Last year in Glenview, the company started development on a  400k-SF HQ  for pharmaceutical giant Astellas, as well as a corporate HQ for the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of The United Methodist Church. Peter, who splits his time between NY and Chicago, and John, who runs the Chicago office, have both worked at MBRE for more than a decade.  Peter helped orchestrate Douglas Elliman Commercial's acquisition of  Miglin-Beitler Real Estate, which became MBRE in ‘98.  In addition, the pair has teamed up as Ricker-Murphy Development  to launch a new 198-unit condo project called  Lincoln Park 2520.

John and Peter say they can meet each client’s  specific service and reporting requirements because of a fully integrated service platform. And even though lack of equity in the marketplace is putting a lot of deals on hold, they're starting to see residential sales pick up as supply is absorbed. Since they manage more than 17M-SF of mostly downtown office space, they're predicting (and hoping) the office market will pick up by 2013. Peter says they try to operate like a sports car rather than a truck, using precision rather than force to navigate the recovery. (Vehicular analogies not heard during this interview include, 'We're like a Toyota: Never stop working for you.")