Close Up With the Greenway Kings

They’ve changed companies, but their mission is the same (should they choose to accept it): Cousins SVP Bob Boykin, SVP Warren Savery, and VP Bubba Harkins keep Greenway Plaza full.

We sat down with the trio (who says you don't get to play with toys as an adult?), who’ve been together since 2010. (Warren and Bob have partnered since 2001.) In that time, they’ve signed 3.6M SF at Greenway Plaza. That includes one of their most challenging and significant deals—Occidental, Greenway’s largest tenant renewed. It sounds simple, but Warren tells us it involved moving around multiple tenants to free up space. The deal is a prime example of one of Greenway’s strong points: retention. 21 current tenants have been there over 20 years, and some have stayed in the complex for 40.

Now Greenway is 95% leased, and the team’s looking for more to lease. 300k SF is coming available in 3 Greenway in 2016 (mostly from Exxon), and Bob says Cousins plans to build the portfolio. The gents attribute their success to a balanced team. Bob gets things done with the senior execs, Bubba is the numbers and technology guru (he even taught Warren how to “reply all”), and Warren calls himself the PT Barnum of the group (he’s great at sales and marketing and gosh darn it, people like him).

Bubba, Warren, and Bob believe in keeping real estate fun (they say they can get deals done without tears or fighting). That includes a Monday Night Football game with fellow brokers in a different city each year. Warren in particular lives and breathes football—he’s been to 27 consecutive Super Bowls and has a pair of custom Super Bowl boots (pictured at Bob’s feet) and a second in design. The trio also takes a trip every spring with their families (our second picture is from one such retreat), and say they somehow come up with some of their best leasing strategies late at night on those trips.