‘Nothing Is More Important Than Reputation’: Gary Rappaport To Speak At Bisnow’s Elevate Retreat

On Aug. 16-18, Bisnow will host the commercial real estate industry’s most talented newcomers at its Elevate retreat at 1 Hotel Nashville. Attendees will connect with their peers, building relationships that will last for years to come while the industry’s most distinguished leaders speak on the skills needed to forge a successful CRE career.

One of the most important of those skills is the ability to build and nurture relationships in the industry. Rappaport CEO and retail expert Gary Rappaport will be speaking on this topic during his workshop, Structuring Lasting CRE Partnerships, which will explore how to create and maintain lucrative joint venture and capital partnerships. He will also be hosting a casual breakfast on Aug. 17, at which attendees will have the opportunity to talk to him and learn more about his experiences and gain valuable input that they can apply to their career goals.

Rappaport has spent more than 30 years teaching about structuring partnerships at Georgetown University, American University, Johns Hopkins University and others, and he has educated many more through his book, Investing in Retail Properties: A Guide to Structuring Partnerships for Sharing Capital Appreciation and Cash Flow. The third edition of the book is available for preorder at major online retailers, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Indie Bound, Books Inc. and Walmart, and it will be released on Sept. 19. Readers can visit GaryRappaport.com to download two chapters of the new edition for free.

“Education helped me in the beginning of my career, and it’s a critical portion to anyone’s success in the business,” Rappaport said. “Elevate will have entrepreneurs who desire to succeed and are searching for knowledge, and I couldn't be happier to give it to them.”

Bisnow sat down with Rappaport to talk about the keys to developing lasting partnerships in CRE, why these partnerships are especially critical in the retail sector and the importance of educational opportunities that events such as Elevate can provide.

Bisnow: You will be leading a workshop titled Structuring Lasting CRE Partnerships. Without giving too much away, what do you think is the first step young CRE professionals should take toward building long-term partnerships in the industry?

Rappaport: There are lots of partnerships in real estate — partnerships between a landlord and a tenant, an employer and employees, lenders and borrowers and more.

However, whatever the partnership is, the success of it comes down to one’s reputation. Nothing is more important than reputation. While it's nice when someone says to me, "Gary, I hear that you're a very successful businessman," that’s not important to me. What is important is when someone says, "I hear you’re a really good man and that you care for others first." Whether the people you’re working with are your vendors, tenants, employees or business partners, they have to trust you.

Throughout the pandemic, retailers did not have the ability to control their own livelihoods. We as landlords were responsible to save as many tenants and their families as possible. I feel proud of what we as a company did and the amount of people we helped. People trust me and invest with me because over my entire life and career, I have always put reputation first. I tell others to put it first and not to ever lose it.

Bisnow: Why are these partnerships particularly important for those looking to break into the retail sector?

Rappaport: These partnerships are important in every sector, but I think building relationships and having a good reputation are most important in the retail sector because you are continually doing business with the same people. They get to know you personally and either believe in you or don’t.

When you lease a space in an office building, you will lease to a tenant once, and most likely you're not going to work with that tenant again for many years, and it’s the same with other sectors of real estate, except retail. Through ICSC, we are doing deals with the same retail and restaurant chains over and over again for multiple sites. As owners, developers and landlords, we continually need to tell retailers the size of the spaces we have available, and the retailers have to continually educate us about what sizes their new stores are, how many stores they're opening and where they're opening these stores. If we don't continually check in with our clients, we both can’t grow.

Bisnow: What drew you to Elevate? What do you hope attendees will gain from your workshop?

Rappaport: I divide my life up into three parts. The first third is my family, the second is overseeing my business and the third is helping others. If I can help someone reach their dreams sooner, then I've done something special with my life. I’ve been taking the latter third on by teaching for over 30 years. I have also just written the third edition of my book on structuring real estate partnerships, which will be published by Forbes Books on Sept. 19, so I can teach others to do exactly what I do, if that's what they wish to do.

I think most of the people coming to Elevate, in one way or another, have a dream to own real estate. They might own it in a structure like mine, which provides great risk, personal guarantees and great returns. They might own shares of real estate in a public company or have stock options to purchase shares, or in a venture capital type of structure where they own an interest in properties without having to personally guarantee the debt.

I think the more that these young people can see the models of people like me, the more they can decide what fits their personality, their level of risk and thus go down a road where they get up every day and love coming to work and their lives. The more they hear from people like me, the more they can decide how much of my road they wish to take.

Bisnow: Investing in Retail Properties: A Guide to Structuring Partnerships for Sharing Capital Appreciation and Cash Flow has a third edition coming out on Sept. 19, with proceeds going to the ICSC's education foundation. Why do you believe educational programs such as those supported by the ICSC Foundation and events like Elevate are important for CRE professionals to participate in?

Rappaport: I have always believed in continuing education as the basis for success. I’ve met many people and built many relationships through ICSC by being a member for almost 50 years. I’ve previously supported the ICSC Foundation in many ways and asked if they would like to be associated with my new book, with the proceeds from the book going toward the organization to help fund their charitable programs, and they agreed.

Deal-making and networking are critical to the success of the retail business, but the educational side is just as critical. People say all you're doing is teaching another competitor what you do, and that is exactly the wrong way to think about sharing ideas. Instead, we help each other in order to allow all of us to reach our dreams sooner rather than later.

This story was produced by Studio B, Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.