Founding Phoenix team member brings long-time expertise, vision to new role

PHOENIX, Arizona – The Phoenix office of JLL has named Pat Williams as Senior Managing Director and new head of the Phoenix JLL office, overseeing a team of 46 local commercial real estate brokers specializing in tenant and investor representation across a broad range of product types.

Williams previously served as the head of the JLL Phoenix tenant representation team and co-leader of the Phoenix office alongside Senior Managing Director Dennis Desmond. With the transition, Desmond will move to an expanded role within the JLL Capital Markets group.

Williams joined the local JLL office in 2000, serving as a tenant representation expert and one of six founding team members within what – at the time – was the Staubach Company, the nation’s leading tenant representation firm. In 2008, the Staubach Company was purchased by JLL. In 2011, Williams was promoted to Managing Director and named head of the JLL Phoenix tenant representation team.

Since that time, Williams and Desmond have grown JLL’s Phoenix office to reflect the company’s comprehensive commercial real estate platform, which in Phoenix now includes tenant and landlord (agency) office, industrial, retail, healthcare and data center representation; commercial real estate investments (capital markets); multifamily investments; property and facility management; development services; and related services within the real estate leasing, investment and management process.

“It has been gratifying to watch the Phoenix office grow into a leading market position, yet still maintain the attention to detail and client-centric philosophy that we’ve had from the start,” said Williams. “I’m honored to work alongside this talented group of experts, and look forward to the opportunities we have ahead of us to put Phoenix’s market strengths to work for our clients.”

Since Williams joined the Phoenix office, it has grown from six to more than 60 brokers and support team members. In 2016, the Phoenix team completed 34 million square feet in lease and sale transactions valued at $1.5 billion, directed $105 million in project management and currently manages a 25.2 million-square-foot portfolio.

 

PHOENIX, AZ – Bob Mulhern, Senior Managing Director at Collier’s International, was honored with the Award of Excellence at the 2015 Best of NAIOP last week at the Arizona Biltmore.

NAIOP member since 1994, Mulhern served on the Arizona Board of Directors for 14 years, including stints as president and chairman in 1996. He is currently chair of the education committee. In 1996, he moved NAIOP to a strategy of big events, beginning with a golf tournament that year. It has since grown to be one of the most sought-after tickets on the calendar.  

NAIOP Arizona’s Award of Excellence, formerly the Lifetime Achievement Award, is awarded by the Arizona Chapter Board of Directors on an annual basis at the Best of NAIOP event.  The criteria for the recipient is an individual who has made a significant, positive impact on the office and industrial commercial real estate market in Arizona over a period of no less than 15 years, as well as their direct volunteer contribution to the chapter.

As NAIOP Arizona celebrated its 30^th year, it was a big night for repeat winners. Ryan Companies US took home its fourth straight Best of NAIOP award for Firm of the Year and third straight award for General Contractor of the Year. Butler Design Group was named Architect of the Year for the fourth straight time and CBRE (Brokerage Firm of the Year) won for the second straight time.

In the brokerage awards, repeat winners were Pat Williams, JLL, Tenant Rep Broker of the Year; Kate Morris and Vince Femiano, CBRE, Healthcare Brokers of the Year; and Chris Toci, Cushman & Wakefield, Investment Broker of the Year.

Phoenix-based ViaWest Group took home two honors: Owner/Developer of the Year, and Transaction of the Year, Biltmore Financial Center. Talk of the Town Award went to Marina Heights, Building 500.

The event was sponsored by NAIOP Arizona. More than 950 commercial real estate professionals attended.

The 2015 Best of NAIOP winners:

Owner/Developer of the Year: ViaWest Group

NAIOP Firm of the Year: Ryan Companies US, Inc.

Architect of the Year: Butler Design Group

Interior Architect of the Year: RSP Architects

General Contractor of the Year: Ryan Companies US, Inc.

Tenant Improvement Contractor of the Year: Ryan Companies US, Inc.

