Office Property Representative of the Year Finalists Bill Rolander, Jon Cordell, Jason Houze, Jessica O Hara (Newmark Knight Frank) Brad Despot, Mark Georgas, Annie Nicolau (JLL) James Adler, Daniel O'Neill, Patrick Kiefer, Ryan Maher (NAI Hiffman) Michael Kazmierczak (CBRE) Peter Kelly, Brett Ratay, Matt Hickey (Lincoln Property Company) Steve Smith (The Telos Group LLC) 2019 Category Criteria This category recognizes the outstanding achievements of an individual, or an established team of, office leasing agent(s) who negotiate office lease transactions specifically on behalf of Owners/Landlords of Office Buildings.
Office Property Representative of the Year Entry Name Newmark Knight Frank- Rolander, Cordell, Houze, O'Hara Team Nominee Bill Rolander, Executive Managing Director Newmark Knight Frank 500 W. Monroe Street, Suite 2900 Chicago, IL 60661 312.224.3130 Bill.Rolander@ngkf.com Jon Cordell, Senior Managing Director Newmark Knight Frank 500 W. Monroe Street, Suite 2900 Chicago, IL 60661 312.224.3133 Jon.Cordell@ngkf.com Jason Houze, Associate Director Newmark Knight Frank 500 W. Monroe Street, Suite 2900 Chicago, IL 60661 312.224.3163 Jason.houze@ngkf.com Jessica O Hara, Director Newmark Knight Frank 500 W. Monroe Street, Suite 2900 Chicago, IL 60661 312.224.3193 Jessica.ohara@ngkf.com Executive Summary: In 2018 the team completed 36 transactions totaling 874,409 SF. Over 72% of the square footage accounted for new deals:? NKF Team completed a total of 36 transactions, 874,409 RSF representing $248,977,217.02 of lease value? 17 deals were new leases comprising 630,076 RSF and $199,083,418.72 of lease value? 19 deals were renewals comprising 244,333 RSF and $49,893,798.30 of lease value? NKF Team represented The John Buck Company/Morgan Stanley venture for the market changing Facebook s second Chicago office location at 151 N. Franklin, boosting the percentage leased to 92% upon opening in June 2018. JBC s most successful lease up prior to opening of its seven prior office buildings in Chicago? Facebook fully executed its lease of 263,800 SF true expansion space in 62 days from initial inquiry to 151 N Franklin? The deal had significant market impact leasing the last Class A+/New Development large block forcing approximately 100,000 SF of tenant demand focused on 151 N. Franklin to quickly commit elsewhere in the West Loop? In March 2018, NKF won the assignment to White Oak/CA/Vanderbilt and USAA to lease 625 West Adams, the city s first speculative office building in many years nearing completion without an active proposal/prospect? Our estimate was to secure a 200,000 SF anchor by September 1? We exceeded the forecast by securing CDW for 250,000 SF by December 1? NKF completed its renewals within its portfolio of properties and gained occupancy overall by 50% during the calendar year of 2018 Bill Rolander, Jon Cordell, Jason Houze each joined Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) in September 2016. The small but consistent performing team did not miss a beat after leaving The John Buck Company in 2016, was nominated in 2016 for this prestigious award with the leasing of over 1.0 million square feet of space in their transition year from Buck to NKF, repeated this in 2017 and nominated again and now in 2018 leased another 800,000 SF as described above. Bill Rolander and Jon Cordell made headlines when they joined NKF, serving as a principal and managing director and senior vice president, respectively, at The John Buck Company and bringing over 30 years of robust agency leasing experience and a portfolio of landmark assets with them to NKF. Jason Houze joined the team shortly thereafter, coming from Jones Lang LaSalle. This team became NKF Chicago s #1 and #2 producers of 2017 and top 100 nationally, representing their Chicago landlords such as Morgan Stanley, CBRE Global, The John Buck Company and LAMB/IBT in approximately $300 million dollars of lease transactions. Jessica O Hara joined the team early 2018 from CBRE. The team has worked relentlessly for its clients, navigating challenging and complex scenarios to get the deals done. Due to the team s persistence and savvy transaction management, they are one of the most sought-after teams in the Chicagoland area. Thank you for your consideration!
