Where Are They Now? Crain's 40 Under 40s in Real Estate
As seen Crain’s Chicago
Michael Reschke has been in commercial real estate long enough to have weathered what he dubs five "black swan" events.
There was the savings and loan crisis in the late 1980s. The Russian bond default crisis in 1998. The dot-com bubble recession. 9/11. The Great Recession of 2009.
"I would say the COVID crisis is worse than those five all put together because of the unknown factor," said Reschke, chairman and CEO of real estate development firm Prime Group.
"What's the largest bird in the world?. . .Maybe this is a black ostrich."
Yet 38 years after he launched the firm, the 65-year-old has no intention of letting the coronavirus pandemic push him out of an industry he loves. "It's my passion to build and develop beautiful buildings," said Reschke, whose current projects include a luxury hotel on the top floors of 208 S. LaSalle St. "I don't know what else I would do at this stage of my life."
He appears to be far from alone in that sentiment. Among the more than 100 honorees from the world of real estate on Crain's annual 40 Under 40 list over the past 30 years, only a small handful have left the industry. Reschke, who made the list in 1994, is one of the only honorees from before 2000 to not only be at the same company today as when they were featured but to also have the same title.
Ahead of the Nov. 6 reveal of 2020's 40 Under 40 class, we tracked down the status of a list of past honorees from the world of real estate.
Nearly half have moved on to other companies tied to the property business, including some that have left Chicago, like former Lohan Associates Vice President of Planning John LaMotte (class of 1992), who is now principal of LaMotte West in Lake Oswego, Ore. Other past honorees have risen to the top ranks of publicly traded companies, including Retail Properties of America CEO Steve Grimes (class of 2006), CBRE Global CEO of Global Workplace Solutions Jack Durburg (class of 2004) and Equity Commonwealth CEO David Helfand (class of 1997).
Three have died: The most recent was former Equity Office CEO Richard Kincaid (class of 2001) in March.
Many on the list—including Reschke—have battle scars from economic downturns over the years. But almost all have stuck around the sector, finding ways to reinvent themselves or find new gigs that allowed them to regain their footing. And for some, even the brutality of the COVID-19 pandemic won't be enough to send them down some other path.
"If you've been at something for a while, the odds of throwing it out the window to start something new—that's in your rearview mirror," said veteran leasing broker Drew Nieman, a member of the 1992 class who spent nearly 30 years with Chicago developer John Buck before career stops in the brokerage world and his current role in charge of leasing for Chicago-based Riverside Investment & Development. The firm recently completed the 55-story office tower at 110 N. Wacker Drive and is developing another 1.5 million-square-foot office tower next to Union Station.
Nieman admits he escaped most of the last big recession by moving to Abu Dhabi in 2008, where he oversaw leasing at a complex John Buck developed there. He's not expecting news about the pandemic to get better for several more months, but it won't be enough to push him out of an industry he initially pursued after studying architecture and urban planning at Miami University in Ohio.
"I've always liked the urban environment, and I've always liked planning and all of the things that go into that," said Nieman, 65. "I don't think not doing it was ever an option."