Changing of the Guard: ACBR Honors Its Own
From a changing of the guard and some notable awards to a few goodbyes and a deal here and there, we got the skinny on the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors' annual holiday awards luncheon.
PMRG's Chip Roach passed the gavel for the 2016 presidency to Avison Young's Steve Dils (here), who aims to pump up diversity in the country's largest commercial real estate board association, add more education, and push for more lobbying efforts with state and local governments. Noting a rise in discussions about traffic solutions and impact fees, Steve says, “We need a voice at that table.” Ackerman & Co's Keene Miller is next year's president-elect.
Seefried Properties' Tanner Hicklin (on right with PMRG's Chip Roach) took home this year's Young Realtor of the Year award.
Citing his cutting-edge suburban mixed-use development, Avalon, ACBR awarded North American Properties' Mark Toro (center) the Henry H. Robinson Award for 2015. The annual honor is given to the institution or individual who has done the most for the industry in a given year. Aside from Avalon, Mark helped successfully sell Atlantic Station and buy Colony Square for a major redo.
Colliers International's Hayes Swann picked up this year's Community Service Award. After being diagnosed with Parkinson's three years ago, Hayes took up the cause to find a cure, and recently helped raise more than $300k for both The Shepherd Center and Emory University on a 100-mile bike ride along the Chief Ladiga and Silver Comet trails called Pedaling To End Parkinson's & Paralysis.
Commercial Property Professionals' Furman Wood, here with VeenendaalCave's Ed Cave, tells us his firm is moving its HQ next Friday to 4470 Chamblee-Dunwoody (aka Georgetown on the Perimeter), a 63,500 SF circa-'70s office mid-rise that most Atlantans have probably passed a million times traveling on I-285. Ed is also saying goodbye to Atlanta's commercial real estate industry, retiring in just a handful of days. Next year he'll move to the US Virgin Island of St. John.
CBRE's Dale Lewis chats with Cushman & Wakefield's Mike Elting, who retires officially at the end of the year. Mike says he'll be focusing on his community and church involvement—as well as family. Dale, on the other hand, just helped Pattillo Industrial Real Estate move its HQ to a 10k SF slot at Century Center.
We caught up with JLL's Kay Younglove and First Colony Financial's Les Callahan during the schmooze section. Les' firm just developed a 53k SF retail store in Northern Charleston for Field & Stream, an outdoor retailer owned by Dick's Sporting Goods. When asked if it would head to Atlanta, Les replied, “probably.”
The board honored Atlanta Business Chronicle publisher Ed Baker, who is retiring after 30 years helming the weekly business publication. Ed heads to Georgia State University for career 2.0: the Executive in Residence at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business.
Avison Young's JD Jeske and Callan Phillips are two of Atlanta's commercial real estate new bloods. JD hails from DC, where he worked with CBRE as an office tenant rep. He came here because “it's a booming market,” he says. Callan joined Avison Young straight from graduation at the University of Texas.