Bill Rolander Jon Cordell Jason Houze Jessica O'Hara
Office Property Representative of the Year Entry Name JLL - Brad Despot, Mark Georgas and Annie Nicolau Nominee Brad Despot Managing Director JLL 200 E. Randolph St. Chicago, IL 60601 +1 312 228 2033 brad.despot@am.jll.com Mark Georgas Senior Vice President JLL 200 E. Randolph St. Chicago, IL 60601 +1 312 228 2178 mark.georgas@am.jll.com Annie Nicolau Vice President JLL 200 E. Randolph St. Chicago, IL 60601 +1 312 228 2061 annie.nicolau@am.jll.com Executive Summary: JLL s Agency Leasing team of Brad Despot, Mark Georgas and Annie Nicolau delivered a banner year in 2018 with client Irvine Companies and their leasing assignments at 1 N Wacker and 71 S Wacker. In 2018, the team completed an impressive 34 transactions, valued at nearly $220 million and totaling more than 750,000 square feet. The team has experienced tremendous success and is continuing to add value to ownership s investments at these two Chicago towers. The team s notable transactions in 2018 at 1 N Wacker include: Adams Street Capital (40,000 square feet) and Egon Zehnder (22,000 square feet): Paving the way early in 2018 were the retention and relocation within the building of these two long-term tenants. Despite being heavily pursued by new developments in the market, the JLL team remained persistent and demonstrated flexibility in accommodating their changing needs for space and creatively structured a deal for their move in the building. While these two deals left behind two contiguous floors, those are soon-to-be-leased to a single 65,000-square-foot tenant that will bring the building to nearly 95% leased. UBS (145,000 square feet) UBS has long been the namesake tenant in 1 N Wacker. Like many other companies today, the banking giant determined it needed to right-size, which then led to a requirement to downsize their occupancy well ahead of their current lease expiration. The JLL leasing team was instrumental in leading discussions with UBS and ensuring that they remained at 1 N Wacker. Designed for quick move-ins, Irvine Company s ReadyNow Offices offer companies all the benefits of a tailor-made workspace without any of the headaches. In 2018, the JLL team made it a top priority to fuel Irvine s program at 1 N Wacker and remarkably leased nine ReadyNow spaces, ranging from 2,500 to 7,000 square feet. At 71 S Wacker, the result of downsizing, consolidations and relocations from the building, the team was challenged with a large amount of vacancy top to bottom heading into 2018. High-rises leases: The JLL team creatively expanded and extended lease terms for Milliman to 116,00 square feet, who is now the building s second largest tenant. The team also managed to attract two major new tenants to the building Banner & Witcoff, who has leased 33,000 square feet, and Colliers who signed for 18,000 square feet for their Chicago office. Mid-rise leases: The team successfully secured leases with Ameriprise Financial (25,000 square feet) and JAMS (20,000 square feet), in addition to the expansion of Anderson Tax (32,000 square feet), resulting in nearly full occupancy across the building s mid-rise floors. Low-rises leases: Perhaps the greatest challenge the team faced in 2018 was a large vacancy left behind from Hyatt Corporation. But in working with ownership on an extensive multi-million-dollar renovation of the newly vacant floors, the JLL leasing team successfully pre-leased half the space securing long-term leases for Benesch Friedlander (66,000 square feet), Legal & General (66,000 square feet) and Evraz (27,000 square feet) well ahead of Hyatt s pending expiration.
71 S Wacker 1 N Wacker Mark Georgas, Annie Nicolau, Brad Despot
Office Property Representative of the Year Entry Name James Adler, Daniel O'Neill, Patrick Kiefer, Ryan Maher Nominee James Adler, Executive Vice President, NAI Hiffman One Oakbrook Terrace, Suite 400 Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181 630 932 1234 jadler@hiffman.com Patrick Kiefer, Executive Vice President, NAI Hiffman One Oakbrook Terrace, Suite 400 Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181 630 932 1234 pkiefer@hiffman.com Daniel O'Neill, Executive Vice President, NAI Hiffman One Oakbrook Terrace, Suite 400 Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181 630 932 1234 doneill@hiffman.com Ryan Maher, Associate, NAI Hiffman One Oakbrook Terrace, Suite 400 Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181 630 932 1234 rmaher@hiffman.com Executive Summary: Executive Vice Presidents and Shareholders James Adler, Patrick Kiefer and Daniel O Neill, along with Associate Ryan Maher, are leading NAI Hiffman in its office services growth; they have proven themselves to be a market leading brokerage team for more than 10 years. With strengths and business practices that complement one another, together, they have completed 900+ transactions totaling more than 13.1 million SF and valued at more than $976 million over the past 5 years. Together, the four leaders are quick-thinking, creative problem solvers, skilled in negotiating the best transaction terms for their clients. They each exude a resilient sense of drive in career with a focus on clients, dedication to family, and an unparalleled knowledge of Chicago s suburban submarket, not to mention respect from their peers and competitors all of which have contributed to their success as a team since its inception in 2008. This is proven most recently by their success in 2017 with the Transaction of the Year Award for Washington Pointe s Wilton deal, and 2018 s success in securing a new lease with ALDI and renewing HSBC, both long-term transactions, at Naperville Woods Corporate Center on behalf of owner Agellan. Currently providing aggressive prospecting and innovative marketing for nearly 4.0 million SF of office space, they represent owners including Agellan, American Realty Advisors, The Davis Companies, Nuveen and Fairbridge Properties among many others throughout suburban Chicago and beyond. This team continues to contribute to NAI Hiffman s position as a fast growing, well-respected industry leader. Three of these individuals have been in the commercial real estate industry for 20+ years; coming together and working as a team in 2008 and the addition of Ryan Maher to the team in 2017 has been contributed to the NAI Hiffman offices services robust growth; they continue to lead as the firm s Top Producers and are proud to serve its more than 50+ institutional and various private owner clients.
