor or influential figure in your career, and what is the most valuable advice they have shared with you? I’ve been influenced by leaders who think in systems rather than transactions. One piece of advice that stayed with me is: “Don’t just improve what exists , identify what’s missing.” That shifted how I approached real estate. Instead of optimizing within the current model, I focused on the gaps it couldn’t capture , particularly behavior, engagement, and retention and how those could be structured into something measurable and scalable.

What trends or opportunities do you see shaping the future of commercial real estate? The future of commercial real estate will be defined by operational performance, not just physical design. As amenities become standardized, differentiation will come from how assets function daily. There is a growing opportunity around behavioral infrastructure – services and systems that drive engagement, routine, and retention. Owners who move beyond CapEx thinking and begin underwriting operational layers will have a significant advantage in performance and NOI stability.