KKR, Synergy Acquire Skanska's Two Drydock In Seaport In $234.5M Deal

There are 14 rules Sam must abide by when he shows up to work at The Motion Agency in downtown Chicago.

He can only use the freight elevator to get to his 10th-floor office at the historic Reid Murdoch Building.

He isn’t allowed inside the restrooms or kitchen.

He can’t attend meetings in the conference room.

But the most critical rule Sam must follow? He must be attached to a leash at all times when he’s in the building.

Sam is Motion Agency Senior Vice President Wheatley Marshall’s 6-year-old shepherd mix, and he has just recently been allowed into the building as part of the company’s push to bring people back to work.

“It just makes people happy to have their dogs with them,” Marshall said.

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In Case You Missed It...

This series gets into the heads of the decision-makers of CRE, the people shaping the industry by setting investment strategy, workplace design, diversity initiatives and more.

Just last week Mack-Cali, the Jersey City-based REIT with a background in suburban offices, announced a new name and a full strategic pivot. The company was rebranded as Veris Residential, and having sold a $1B portfolio of suburban offices, Veris is becoming a pure-play multifamily REIT, with a focus on ESG and a portfolio of 22 assets totaling nearly 6,000 apartments.

The pivot happened on the leadership watch of Mahbod Nia, the chief executive who joined in March. Born in Iran and raised in the UK, Nia has previously run pan-European listed company NorthStar Realty Trust, as well as working as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.

In his first full interview since the rebrand and announcement of the company’s future strategy, Nia told Bisnow how moving to a new country at a young age taught him grit, why ESG is central to the company’s strategy, what has changed about the role of CEO and why hybrid work is here to stay. 

Nia also spoke of what the movie Rocky 2 taught him about perseverance and being an underdog, and how it inspired him to always get up after being knocked down in his journey to professional and personal success.

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The stock market is still bearish on companies that own large portfolios of office buildings, with investors concerned about the uncertain future of the workplace, while many REITs that own in trendier sectors like industrial and data centers have outperformed the market this year. 

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