Seattle on a clear spring day is (in my opinion) the most beautiful place in the country. Cruising along the I90 floating bridge, Mt Rainier floating over the horizon to the south, big yachts cruising the lake, the sky risers through our windshield... the adrenaline is going, the kids are excited for an M's game, dragging my wife the Husky spring football game - It doesn't get much better.
My last stretch (the last 2 years) on The Road to Pullman Real Estate has provided me this same adrenaline rush. As I pursued my MBA at Gonzaga University I also began working on our 70k square foot shopping center in Spokane, WA (across from the biggest regional mall in the area). Fortunately, I had my mentor, John Stejer, as my co-pilot (actually my driver).
After 2 years of proformas, working with potential tenants, arranging financing with commercial lenders (thank you Banner Bank) and working through the emotions of my family, employees, community and city leaders the wrecking ball hit our 3 level dealership in May 2008. Talk about weird feelings - 40 years in one location, a place where I learned to drive, change the oil, picked up millions of cigarette butts, washed thousands of cars, drove through the showroom window... all came tumbling down.
Up to this point our biggest challenges were working with the city on permitting, the state on transportation issues, asbestos abatement, the neighborhood associations and the wild economy - these challenges seemed minimal when the 4 acres became bare dirt. During the site work we found some environmental challenges which we worked through but I learned 4 years of college during that summer. The key was having a team that was committed with direction and most importantly the entrepreneur spirit (the glass is not 1/2 full or 1/2 empty - just go back to the faucet and fill it back up). There were several incidents along the way where John and I wanted to throw the towel in - Old Navy bailed on us, Starbucks restructured and tore up our lease, the city wanted us to remove a row of parking for "street trees"... but we kept going back to the faucet to fill up our glass.
Today, our shopping center boasts Spokane's only Red Lobster, DSW Shoes, Ulta Beauty, Max Muscle, and the only Starbucks that opened in 2009. Red Lobster broke Darden national records during their 3 month opening, STCU immediately needed more space because they were so successful and Dressbarn set records.
Please check out the shopping center at www.northtownsquare.com.
This experience truly made me fall in love with the real estate industry. Real Estate is the foundation of our economy and our quality of life. If it crumbles the economy crumbles (i.e. the last five years).
A couple of quotes that represent what I learned and lived through:
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal;
It is the courage to continue that counts."
Winston Churchill 1871-1965
"Buy land, they aren't making anymore of it." Will Rogers
"To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence." Mark Twain
AND MY ALL TIME FAVORITE!!!
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore.
Dream.
Discover.
- Mark Twain
If you made it through my The Road to Pullman Real Estate - THANK YOU!!!
Enjoy the ride!!! TO BE CONTINUED!!!
Comments(2)