Columbus REALTORS® Salutes the Best and Brightest in Commercial Real Estate

WASHINGTON – (RealEstateRama) — Columbus REALTORS® held its ninth annual Commercial Awards Banquet on Thursday, March 9, 2017, at The Grand Event Center at Grandview Yard. Nearly 200 commercial movers and shakers, supporters and leadership were on hand to applaud the outstanding accomplishments of our 2016 honorees.

The evening’s speakers were Don DePerro, President of Columbus Chamber and Brian Ellis, President and COO of Nationwide Realty Investors, who provided a present and future look in to development in Grandview.

After dinner and speaker presentations, Matt Gregory, 2016 Commercial Recognition Committee Chair, took to the podium to present awards to the following honorees:

COMMERCIAL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Jonathan Schuen, Colliers International

Jonathan’s passion for the industry, professionalism and commitment to going the extra mile for his clients made him an outstanding choice for 2016 Commercial Rookie of the Year.

Jonathan joined Colliers International as a Research Analyst immediately after graduating from Southern Adventist University with a degree in business administration and finance four years ago. He is Argus Certified (commercial software certification program), and has achieved the Colliers International Commercial Property Research Certification – the only researcher to achieve these two certifications.

After only 18 months as a Research Analysis, Jonathan advanced to Collier’s “Broker in Training” program, where his focus is on industrial real estate. In 2016, he was personally responsible for and the lead advisor on over 37 transactions and jointly involved in more than 114 team transactions. For his efforts, Jonathan was awarded Colliers International’s “Brokerage Rising Star” award.

Jonathan is involved in numerous industry activities, including serving as a member of the Xceligent Industrial Advisory Committee, the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP), and as a member of Colliers Next Gen Practice Group. He’s also currently pursuing a SIOR designation.

In the community, Jonathan has been involved in the Pelotonia event for the past four years, and is an active member of his church, where he leads the young adult group and serves as a member of the Finance Committee. He and his wife also volunteers with Heartland Hospice, visiting Alzheimer and dementia residents at local hospices.

Jonathan has become an invaluable member of his Collier team. His highest praise comes from his peers, who agree, that he conducts himself with the utmost professionalism and is a pleasure to work with.

MOST UNIQUE TRANSACTION AWARD 
Eric Leibowitz, Jason Freeman and Brent Myers, CASTO

“The Wellington” — a six-story development project located in the heart of The Ohio State University campus at 16th and High – will house one of the first flexible-format Target stores in Ohio.

This deal was brokered by the Eric Leibowitz, Jason Freeman and Brent Myers with Casto, and Edwards Communities, who began talking with Target about this project in the Summer of 2015. At the time, Target had just started to roll out its flexible-format stores nationally in urban locations, and at just a few campuses across the country. The negotiation lasted nearly a year before the location was announced in September 2016.

Developed by Edwards Communities, “The Wellington” will contain student housing for up to 450 students; 46,000 square feet of street level prime retail and restaurant space; and underground parking. These multiple layers involved complexities that required creative solutions from both sides to meet certain obligations that balanced tenant and landlord requirements.

The new 28,000 square foot Target store is slated to open in the summer 2018. and will have exceptional visibility and access to more than 91,000 faculty, staff and students on The Ohio State University campus.

“1031 EXCHANGE” TRANSACTION
Jesse Shkolnik, Equity

Jesse Shkolnik, Equity, picked up this award for a fairly straight forward “1031 Exchange,” but one that involved two slightly more complicated individual transactions.

The initial transaction involved the sale of retail land located at 5524 North Hamilton Road in Gahanna, where Jesse represented both the buyer and seller. His client, Lazer Kraze Family Fun Center, was looking for an existing retail or flex building to expand into their third location, which was difficult to find because of their required size (20,000 plus square feet), rent requirements, and desire for a quality location.

