Ryan Cos US recently tapped 30-year real estate vet Chris Wood as president of its West Region, based in San Diego, with a new emphasis on Southern California projects. SoCal isn’t an entirely new market for the Minneapolis-based company, but Chris tells us the company believes it's a key growth market. Its near-term goal for the market is a recurring $100M per year construction/development volume roughly split in thirds between third-party general contracting, development of corporate build-to-suits, and spec development, across most product types in SoCal. Since there isn’t much raw land left in Southern California, Chris explains, Ryan’s development efforts here will be focused on infill and adaptive re-use.

Recently the company, acting as contractor, finished a 150-room Springhill Suites in Downtown Oceanside (pictured), and other construction projects in the pipeline include 142k SF Target in the Del Sur area, and an urban San Diego-area mixed-use multifamily project. Looking further ahead, Chris says, “the demand for spec R&D, fueled by a strong flow of VC funding, will return in the next year or so, at lease in the core, tech-oriented submarkets of Sorrento Mesa, the I-15 corridor, and Carlsbad.” Previously, Chris was Voit Real Estate Services' executive managing director overseeing offices in San Diego, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. His two sons are both in college (USC and USD) and his daughter in is in 10th grade (tuitions are always big motivators, he says). Outdoors is where he likes to be when away from work: skiing, hiking, or at the ocean.