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| The 2016 CRE Summit’s Hall of Fame inductees, from topleft clockwise, are: Jerry Banks of NewStreet Properties; Marty Shukert of RDG Planning & Design; John Fullenkamp of Fullenkamp, Doyle & Jobeun; Dean Hokanson, Sr. of CBRE Mega,all of Omaha; and Kent Seacrest of Seacrest & Kalkowski in Lincoln. CRE Summit 2016 |
By Julien R. Fielding
The Daily Record
This year, 12 industry leaders were nominated for the Commercial Real Estate Summit Hall of Fame. The 35 member committee has voted, and selected a developer, Jerry Banks; a city planner, Marty Shukert; two attorneys, John Fullenkamp and Kent Seacrest; and a broker, Dean Hokanson, Sr. The five men are to be honored and inducted during the Summit’s annual luncheon today, at the CenturyLink Center.
When asked the significance of the inductees, CRE Summit founder Jerry Slusky of Smith Slusky Law ticked off the reasons for their choices: “Jerry Banks has had a 23year career with NewStreet Properties and has acquired a portfolio of nearly 4 million square feet of investment properties in six states. He has been a big contributor in our market. In the 1980s, Marty Shukert lit the fuse for the redevelopment of downtown and the Riverfront. These two attorneys – John Fullenkamp and Kent Seacrest – have been the leading planning zone developers in the last several years in their markets; they have represented some very significant projects. And Dean Hokanson is one of the leading brokers who has done quite a few important development and broker deals in his more than 40 years in the industry.”
Banks
Banks, partner at NewStreet Properties, was born and raised in Glenwood, Iowa. He graduated from Glenwood High School, and worked in real estate and construction while growing up. In fact, he got his start in his industry through his parents. “They started a homebuilding business as a second income when I was six years old, so I was fortunate enough to get hands-on experience in home building – and later in real estate sales – through our family business. I bought and flipped my first house in partnership with my brother while in high school and then bought and sold a 30acre tract the summer after I graduated from high school. I was hooked and decided to skip college. “By the time I was 24, I mistakenly thought I knew all there was to know in real estate and broke out on my own to purchase and operate a Century 21 franchise in Council Bluffs. That was in 1979, just as interest rates were moving to 18 percent and higher. I was very fortunate to have a banker and some others in the community believe in me. I was able to recruit some of the top residential agents in Council Bluffs to our firm. “Through their hard work our company grew to have the No. 1 market share in Council Bluffs in the early ’80s. Many of those I worked with from 1980 to 1987 are still in the business today and we remain close friends. I learned a ton from them and from that experience. I never dreamed about being in any career other than real estate in some capacity.”
When asked about highlights of his career, Banks said that it was “being hired by Mr. Allan Lozier to start a real estate portfolio for his family enterprise. The trust and confidence he put in me is one of the greatest honors of my life. He has expanded my thinking well beyond real estate. He has given me incredible perspective on the world around us, most importantly to those who were not born with nor given the advantages that most of us are blessed with.”
Banks singled out a string of specifically memorable transactions throughout his career. “We acquired four major warehouses in four different states. [This transaction] totaled over 1.6 million square feet and was leased to a Fortune 500 company. Four years later, we sold the same four buildings to the company that was leasing them. Upon entering 2005, we owned over 5,200 apartments in several major metropolitan markets. We determined that the market was overheated, and it was time to exit. Within the next 20 months we reduced our portfolio down to 440 units. When the market collapsed in 2009, it made our decision look very smart. However, as I have often stated, sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.”
Being successful over the long-term isn’t a mystery to Banks, and he shared his insights to how others can achieve it. These people [being honored] “have a lot of similar traits,” he said. “It goes beyond hard work and general education.” Banks cited traits like getting extended education in specific fields, such as obtaining the CCIM certification if you are working in commercial investment real estate. “Perhaps more importantly, the most successful are those who work on the development of long-term relationships versus those who work on closing transactions – agents who put a higher value on ethics, transparency and honesty than they do earning a fee. Agents who always act in the best interest of their client, even when it may kill the deal.
And agents who treat everyone they come in contact with, whether it is a client, a competitor, a vendor or a coworker, with respect and dignity. Those are the people who, in the long term, do very, very well.”
