[Next Gen Leader Series: The Chods

Don't know 'em? That's the purpose of our new series on DC's next wave of real estate leaders. In this case, two third-generation members of a major real estate family in suburban Maryland, whose properties you probably know. 

Andy and Bradley (flanked by father Paul and brother Jeffrey cheering on their St. Louis Cardinals at the 2011 World Series) are active leaders in Gaithersburg-based Minkoff Development, which their grandfather started in the '70s, and where Paul serves as president today. Paul's father-in-law started Minkoff, and the firm now owns about 1.8M SF in Montgomery and Prince George's counties, including the Wegmans-anchored Shops at Seneca Meadows (pictured below) and the Shady Grove Development Park.

Andy and Bradley took different paths to the family biz. For a time, both were in NYC, as Andy was a marketing/advertising man for Clear Channel Radio and Bradley was finishing up his master's in real estate at Columbia U. Looking for a change, Andy attended some of Bradley's real estate functions and decided it was his calling after all. Bradley says he loves that each day is different, as Minkoff is equal parts owner, developer, general contractor, and property manager. And Andy says the physical nature of the biz is what he loves, from the design/build process to lease-up.

Here's the brothers at a wedding a few years back. Andy had a job lined up with a brokerage firm in NYC, but realizing he was really a "suburban guy," he decided to head back to Maryland with Bradley. Today, Bradley handles investor relations, financing, and construction, while Andy handles leasing, property management, and marketing. Or as Andy says, "I spend the money and he pays for it." Andy and Bradley worked construction for their dad while in high school and college, since, as Paul says, "if you don't know how to build it, how can you lease it?" (Something tells us not all car salesman subscribe to that philosophy.)

The Shady Grove Development Park may eventually be redeveloped, though no plans are set. Meantime, Andy's gotten creative with leasing what once was an office/industrial park, through new deals like the Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park (pictured—imagine how many sets of keys are down there). The brothers are also highly charitable: Bradley's on the board of the Black Rock Center for the Performing Arts in Germantown, while Andy serves on the board of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington. And all three are big-time skiers, even going heli-skiing in Chile. "We love the snow, we just don't want it in our parking lots," Andy says; the brothers are also big golfers in the warmer months.