Transwestern's Dan Svachula  and CoreNet's Young Leaders Group caught our eye this week, part of the under 35 set using a slow economy to try and make names for themselves.

The ladies in his office call him Handsome Dan, and he says he has the second best head of hair in commercial real estate. (Number one "knows who he is.") As part of the agency leasing team, Dan represents 4.5m-SF of office space in the suburbs, which may be struggling, he says, but deals are getting done by shortening lease terms, pushing lower rates, and offering concessions.

Dan, an '01 University of Illinois grad, hits the downtown office once a week to work with city folks like controller Chris Davis. Dan worked at Kingbrook in the suburbs before being recruited by Transwestern. He says his mentors in the office-to-industrial transition, Joe Stevens  and Fred Ishler,  were tough but a lot of fun. However, when Dan began training for this fall's Chicago Marathon, we imagine his mentors were a bit more willing to keep their distance.