Even though his name is being added to the Hall of Fame, Banks doesn’t believe in taking all the credit. “In my view it is recognition of the team effort here at NewStreet Properties,” he said. “While the award may have my name inscribed in it, in truth, nothing happens without a great team of professionals. The people on the NewStreet team, combined with our long-term relationships of legal, accounting, management, leasing, brokerage and development, are in truth the people who ‘earned’ the recognition. [In addition], my parents are still building homes in Council Bluffs. They are the true hall-of-famers of our family.”
Shukert
Like Banks, Shukert of RDG Planning & Design had his career path influenced significantly by his family, more specifically his grandmother. “I was born to do this,” he said. “I have been interested [in urban planning] since I was a kid. “My grandma, who was an immigrant from Eastern Europe, was a big influence on me. She lived in Chicago, and my best childhood memories were going into the Loop with her. She knew every back passage. She communicated that love to me. I had an epiphany a few years ago, while riding my bike in Chicago. It occurred to me that that was where things began for me.”
After graduating from Central High School, Shukert attended Yale University. He said that he thought he would eventually go to law school but, during his junior year, he gravitated toward planning. One particular class – an intensive planning class – with Alexander Garvin, former deputy commissioner of housing and city planning commissioner for New York City, made a considerable impact. Garvin became Shukert’s mentor.
After graduating from Yale with a bachelor’s degree, he went on to earn his master’s degree in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1976, Shukert and his wife, Aveva, returned to Omaha, and he joined the City of Omaha Planning Department.
Three years later, he was made department head and, under his leadership, the City developed the ConAgra campus and Heartland of America Park, the new Riverfront area, several North Omaha housing initiatives and Omaha’s recreational trails systems. He remained with the City until 1989, when he joined RDG as a planning consultant and continued his work in several significant projects throughout the Midwest region which include many long-range and short-term projects involving: transportation and traffic systems; recreation/parks/trails systems; housing, neighborhood and ordinance development; business development, and urban/suburban development and redevelopment.
When asked about his career highlights, he had several to list. “I’m proud that I had an influence on improving the quality of the design of the city. It was a gradual process, and a team effort. Not all of our projects were successful: The Parkfair Shopping Center didn’t work, but the Landmark Center and the Greenhouse Apartments stemmed from that period. I’m proud of having had an influence on neighborhoods in the 1980s, and accelerating redevelopment. “I’m proud I had a significant influence on the idea of using bicycles for transportation. We started that in 1983, when the Chicago and Northwestern Railway wanted to abandon their track. That started the implementation of the Keystone Trail.”
Although no stranger to honors, Shukert, who was named a fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners, said that it is great to be in the CRE Hall of Fame. “The people in the Hall of Fame are inducted for many reasons, but all had an impact on the city. I’m pleased to be included with them.”
Fullenkamp
Fullenkamp has been with Fullenkamp, Doyle & Jobeun for more than 45 years, and practices in the areas of real estate law, land use, zoning law, and sanitary and improvement districts. He has aided and assisted the City of Omaha in the writing of land use regulations, policies and codes, and has done the same for the Metropolitan Omaha Builders Association. He attended Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, before going to Creighton University School of Law.
“I came here from Dubuque and from the beginning Omaha has been the most welcoming city. The legal community here has been great to work with, which makes it easy to work with everyone involved.
“At the risk of sounding like a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Omaha is a welcoming city for projects. They set the guidelines and, if you follow them, they make everything as easy as possible.
“All jurisdictions like Omaha have master plans and they usually stick to their plans. That lends stability to the process. And they will generally work with you to make your project happen,” he said.
“All of the mayors’ offices have been very progressive. Omaha is adding 30,000 people a year, that’s a seven percent growth rate. It’s like adding a Grand Island to our city every year! “You know, many people were critical of the ConAgra project, but it drove everything that has happened down there since. Downtown is a very different place than it was when I went to school.”
Of his work, Fullenkamp noted, “The land use world [that I work in] is different from what other lawyers do. We work with their clients, and then give them back and off they go!” Asked for his favorite projects, he didn’t hesitate. “The projects I’ve enjoyed working on the most are churches and schools. I really enjoyed helping Creighton University work on its redevelopment plan. It was a real compliment that they asked me, an alum, to participate.” He looked back on some of his other projects. “During my career I regularly appeared before local city councils, county boards and planning commissions regarding projects in the greater metropolitan area,” he said. “Representative projects, for example, include the Creighton
University Redevelopment Plan, ConAgra River Front Development Plan, Oak View Mall, North Park Business Park and others. Our firm represents several of the major real estate developers and developments in the area.”