James Adler, Daniel O'Neill, Patrick Kiefer, Ryan Maher Naperville Woods Corporate Center
Office Property Representative of the Year Entry Name Michael Kazmierczak - CBRE Nominee Michael Kazmierczak Senior Vice President - CBRE 321 N. Clark Street, Suite 3400 Chicago, IL 60654 312-861-7899 mike.kaz@cbre.com Executive Summary: CBRE s Michael Kazmierczak represented owners in some of the largest deals of 2018, delivering an exceptional year and completing 40 deals with a total transaction value exceeding $133 million. Kazmierczak works with some of the Chicago market s more sophisticated owners at marquee properties such as 353 N. Clark, 600 W. Fulton, 250 S. Wacker and River North Point at 350 North Orleans, where in 2018 he completed four large-scale deals for more than 240,000 square feet, which brought the property to 93 leased. The largest of these deals was a 75,000 square foot lease to research company Gartner. Representing Equity Office, Kazmierczak led the highly competitive process to lure Gartner to River North Point. The firm had recently acquired another company and was seeking to consolidate its five local offices. Kazmierczak negotiated with the firm to take two full floors at River North Point, which would significantly lower the firm s overall footprint in Chicago and provide more cohesion for the company s scattered employees. The property was amidst major updates, which included a new fitness center, conference center and a 5,000-square-foot rooftop deck. The appeal of the upgraded amenities and the generous floorplates made the property standout from multiple potential locations. In one of the most unique transactions of the year, Kazmierczak represented Next Realty in a 78,265-square-foot lease to co-working provider Spaces at 620 N. LaSalle. Formerly the home of Sports Authority, Next purchased the property with the hopes of repositioning the retail building as office space. River North office space is extremely tight and the potential to increase rents with a different use was very appealing. Kazmierczak devised several strategies from multitenant scenarios to single-tenant scenarios that would help the client reach its goal. Originally, Spaces inquired about a 30,000-to-40,000-square-foot location, but Kazmierczak was able to negotiate a full-building lease to the co-working firm, making it the firm s largest location in Chicago. With the lease, Kazmierczak was able to bring the property to full occupancy in a very short period of time, and, turn a single digit net lease retail property to $30-$40 per square foot office space. It was a huge win for the client that made its investment very worthwhile. Kazmierczak brings nearly 30 years of commercial real estate experience to his role as a Senior Vice President in the firm's Agency Leasing group, joining CBRE in 2014 through the acquisition of U.S. Equities Realty. Michael has extensive office leasing expertise in all CBD submarkets with the full spectrum of product types. Michael Kazmierczak
Office Property Representative of the Year Entry Name Peter Kelly, Brett Ratay and Matt Hickey Nominee Peter N. Kelly Vice President Lincoln Property Company Direct: 312.345.8788 Mobile: 847.942.3997 Email: pkelly@lpc.com 120 North LaSalle Street Suite 2900 Chicago, IL 60602 Brett Ratay Leasing Director Lincoln Property Company 2800 West Higgins Road, Suite 170 Hoffman Estates, IL 60169 Direct 847.490.5350 Mobile 630.936.0369 Email: bratay@lpc.com Matt Hickey Lincoln Property Company Senior Associate Direct: 312.345.8782 Mobile: 847.721.7754 Email: mhickey@lpc.com 120 North LaSalle Street Suite 2900 Chicago, IL 60602 Executive Summary: Peter Kelly, Brett Ratay and Matt Hickey work exclusively as a team throughout suburban Chicago. The trio leverages a tremendous leasing skill set driven by a comprehensive command of current market information, diverse transactional backgrounds, and vast professional networks. Their 2018 leasing portfolio totaled nearly 3.9 million square feet with a client roster that included Blackstone/EQ Office, Barings Real Estate Advisors, Apollo Global Management, Vanderbilt Office Properties, Teachers Retirement System of the State of Illinois, as well as private investors. The Lincoln Property Company suburban leasing team has a 100% focus on landlord representation. 