Mixed-Use That Works: Turning Projects Into Living Ecosystems

Lela Cirjakovic joined JLL to lead the firm’s national multi housing property management platform in America. Working with national and regional leadership, Lela will focus on building and growing client relationships across the platform. Lela has nearly 30 years of experience in real estate asset management. Prior to JLL, Lela served as executive vice president of operations at Waterton, a vertically integrated real estate investment firm. In this role, she had direct oversight of Waterton’s Portfolio of multifamily properties and was responsible for the strategic direction of the management platform, enhancing the portfolio’s financial performance and the resident experience. Lela was a voting member of Waterton’s leadership and investment committees while managing operations, sales, marketing and technology. Prior to joining Waterton, she spent 12 years at CAMCO, Inc., a Chicago multifamily property management company where she served as member of the Senior Executive Committee and as regional property manager overseeing the company’s Midwest operations. Previously, Lela was a regional property manager for Midland Property Management where she was responsible for 8 properties in 4 states. Ms. Cirjakovic’s career began at the Illinois Housing Development Authority where she was an asset manager.

Sean leads the JLL mixed-use property management service line, where he coalesces the firm’s extensive real estate service offerings into a fully integrated, single-point service delivery model for clients. He develops highly bespoke strategies to optimize and streamline operations across an entire development, identify revenue generation opportunities unique to mixed-use, and create one-of-a-kind destinations with local, regional and national cachet for our clients’ projects. Sean recently served as the client relationship manager for several of the firm’s high-net-worth, family office investor clients. Previously, he held the position of senior general manager for the Transamerica Pyramid Center during the $120 million transformational project repositioning, where he deployed over $30 million of capital over a two-year period. Before this, he served as regional manager for JLL Florida Property Management, where he led over 400 management employees. Before joining JLL, Sean served as real estate advisor and asset manager for the Mann Family Portfolio which consisted of 14.2 million square feet of retail and office, 327 acres of development land, and 4,000 commercial parking spaces. Sean holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master of Science in operations research from Georgia State University. He holds Florida Broker’s License and several respected industry designations including, CCIM, CPM, RPA, and FMA.

Molly leads the 10Twelve team, partnering with investor clients and developers to create and implement fresh merchandising strategies for retail centers. She identifies and secures the right tenants and creative uses for ground-up developments, redevelopments, mixed-used projects and existing assets that add value. Molly consistently stays ahead of retail trends and has developed relationships with leading retailers who add significant appeal to consumers and owners. Notable projects include High Street, a 42-acre mixed-use development in Atlanta, GA; Avalon a mixed-use development with 570,000 s.f. of retail in Alpharetta, GA; Birkdale Village, a 250,000 s.f. redevelopment in Huntersville, NC; Halcyon, a 550,000 s.f. mixed-use and entertainment destination in Forsyth County, GA; and The Krog District, a 240,000 s.f. mixed-use redevelopment adjacent to the BeltLine Eastside Trail in Atlanta, GA. Molly has also worked on high profile projects including, The Battery at Truist Park, a mixed-use sports and entertainment center featuring 212,000 s.f. of retail; The Shops at Buckhead in Atlanta, GA and Summerhill, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Turner Field Stadium in Atlanta, GA. Prior to joining JLL, Molly was the East region portfolio review manager for General Growth Properties (GGP) where she was responsible for assisting leasing efforts for Mizner Park and Village of Merrick Park in South Florida. Throughout her career, Molly has developed many relationships with local, national and regional retailers.

Based in Indianapolis, IN, James is the Senior Director of Americas Retail Research. He oversees the production of national retail research and serves as the voice of retail research in the region. He speaks regularly at events, with clients and the media about how retail real estate will change with tomorrow's economy. James also hosts the Where We Buy podcast, a show about retail and real estate. Where We Buy was awarded a Gold MAXI award from the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). The show was listed by FeedSpot as one of the Best Retail Podcasts You Must Follow in 2022. James also hosts the live video show Everything We Know About Retail. Experience: Before joining JLL, James was the National Director of Analytics at Xceligent, a national commercial property research firm. In that role, he recruited and managed a new Analytics department, a national team of regional analysts tasked with producing quarterly market reports and thought leadership pieces. James has worked in the commercial real estate industry since 1999, beginning as a Phoenix market research analyst with Insignia/ESG. He has served as U.S. Director of Research at Colliers International, where he oversaw the commercial property research services. Before that, he built the Colliers national GIS platform as the GIS Manager for the U.S. region. Education and affiliations: James received a Bachelor of Arts degree from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. James is an active participant in the International Council of Shopping Centers' North American Research Task Force. He was the chair of the 2015 Research Connections Conference. He has served on multiple NAIOP and ULI committees. Outside interests: James enjoys morning runs through the Indiana countryside.