Jesse’s second client, Gosula Estates, owned a shopping center on North Hamilton Road with adjacent land that they were eventually planning to develop. While their preference was to only ground lease the land, the owner agreed to sell to a single tenant user. After a drawn-out development process and various lender issues, they were finally able to close the sale of the land on Dec. 2, 2015.

With the seller owning the shopping center adjacent to the land sale and both parcels being on the same loan, the seller used the full sale price from the “1031 Exchange” to purchase two retail centers, one in Heath, Ohio that involved no agents, and the other, Galloway Crossing Center, in Southwest Columbus.

ln the Galloway Crossing transaction, Jesse represented the 1031 buyer and the seller was represented by Carlton Dargusch of The Gilbert Group. Despite working through several issues, including a theft with the robber driving a car through the rear of the center, the sale was closed on April 21, 2016.

ERIKA BLUMENSTEIN MEMORIAL AWARD
Michael A. Tabor, Commercial REALTOR

For his professionalism and outstanding commitment to the commercial real estate industry and to the central Ohio community, Michael A. Tabor has been selected Columbus REALTORS® 2016 recipient of the Erika Blumenstein Memorial Award.

Mike has been an active REALTOR® since 1983, specializing exclusively in office, industrial and commercial properties. He began his real estate career with the commercial/industrial firm of Wears Kahn McMenamy in Columbus, Ohio. In 2001, Wears Kahn McMenamy became part of the Coldwell Banker Commercial Network, as United Realty Services, with Mike serving as Vice President of Brokerage Services for the firm until 2008.

In September of 2008, he joined Myers Real Estate as Director of Commercial Brokerage, and as an Office and Industrial Specialist, engaging exclusively in the sale and leasing of office and office/warehouse properties. Over his career, Mike has participated in numerous commercial real estate transactions totaling well over $350,000,000. In 2013, he became an affiliate of Sunbelt Capital Advisors for their expansion to Ohio.

Prior to his entry into the real estate business, Mike was in the construction field for 11 years specializing in commercial and residential HVAC applications. Through this experience, involving management, installation and service, he has obtained an expert level of understanding of general building construction and renovation.

Mike’s professional activities include membership in the Columbus and Worthington Chambers of commerce; the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP); I-270 North Office Brokers (ARC); and Downtown Office Specialists Group (DOGS). Within these organizations, he has served on numerous committees and/or as committee chair.

For Columbus REALTORS®, Mike has chaired the Commercial Standard Forms Committee, Government Affairs Forum and twice chaired the COCIE Governing Board.  He’s also been a member of the Multiple Listing Service and Residential Standard Forms committees, and he served on the Internet Task Force.

Mike is a past president of the Columbus Commercial, Industrial and Investment REALTORS® (CCIIR), and has also been involved with various neighborhood associations within his community.

LARGEST COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS –SALE OR LEASE

Largest Transaction Industrial (sale) – Rick Trott, CCIM, SIOR, Kevin McGrath, Michael Mullady, Jeff Lyons, Matthew Lehman and Joe Kimener, CBRE, received this award for the sale of a warehouse/distribution center located at 6050 Gateway Court in the Village of Obetz, Ohio; and home to the Amazon Rickenbacker Fulfillment Center. This deal, between DRCS (seller) and Menard, Inc. (buyer) for more than 1 million square foot of warehouse/distribution space, closed on Oct. 7, 2016.

Largest Transaction Industrial (lease) – Michael Mullady, Jeff Lyons and Matt Lehman, CBRE, picked up this award for closing the deal on a 10-year lease for 465,256 square feet of distribution warehouse space (formerly occupied by Big Lots) at 5303 Fisher Road on Columbus’ west side.

Largest Transaction Office (sale) – Andrew Jameson, CCIM, SIOR, Brett Cisler and Daniel Dunsmoor, Colliers International | Greater Columbus Region, took home this prize for the nearly 16 million-dollar sale of the Sun Life Portfolio, which included three office buildings, two in Gahanna and the third in Dublin.