2018 was a banner year for the Lincoln Property Company suburban leasing team. Working collaboratively on each deal, the team was able to complete 61 office lease transactions totaling 927,786 rentable square feet and nearly $176 million in total transactional value. The Lincoln Property Company suburban leasing team completed large transactions throughout suburban Chicago in 2018. Highlights include a 235,000 square foot direct lease with Dovenmuehle Mortgage, Inc. at Kemper Lakes Business Center (Lake Zurich) a 94,000 square foot lease with AIM at Corporate 500 (Deerfield), a 80,000 square foot lease with Comcast at 10100 Woodward (Woodridge), a 53,000 square foot lease with Fortune Brands at Corporate 500 (Deerfield) and 28,000 square feet of direct transactions with the GSA (US Census Bureau) at Oak Brook Gateway (Oak Brook). The DMI transaction is up for Deal of the Year. Dovenmuehle Mortgage, Inc. ( DMI ) had an immediate need to accommodate 400+ new jobs. The lack of large continuous blocks of space within the 95% leased, 1.1 million square foot Kemper Lakes Business Center and DMI s tight timeline posed significant challenges for all parties. Funds managed by Apollo Global Management, LLC ( Ownership ), represented by Lincoln Property Company, worked closely with DMI s senior leadership to evaluate expansion opportunities within the four-building complex. All parties agreed to a long-term lease for 235,000 sf that included approximately 32,000 sf of immediate expansion and options for future growth. LPC successfully negotiated an early buyout with an existing/unrelated tenant in order to meet DMI s immediate need for growth.
Peter Kelly Brett Ratay Matt Hickey
Office Property Representative of the Year Entry Name Steve Smith Nominee Steve Smith Executive Vice President?? Direct 312.477.2949 Mobile 312.953.8059 200 E. Randolph St Ste 3070 Chicago, IL 60601? www.telosgroupllc.com ssmith@telosgroupllc.com Executive Summary: Executive Summary Wisdom: The quality of having experience, knowledge and good judgement. No word describes Steve Smith s contributions to the success of two of the nation s largest repositioning projects better than wisdom. Through incredible hard work, a vast repertoire of deal-making skills and knowledge of the legal, technical, logistical and governmental nuances that come into play in large scale projects, Steve proved invaluable in developing the overall strategy for The Old Post Office and Aon Center, piloting through 739,000 square feet of leases in 2018. These included headquarters deals for Kemper Insurance and Ferrara Candy Company along with the much-celebrated commitment of Walgreens to relocate over 1,800 workers to The Old Post Office. Large scale projects are inherently complicated. In the case of Aon Center, the building carried significant vacancy and was about to suffer the loss of its second largest tenant in June of 2018. In addition, its age, large scale and lack of relevant amenities with a challenging East Loop location caused it to fall out of favor with the progressive tenants that dominated the market. Steve and his team helped the new ownership redefine the stodgy old corporate icon into one of the city s most dynamic work environments. Leveraging his deep knowledge of the building and his relationships with the existing tenants, he was able to clear the way for a leasing run in 2018 that included over 421,000 sf of leasing (including 281,000 sf of new tenants). This momentum continues today with the building now over 95% committed and rising. In the case of The Old Post Office, (the largest redevelopment in the nation and largest adaptive reuse of a historic building ever) the level of sophistication and complications are on a scale very few real estate people will ever experience. Steve applied over 30 years of wisdom to guide a relatively young building leasing team through the steps required to reset this incredible asset. He provided creativity in its conception, patience through its many challenges and faith in its outcome. His confidence was infectious and his work ethic unparalleled. The results of two and a half years of hard work are now proving out in some of the most high-profile deals being done in Chicago. Over 325,000 square foot of leasing has been completed with over 500,000 square feet of additional space was put into lease in 2018. Steve has guided the lease negotiations on all of these deals in a humble, professional manner, passing on his wisdom to a new generation of Telos employees, making his contribution even more valuable. We are pleased to nominate Steve Smith for Building Representative of the Year. His numbers speak for themselves but his contributions beyond the numbers are what is truly extraordinary and essential for the overall success of these two world class assets.
Steve Smith The Old Post Office exterior The Old Post Office interior Aon Center lobby