Fullenkamp has a MartindaleHubbell AV Peer Review Rating of 5 out of 5, and has been named in both Best Lawyers in America and Chambers USA – America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. In 2015, he was inducted to the Metropolitan Omaha Builders Association’s Hall of Fame.
Seacrest
A lawyer at Seacrest & Kalkowski in Lincoln, Seacrest practices in the areas of land use, real estate, consensus building, governmental relationships, and natural resources law. For the last 35 years he has helped clients to build many public-private partnerships and mixed-use projects. His legal work has involved real estate transactions, including up to 12 different parties and 15 layers of public and private financing, as well as traditional rezoning, purchase agreements, leases and conservation easements. In addition, he has conducted strategic planning for 14 businesses and nonprofit organizations. Some of his recent projects include: West Haymarket, 2015 Vision’s 10 Pillars, Antelope Valley Major Investment Study, Telegraph District, Nebraska Innovation Campus, SouthPointe/Scheels expansion, Larson Building, Marriott Hotel, and Waterford Estates.
He completed his environmental planning undergraduate work at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and then received degrees from the University of Iowa Law School and the University of Iowa urban and regional planning master program. He has taught planning law for the University of Nebraska urban and regional planning program. When asked what it means to him to be inducted to the Hall of Fame, he said: “I am honored and appreciative that I have been able to help such great clients achieve their goals and visions to strengthen their communities.”
Hokanson
Sr. Executive vice president, board member, shareholder and broker for CBRE Mega, Hokanson Sr., was born in Missouri, but raised in Omaha. “My dad served in World War II, and he moved us here,” he said. “I went to Dundee Grade School and graduated in 1960, with Dundee’s last eighth grade class.” After graduating from Central High School, he attended Kansas State University on a football scholarship, and finished his college career at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
He started working in 1969 as an insurance broker for Allied Insurers, Inc. Sandy Friedman, a lifelong friend, recommended him for the job. Together they built the insurance agency and in 1981, sold it and became vice presidents for Alexander and Alexander Inc., an international insurance agency.
In 1983, Hokanson opened a small branch office for Merit Capital Corporation, the parent company and a real estate syndicator. He raised investment capital for the corporation’s sponsored real estate investments. That marked the beginning of his real estate career, he said. “In 1984, Jim Moore invited me to join the Mega Corporation as a partner,” he explained. “Initially my job was to establish and manage a Megaowned
private placement firm, which would raise capital for syndicated real estate partnerships.”
It didn’t take long before he began initiating investment partnerships and becoming the general partner. This activity spawned a number of apartment, retail and industrial developments in Portland, Seattle and Omaha. Hokanson said that he “feels very fortunate to work at CBRE Mega with many talented and resourceful people. My teammates have brought skills and creativity to many of the transactions and investments in which I have been involved. I’ve been there almost 30 years. When I started, we had nine people. We have 95 today.”
During the last few decades, he has raised in excess of $30 million in equity capital for sponsored real estate
investments and has specialized in the sale and leasing of institutional grade real estate. He has managed the sale and marketing of Lakeside Hills, a 235acre mixed-use development that includes a 30acre anchored shopping center, a 1,000,000squarefoot office development, an upscale retirement community, a fitness center, luxury apartments, and a health campus including Lakeside Hospital. Since 2004, he has also been instrumental in the development of Southport West, a 137acre mixed-use development in the Southwest Omaha area, which includes Cabelas, two John Q. Hammonds owned hotels, the LaVista Conference Center, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Boot Barn retail store, the Shoppes at Southport West, and soon, a Costco store. “There has been a lot of development in Omaha,” he said. “We went through the recession years, and business was tough. Omaha has its ups and downs, but it’s never as dramatic as on the coasts.
“This is a tough business, and it can be nasty, but I love every minute of it. It’s exciting and rewarding. Commercial real estate has always been in my blood, and insurance was good preparation for it. I don’t plan on retiring any time soon. I enjoy it here. It’s a great team.”
For more information regarding the CRE Summit and its previous Hall of Fame inductees, please go to the event’s website: www.attendcresummit.com.