Hit List (Top 10)
(Fourth installment: Nos. 1 - 10)
Well, we've tried to build the suspense, but at long last here are the Top 10. Simultaneously, we are unveiling at www.Bisnow.com a forum in which you can (anonymously if you like) offer your comments on the overall list or individual entries. Just go to the Real Estate Weekly entry on the home page, and click on "Discuss." From there, simply click "Add Post" and speak your mind!
1. Ray Ritchey, Boston Properties. After 30 years in the business, no one is more trusted or loved. And BP has a lot of buildings, not to mention Square 54.
2. Milt, Rick, Jon, and Steven Peterson, the Peterson Companies. Either National Harbor is going to blow people away, or they should have kept Fair Lakes.
3. Ted, Mark, Ed & Bob. The Lerner family, of course. Even before the stadium, they owned the town. But will sports divert them? Or is that the whole point—they've inserted themselves into the middle of the SW building boom.
4. Bill & Paul Collins, Cassidy & Pinkard. King Midases of investment sales are proof that brokers can run the world—at least so long as Blackstone, Westbrook, Brookfield, Apollo, and the Germans keep buying. They get first crack at every large sale and make C&P an acquisition target. Even Zeke Dodson's impressed.
5. Mike Glosserman & Brian Coulter, JBG. They may be selling some buildings, and backing off others (and is Ben Jacobs finally winding down?), but they also just did the new DOT and are on the prowl in Arlington. And that's the point: They know when to hold ‘'em and when to fold 'em. No one times the market better.
6. Jeff Neal & Michael Darby, Monument Realty. Brilliant at using other people's money, these cool young Turks have become the establishment. Always surprising us, and facing a weakening condo market, yet somehow they pull it off.
7. Mitchell Schear, Charles E. Smith Commercial Realty. Surviving Joey Kaempfer was good practice for having 50 times more responsibility under Vornado and tough new bosses. And Crystal City is turning around. Look for even bigger things and higher rankings.
8. Shalom Baranes, Shalom Baranes Associates. Not just the area's top architect and a necessary stop when you do development, but actually cares what the skyline looks like.
9. Jim Abdo, Abdo Development. Most dynamic new force in region's real estate likes to preserve the past in his buildings—but has future written all over him. Not content with successes in Logan or Clarendon. Who else has the vision to combine the arboretum and Eric Price to create a new Route 50 welcome to DC? (Between Abdo and other even younger comers like Jair Lynch, this list could be in business until about 2060.)
10. Larry Nussdorf, Clark Enterprises. Jim Clark didn't just become the dominant contractor, but put so much equity into deals around town that all roads now lead to Lieutenant Larry. These guys are beyond astute.
