16D — August 20 - September 16, 2021 — 40 Under 40 — M id A tlantic Real Estate Journal
www.marej.com
40 U nder 40
Marc Duval Senior Director JLL Capital Markets Years with company/firm: 9 Years Years in field: 9 years Years in real estate industry:13 years Real estate organizations/affiliations: NAIOP
Jordan Avanzato Senior Director JLL Capital Markets Years with company/firm: 9 years Years in field: 9 years Years in real estate industry: 11
Real estate organizations/affiliations: NAIOP Developing Leaders Forum 17; IOREBA; ICSC
What is your greatest professional accomplishment? We came into the capital markets space from different backgrounds to engage with more creative people and we were not disappointed. The opportunity to work with creative and hard-working people and to collaborate on unique projects has been very rewarding. Joining HFF in early 2010s was one of the best things that happened to us. Now we are often resetting goals as feeling accomplished and complacent in today’s market only sets us back. When you’ve hit cruise control, no matter how well you’re doing, you’ve stopped growing. We are constantly trying to correctly advise clients, strategically thinking about new opportunities and/or partnerships, and working to expand our business. What is your most notable project, deal or transaction? Over the past 12 months, we have been involved in roughly $1.5 billion in capital markets transactions but there is not one individual project that sticks out. Any project that drives top results for clients whether it is a $7 million land sale in the Meadowlands, or a $500 million of programmatic equity is important because we value all relationships. Most recently, we advised a capital provider into a new programmatic relationship with an experienced operator, bringing together a strong partnership that will be a force for the long-term. Forming these powerhouse partnerships is probably most rewarding as we get to see the growth in real-time. We are competitive and strive off delivering the best outcome to our clients. What is unique is our different but indistinguishable approaches – high energy and relentless on one end while diligent and thoughtful on the other. How do you contribute to your company and / or the industry? We stay on top of new trends which allows us to be creative and thoughtful when advising clients. For instance, we have expanded into the cold storage and low-coverage industrial sites. While we’re obviously helping sellers exit their assets at historic highs, we’re also helping buyers find additional yield compared to typical industrial product. We are always exploring new ideas, capital sources and niche asset classes to drive our business. We connect a lot of dots for capital sources and operators, while being advocates for owners and sellers. Tell us how and when you began your career in the profession you are in, about your current position and why you choose the field/profes - sion you are in today? Prior to joining HFF, we came from different backgrounds (private and institutional experience) that helped us be more diverse in our business approach. We had the opportunity to grow from the ground-up within the rigorous analyst roles at HFF. We saw an insurmountable amount of deal flow working under Jose Cruz which allowed us to understand the metrics, business plans and capital behind the transactions. Upon colleagues exiting for opportunities on the principal side, there was an opportunity to run with the industrial capital markets business. Our mutual goal was to build the industrial capital markets practice until we’re the top choice for clients. Not sure we are there yet but we won’t stop even after we are. What were some of your early goals and did anything happen to change them? We started early tracking objectives and key results. Beyond just goals, knowing what stage of our career we are in is powerful. Now that we have our business model down, we are in the stage of expanding our goals and growing out business. Although we mapped our path, we know we need to be flexible. The real estate business is full of new trends and events that you must continuously adapt to. We’re staying consistent in our goal to becoming the best industrial capital markets team in the region and are open and flexible to industry changes. What unique qualities and or personality do you feel makes you most successful in your profession? We are competitive and strive off delivering the best outcome to our clients. What is unique is our different but indistinguishable approaches – high energy and relentless on one end while diligent and thoughtful on the other. From the project level, we can discuss and support all aspects of the underwriting and may get long-winded doing it because we enjoy it. It is important to diligently discuss construction costs, level-set market rents, return thresholds, and tenant credit. We are consistently responsive and always available as there is only a three-hour window of any given day you can’t contact one of us. You can count on us and hold us accountable all the time. What challenges and or obstacles do you feel you needed to overcome to become as successful as you are today? As young brokers, we realized how important it is to work as a team. Once we were brutally honest about those business shortcomings things started to lift off. We started to become more cohesive and accountable to one another. Despite the early challenges we look back proudly on those educations. Those same lessons are the ones that stick with us and have added the most value to our processes. For instance, the biggest opportunities are finding the challenges and obstacles owners and capital are having in the space and solving for such. We like to show the possibilities and how deals can get done in today’s market. What inspiring word of advice would you give to a young executive graduating from college today? Number one skill for young people starting in their real estate careers is to be an attentive listener and note taker. We probably get a rap about asking too many questions, but it has helped us tremendously. When you are in conversation or even observing a meeting, take notes. There are very intelligent people in our industry that give lessons every time they speak. Return to those notes often and you’ll be amazed at how much value you can add. MAREJ
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