Ah, the month when everyone thinks they're Nate Silver. We asked readers who they think will win the NCAA tourney, where they'll be watching, and if they could go pro, which sport and why.
CBRE EVP John Jaeger (snapped with the family at the Rose Bowl) says his alma mater, the MSU Spartans, are a shoe-in for the trophy. He’ll be watching the action from an island in the Caribbean (jealous much?). And if given the chance to go pro, he’d have picked golf so he could play Augusta each year. At work, the multifamily investment sales guru is seeing value-add opportunities heat up as investors search for more yield. The gap in rental rates between Class-A properties and value-add Class-B properties is great enough to justify in interior renovation and achieve an appropriate return on cost, he tells us.
After getting a No. 4 seed, the tourney committee just gave Louisville a little more motivation for a back-to-back title, Colliers retail investment broker Brad Teitelbaum (snapped at Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale) tells us. He’s staying put for most of the games, but jokes that he’s temped to drive to Milwaukee to see his alma mater, the ASU Sun Devils, beat up on Texas. He’d like to be a pro basketball player for the shoe deals. These days Brad’s spending his time going 20 mph under the speed limit to look at net-lease sites. His recent sales include Forever 21 in Lincoln Park and Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Deerfield.
The Pangea Properties team likes Louisville to win it all, but they’ll hedge with Florida, CEO Steve Joung (ref on the far right, snapped at a recent company basketball game) tells us. They’ll probably watch the games at the office and at a joint event with Pangea’s staffing firm (The LaSalle Network) on Friday. Steve would be a pro golfer no question, he says, for the career longevity. (Where else can you find a senior tour?) Now that the multifamily market’s recovered, Pangea’s focusing on third-party services like Motus Construction (its general contracting arm, for commercial construction) and multifamily lending (up to $5M) for investors in Chicago, Indiana, and Baltimore, he tells us.
Lee & Associates of Illinois SVP Terry O’Hara reps Indiana and Iowa, where his sons went. Indiana sadly didn’t make the tournament, but fingers crossed for Iowa in the play-in game tonight. Staying loyal to the Big Ten, he picks MSU to win it all against KU, and you’ll find him watching the games at the Emerald Isle in Edison Park. Terry’s pro sport of choice is hockey, for men who don’t mind getting some teeth knocked out. The industrial expert is seeing a boom across air freight and trucking. With the railroads moving so much oil out of North Dakota, they’re cutting off smaller customers who’ve in turn boosted business for truckers, he tells us.
Inland Private Capital Corp financial analyst Phil Meyer (left) tells us he expects Wichita State to take home the trophy. “It would be great to see a Missouri Valley school win the title,” he says. You’ll find Phil watching the games at Champps in Oak Brook, across the street from the office. Basketball’s been Phil's favorite sport since he was little, and one of his favorite memories is the University of Northern Iowa win against Kansas in 2010, which put his school on the map. At the office, Inland Private Capital Corp is in full-fledged acquisitions mode, and anticipates closing $1B of residential and retail properties in 2014.
Real estate PR/marketing firm Taylor Johnson got into the March Madness spirit with staff showing support for their alma maters and favorite college teams. Alas, not everyone's team was invited to the Big Dance this year so it looks like they'll all have to root for Iowa. To their credit, the TJ staff went to school for their communication/journalism programs, not the sports, they say. But speaking of Iowa, that floating shirt belongs to TJ staffer Abe Tekippe who's currently in Vegas. In honor of the Hawkeyes' school colors, put it all on black, Abe, and let it ride.
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