The Gahanna Office Centers 1 and 11, located at 630 and 670 Morrison Road in Gahanna, respectively, were built in 1996 and 1997. Both house more than 63,000 square feet of high quality office space close to the Columbus Airport, with easy access and excellent visibility to I-270 at Hamilton Road.

The four-story, 103,000 square foot office building at 5080 Tuttle Crossing Blvd., in Dublin sits across the street from the 1.2 million square foot Tuttle Crossing Mall. It has good access to I-270 and is surrounded by outstanding area amenities – restaurants, lodging, and other support service.

Largest Transaction Office (lease) – Doug Jackson, Bill Whipple, Todd Greiner, Phil Pelok, Greg Thomas and Terry Mathews, CBRE, received this award for negotiating a 12-year lease deal between Kendall-Dublin LLC (landlord) and Cardinal Health (tenant) for 401,682 square foot of office space at 5100 Rings Road in Dublin.

This seven-story class A office building, with its open floor plans and upscale office campus atmosphere, is situated on the inside of I-270 with access from both Rings Road and Blazer Pkwy., and it’s close to Tuttle Crossing amenities.

Largest Transaction Retail (sale) – Jesse Shkolnik, Austin Wathen, Patrick Wathen and Matt Lasky, Equity, were presented with this award for brokering the sale of a 16,000-square foot multi-tenant retail center in the Shoppes of Bellefontaine at 2226-2244 South Main Street in Bellefontaine, Ohio.

The Shoppes at Bellefontaine is known for an impressive array of national and regional retailers, ample parking and is perfectly located in the established retail/commercial corridor.

An increasingly densely populated, high traffic region in western Ohio, the City of Bellefontaine is comprised of a mix of commercial, retail and residential uses, and has become one of Logan County’s most desirable residential and commercial areas due to its educated workforce, low tax base, and affordable housing options, which has led to the success of retailers currently housed at the Shoppes at Bellefontaine.

Largest Transaction Retail (lease) – Nicholas D. Klacik, CBRE, won this award for brokering a long- term lease deal for 33,530 square feet of retail space at 5727 Emporium Square (at the corner of Cleveland Avenue and St. Rt. 161) in the Columbus Square Shopping Center.

Aspire Fitness, a chain of fitness clubs based in Denver, Colorado, is the tenant in this deal and will house its first central Ohio location at the Columbus Square Shopping Center. The fitness center is slated to open in 2017. Aspire chose to locate in the Northland area because of the anticipated economic growth.

Since 1947, Columbus Square Shopping Center has been managed by The Hadler Companies, who has owned and managed 21 retail shopping centers throughout central, western, and southeast Ohio, totaling approximately 1,800,000 square feet of space.

Most Co-op Transactions – Andrew Jameson, Colliers International | Greater Columbus Region, was presented with this award for closing 67 co-op deals with more than 28 different companies last year.

TOP PRODUCERS
Daniel Dunsmoor, Colliers International; Todd Greiner, CBRE; Andrew Jameson, Colliers International; Michael Linder, SIOR, Colliers International; Michael Mullady, CBRE; Philip Pelok, CBRE, George Skaff, ARANewmark; Brent Stamm, Continental Realty; Shane Woloshan, SIOR, Colliers International; and Joel Yakovac, SIOR, Colliers International.

This event was organized by the Columbus REALTORS® Commercial Recognition Committee and was made possible by the generous support of our gold, silver, bronze and commercial-affiliate level sponsors:

GOLD
CBRE

SILVER
CASTO
CCIIR
Colliers International
Continental
Equity
HER Commercial Real Estate Services
Keller Williams Commercial
NAI Ohio Equities
The Robert Weiler Company

BRONZE
Carney Ranker Architects
Elford

AFFILIATE
Taft, Stettinius & Hollister

Special thanks to Business First and Xceligent.

Also, a special note of thanks is extended to Brent Ardit and Rea & Associates for providing its services in determining the 2016 Top Producers.

View pictures from the event here