5 Real Estate Power Couples in Love
Forget Jay and Bey or Kim and Kanye. In honor of Valentine's Day, meet five commercial real estate power couples who are both madly in love and at the top of the game. (Who says cap rates at the dinner table isn’t an aphrodisiac?)
Russell and Janika Brenner
Russ, partner at Stage Equity Partners, and Janika, principal at Baum Realty Group (and Bisnow Power Woman), met in college at Tufts University in Boston. They love working in the same industry because they can bounce ideas off one another and both understand the unique challenges and strategies of working a deal, Janika tells us. And it doesn’t hurt having a plus one who can talk shop at business events. At the office, Janika’s busy bringing new fashion tenants to Bucktown and the Gold Coast (deal announcements coming soon) and Russ is growing Stage's medical office portfolio in Texas. For fun? They’re taking the kids on a surprise trip to Disney. (Don’t tell!)
Peter and Janice Sellis
Peter and Janice met in 2001 when both worked in the hotel group at Lend Lease Real Estate Investments. These days he’s a VP in JLL’s public institutions group and Janice is a director at Transwestern, specializing in retail investment sales. Recently, she and TW director Paul Barile repped Hamilton Partners in its sale of the 59k SF Heinen’s-anchored The Shops at Flint Creek, 500 N Hough St in Barrington, to Next Realty. Peter and Janice have been married since 2004 and have two kids (5, 6) and a dog. Outside of work, the couple enjoys running, traveling (they’re headed to Mexico for Valentine’s), hanging with friends and, of course, weekend drives to look at properties.
David and Tina Ariola
Chicago Realty Co president and director, David and Tina grew up in Melrose Park. Their best friends were siblings, David says, and he never saw Tina outside their family parties until a fateful night at Marche. They married a year later (March 1997). After working on City real estate, at the PBC and as a lobbyist, Tina joined David part-time for flexibility with the kids (16-year-old daughter and almost 8-year-old son) and she’s a finance and biz dev whiz, David says. He’s noticed tenant rep clients clamoring for funky West Loop lofts, though some soon realize open plan doesn’t suit their business. For Valentine’s, David and Tina are hitting the slopes in Park City.
Aaron and Amy Galvin
The owners of Luxury Living Chicago Realty, Aaron and Amy Galvin have been together for 12 years, working together for the last eight. “We wouldn’t have it any other way,” Aaron says. The couple met during their college years, but didn’t start dating until Aaron moved to Chicago post-graduation. A year into marriage, he decided to start his own brokerage and Amy left her corporate PR job to join him. Eight years later, the company’s team of 12 leases about 15% of all new Class-A luxury high-rises downtown. Their Valentine’s plans: ordering a heart-shaped Lou Malnati’s pizza and sharing it with their daughters (5, 3).
Eric Baran and Margie Kurkowski Baran
We featured this engaged pair in last year’s edition and are happy to report they had a beautiful wedding in August 2014. They were wed at St. Mary of the Angels in Bucktown, Margie tells us, with a reception at the Chicago Symphony Center (they’re snapped on the Borwell Terrace overlooking Millennium Park). The perfect finale to a fairytale wedding: a honeymoon in Italy. A project manager with NELSON, Eric is currently working on a project for a tech company in Louisville. Margie's VP of business development for JLL’s project and development services group, which just completed work for Soho House Chicago.
If you're lacking for mood music during your romantic V-day plans, give these tunes a try and we guarantee they'll impress your sweetie. Dear readers, thanks for being Bisnow's special someone year-round with your sparkling personalities and skyscrapers. We love you!
PS - First person brave enough to admit they're seeing 50 Shades this weekend gets a free event ticket!
