Segovia Retail Group Merges Into Newly Formed Segovia Partners Platform, Pulls In Heavyweight CRE Talent
Segovia Retail Group has merged into the newly formed business entity Segovia Partners as the company attempts to leverage the experiences of four real estate power players who recently joined the firm.
Two of those executives, Jack Breard and David Shelton, are jumping to Segovia Partners from CBRE. Jennifer Frank and Michelle Waak are joining after years spent at firms like The Howard Hughes Co. in executive-level leasing positions.
The veteran CRE executives intend to offer advisory services across the country while engaging in the representation of landlords, tenants and land brokerages.
“We bring a large breadth of geographical knowledge [along with] different types of tenants and different types of landlord projects ... everything from strip and power centers to lifestyle and mixed-use projects,” Shelton said in an interview with Bisnow.
The members of this new partnership say now is the time to harness their collective experiences in the retail space to assist landlords and tenants dealing with the pressures of e-commerce growth and the impact of the coronavirus-induced retail shutdown.
“We are looking to leverage our collective relationships and experiences to focus on top specialty projects and to provide consulting to these projects ... [many of which] came to a screeching halt when COVID-19 hit,” Frank said. “We [have] in the works some very significant high-profile projects that we will be announcing here shortly.”
Despite retail suffering through a series of hardships before and after the pandemic, Segovia Partners' leadership is confident opportunities still abound in the space.
“There is a lot of turmoil, but I think we are going to come out of it really strong. We have a great client list already, [and] everybody is probably [close to] doing business again,” Breard said.
Downsizing across the industry has left an absence of knowledge and resources for developers and landlords to rely on, creating an opening for Segovia's services, the team said.
“This is a great opportunity to bring Segovia Partners into a realm where, unfortunately, there [have been many] furloughs and a lot of layoffs and downsizing of staff,” Waak said. “This is a great way for us to now come in and work with landlords and developers around the country to bring that expertise of looking at ground-up development or redevelopment depending on what they need.”
Frank, who formed Segovia Retail Group seven years ago, boasts three decades in the tenant rep space with clients such as IKEA, ULTA and Black Rifle Coffee Co. Frank is known for handling IKEA's initial rollout in the DFW, Austin and San Antonio markets and previously served The Woodmont Co. as executive vice president.
Breard also has almost three decades of experience in specialty retail, mixed-use and tenant representation and has relationships with top retail brands like Yeti, REI, Total Wine and Bassett Furniture.
Breard also played a key role in the development and leasing of Southlake Town Square, The Shops at Legacy, The Shops at Clearfork and The Shops at Park Lane. Prior to joining Segovia Partners, he spent five years serving CBRE as executive vice president, and 10 years as president of UCR Urban and as a partner at UCR.
Shelton spent five years at CBRE as first vice president before joining the newly formed Segovia Partners. He also served 10 years at UCR. He specializes in tenant rep work and has clients with national brand-name recognition from GAP to Planet Fitness.
Waak most recently spent nine years at The Howard Hughes Corp. as senior vice president of leasing. Prior to that, she held leadership positions within The Taubman Co., RED Development and Poag & McEwen. Waak works heavily on the landlord side of the industry and has experience developing and leasing everything from mixed-use projects to shopping malls.
The newly formed Segovia Partners also will employ existing Segovia Retail executives: Kornel Romada, Jim Jamerson, Rose Meza and Bretley Roche.
