Six experienced commercial realty professionals have opened a new commercial real estate brokerage in the University Towne Center area of San Diego.
The founding principals of the firm ” Greg Albertini, Brent Bohlken, Jeff Chasan (SIOR), Stephen Dok, Brandon Keith and Robert Vallera (CCIM) ” have a combined 120 years of experience in local commercial real estate. A CCIM is a certified commercial investment member, while an SIOR is a certification given by the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors.
The new company is called Commercial Realty Advisers. It will operate as a full-service, advisory-based brokerage firm.
The principals worked together for a minimum of seven years at another commercial real estate brokerage firm.
“Having been together so long, we know from experience that we all work well in concert,” Vallera said. “We’ve also done quite a bit of traveling together with all of our wives on winter trips down to Central America and the Caribbean, so our relationship is deeper than just being office mates.”
The founders are accompanied by an additional 11 agents and brokers, for a total advisory board of 18.
Vallera says that members of the firm have substantial expertise in various specialized areas of commercial real estate brokerage, which includes apartment buildings, industrial space, office and retail space and urban-infill development sites.
“Our ownership structure is six equal principals,” Vallera said. “While we definitely have six unique personalities, we work this to our advantage with a division of labor that capitalizes on everyone’s strengths.”
Commercial Realty Advisers is based on a roundtable management style.
“We are constantly seeking input and new ideas from all 18 members of the firm, not just the principals,” Vallera added. “We recognize that this is a deep pool of talent and experience that can be drawn upon to everyone’s benefit.
The size of the firm is large enough to create synergy and cover all the property specialties. The firm is also small enough to keep everyone in direct contact with each other. We are a fun, active group of guys who enjoy a lot of camaraderie around the office.”
Commercial Realty Advisers has named Richard Murdock (SIOR, CCIM) serve as senior vice president. Other vice presidents include Vince Botticelli, Zachary Jacobs (CCIM), Mark Kagen, Brian Lukacz, Sean McNulty, Ted Noel, Tom Poser, Barry Slotten and Robert “Rez” Zolezzi (CCIM). Additional associates are Mansoor Rabbani and Joshua Smith.
Albertini, one of the firm’s investment specialists, says that the experience gained through the past few decades gives each principal partner insight that is difficult to acquire.
“This allows us to serve clients who both appreciate and want the benefits of a more sophisticated level of representation,” he said.
Vallera is an apartment specialist who completed his first transactions back in 1981 at the age of 21. He was honored with the San Diego CCIM Chapter’s Transaction of the Year Award in 2006. Vallera structured and negotiated a highly complex, three-property, $12 million tax-deferred exchange that included both a triple-net leaseback and a repurchase option for the replacement property.
Commercial Realty Advisers was a unanimous name choice for the new firm because it highlights the role that each principal and team member fulfill for its clients.
Chasan specializes in office tenant representation, Dok is a medical office specialist and Keith is an industrial specialist. Together the principals have served in a number of key leadership positions within the industry, including Bohlken, former president of the Commercial Realtors Association of San Diego, and Vallera, former president of the San Diego County Apartment Association.
Commercial Realty Advisers achieved its plan of moderate growth within its first few days of operation, according to Keith.
“Our long-term emphasis will be on the preservation of a consistently high caliber of representation rather than maximizing the size of the firm,” Keith said.
Vallera first broke into the commercial market in 1981 and has seen several market cycles in that time. In 1981, mortgage interest rates were more than 17 percent.
“Surviving both that period and the deep market correction that affected commercial real estate during the first half of the 1990s were good lessons in the development of staying power in the market,” he said. “Opening Commercial Realty Advisers has probably lowered our risk profile because it provides us with the management control to implement advances in brokerage strategy and tactics.”
Vallera and his partners each average 45 years of age and 20 years of commercial real estate brokerage experience.
“We were among the first generation to enter this field in significant numbers directly out of college and graduate school,” Vallera said. “Today’s business environment requires constant adaptation and change. We are motivated to invest the time and energy required to propel our business practices to the next level of sophistication.”
Both Chasan and Vallera are La Jolla residents. Chasan has lived in La Jolla 14 years, while Vallera is a native La Jollan and 1978 graduate of La Jolla High School.
Vallera said there are several La Jollans who own San Diego County commercial and investment properties and have benefited from the tremendous bull market of the past decade.
“Now that the market has clearly flattened, it’s a good time for investors to make a thorough assessment of their property portfolios,” Vallera added. “Some investors have reached the stage of growth where they either learn to incorporate certain efficiencies into their portfolio, or they’ll find that their real estate begins to own them.”
The new firm also has the capacity to perform a more sophisticated analysis of a client’s real estate portfolio, Vallera said.
“In the past, if we had a good idea, it was usually only applied to our own individual brokerage practices,” he said. “I knew my partners were a bright group of guys, but I never realized just how much genius there was congregated all around me. Now that we have the ability to share, broadly implement and leverage ideas among 18 agents, we are generating an exciting future for our entire team.”
Commercial Realty Advisers is located on the ground floor of the City National Bank tower, 4275 Executive Square, Suite 100. For information, call (858) 875-3600.