Youth isn't wasted on Charles Dunn's Blake Rogers, who's been named the youngestmanaging director in the firm's 92-year history. Yesterday, we chatted with Blake, who worked as an analyst at two different firms before joining Dunn in January '09. He's partnered with Al Shilton, whom he calls a great partner and mentor. The two-man team specializes in multifamily and development land in the Greater LA area, with a concentration on the Westside and in Hollywood, Mid-Wilshire, and the SF Valley.
A number of the team's deals have been record-setters, like last May's sale of 3321 Mentone Ave in LA. At the time, it was the highest price PSF paid for an apartment building in the Palms district since 2001, and the highest GRM and lowest cap rate paid since 2006. According to Darrell Levonian, executive managing officer in Dunn's West LA office, about 20% of the firm's agents are managing directors. Referring toBlake and Al, he says it's like the old adage: If two can get together and do the work of four, that's a winning team. (Our favorite saying is "A day without cats is like a day without sunshine," though it doesn't really apply here.)
He and Al also have been active selling non-performing notes in whatBlake calls a "risky business that resulted in strong returns for our clients." (When he wants a tamer activity, he jumps out of airplanes.) It's "the hunt of looking for sellers" and cold calling that gets his adrenaline pumping. He also likes the financial analysis of deals, "seeing where people can add value." So who would have thought his background is in music? He studied at the BerkleeCollege of Music in Boston. Last year, Team Shilton did $39M in deals and expects to double that in 2013. Outside of work, his biggest interest is travel. He and wife Kallie went to Asia last year and will be going to Europe this year. (They'll stay in their plane seats the whole way.)
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