Office Broker of the Year: Todd Noel, Keith Lambeth & Ryan Timpani, Colliers International

Industrial Broker of the Year: Pat Feeney, Dan Calihan & Rusty Kennedy, CBRE

Retail Broker of the Year: Joe Doucett, NGKF

Investment Broker of the Year: Chris Toci, Cushman & Wakefield

Healthcare Broker of the Year: Kate Morris & Vince Femiano, CBRE

Tenant Representative Broker of the Year: Pat Williams, JLL

Emerging Broker of the Year: Cooper Fratt, CBRE

Rookie Broker of the Year: Michael Strittmatter, CBRE

Industrial Build-to-Suit of the Year: Shutterfly at Discovery Business Campus

Industrial Tenant Improvement of the Year: Stone Creek Furniture

Office Build-to-Suit of the Year: DriveTime Corporate Headquarters, Liberty Center at Rio Salado and Marina Heights, Building 500

Office Tenant Improvement of the Year (75K SF or Less): Mobile Mini Headquarter & Call Center

Office Tenant Improvement of the Year (75K SF or More): Marina Heights, Building 500

LEED Certified Project of the Year: Liberty Center at Rio Salado

Medical Office Project of the Year: Friendship House at Royal Oaks Memory Care

Mixed-Use Project of the Year: Aspen Place

Retail Adaptive/Re-Use Project of the Year: The Yard at the Farmer Arts District

Redevelopment Project of the Year: The Scheduling Institute

Spec Industrial Project of the Year: 10 West Logistics Center

Spec Office Project of the Year: Hayden Ferry Lakeside III

Transaction of the Year: Biltmore Financial Center

Award of Excellence: Bob Mulhern, Colliers International

Brokerage House of the Year: CBRE

Developing Leader of the Year: Ashley Hoffman, Layton Construction

Principal Member of the Year: Rick Butler, Butler Design Group

Associate Member of the Year: Eric Wolfe, Chicago Title Agency

Talk of the Town: Marina Heights, Building 500

Sign Sponsor of the Year: Trademark Visual, Inc.

Tempe Office Vacancies running about 7% below average for Metro Pheonix

PHOENIX, AZ– The Phoenix office of JLL has signed Freedom Financial Network, LLC (FFN) to lease one of two 45,000-square-foot buildings at Tempe 10/60 Corporate Center, a recently redeveloped office project in Tempe, Arizona. The lease will allow FFN to expand its neighboring Tempe operations within an efficient block of space to accommodate continued growth.

Tempe serves as a secondary office for San Mateo, California-based FFN, a company providing comprehensive financial solutions for consumers struggling with debt.

“The objective of the Tempe 10/60 redevelopment was to create a flexible, high-density, open office environment that could accommodate a very busy, high-employee-count company. In fact, a company just like FFN,” said JLL Managing Director Karsten Peterson, who represented the landlord along with JLL Managing Directors Dave Seeger and Mark Gustin, and Associate Matt Gandolfo. “It is rewarding to have that process come full circle; to see this space shift from ineffective to very effective square footage, and to be matched with the kind of organization that it was designed to serve.”

Tempe 10/60 Corporate Center is located at 4415 – 4625 S. Wendler Dr., alongside Interstate 10 and just south of the I-10/Superstition Freeway interchange. Built in 1985, the campus originally totalled 110,000 square feet in two 45,000-square-foot, two-story buildings and one 20,000-square-foot, single-story building. In 2014, property owners Greenlaw Partners and The Broe Group redeveloped the project, demolishing one of its three buildings to create a two-building development and increase on-site parking ratios from 5:1,000 to 7:1,000.

Through its new lease, FFN now occupies all of the 45,000-square-foot, 4625 S. Wendler Dr. building. The lease brings the property to 50 percent occupied. The project’s north building, consisting of an additional 45,000-square-feet twin building, is available for lease.

FFN was represented in its lease by JLL Senior Managing Directors Pat Williams and Steve Corney, Vice Presidents Vicki Robinson and Andrew Medley, and associate Chris Corney.

Tempe 10/60 Corporate Center features a creative exposed ceiling environment with spiral metal ductwork and slab-to-deck ceiling heights ranging from 15 feet to 22 feet, a 10-foot window line, generous landscaping, immediate freeway visibility, and access to Interstate 10 via Baseline Road. It is minutes from the I-10/US-60 interchange, Arizona Mills Mall, Sky Harbor International Airport and Arizona Grand Resort.

According to JLL’s recently released North America Banking Outlook, Phoenix ranks fifth for the percent of overall market real estate space occupied by the banking and finance industry, and ranks third among North American markets that have regained the most financial services jobs. The rankings call Phoenix out as a hub of national and international financial activity, where the sector remains one the fastest growing – and largest job producers – in the Valley, gaining 10,000 new banking and finance jobs in the past two years and serving as a key factor in pushing the area’s office vacancy rates below 15% (approximately 7% lower than metro Phoenix’s average) in “hot” submarkets like Tempe.