Up Close With Steve Thelen
JLL managing director Steve Thelen may be the king of the 'burbs. He's known for landing Pizza Hut in Plano in '95 and reeled in 10M SF of transactions since then, including the 200k SF Conifer Health Solutions HQ build-to-suit in Frisco last year.
He worked the Conifer deal with Duke Realty and handled big assignments for Lehigh Hanson, Starkey Mortgage, Pacific Union Financial, Crosstex Energy, and Stryker Corp. It earned him the No. 1 JLL tenant rep nod from JLL in '13. The Pizza Hut deal may have jumpstarted his career, a 329k SF HQ relocation from Wichita. That lease took a mere 60 days from the day his team was hired, he tells us. That established his presence in the ‘burbs, particularly the hot North Dallas submarket. Here’s Steve on an Alaska fishing trip this summer.
His 23-year career started at Cushman & Wakefield, then The Staubach Co, which morphed into JLL. Recently, he helped the Southern California energy services firm Baker Corp relocate its HQ to the Legacy area. And he's got some more relos in the pipeline. The flight from other regions to Dallas will continue, too. (Here’s Steve with his family on a Grand Canyon rafting trip.)
This year, Steve's son, Kyle, graduated from A&M, and Steve and his wife visited their daughter, Christy, who's studying in Italy and caught a Rolling Stones concert at Circus Maximus (pictured) while they were there. Earlier this month, Steve and JLL research director Walt Bialas joined the Entrepreneurs of North Texas to support a veteran nonprofit, Honor Courage Commitment. In this clip, the guys challenge their colleagues to help with a supply drive and a push-up contest.
