Commercial Real Estate 101

By Alexei Smirnov
– Business Tennessee –

If there is a vacant street corner anywhere in Tennessee, it’s probably because developers and real estate brokers have been too busy with their current workload.

Look in each major, and minor, market across the state, and you’ll see plenty of activity.

In Cleveland, Bradley County (pop. 100,000 souls), the value of new building permits shot up from $15 million to $29 million between January and September.

A couple of hours to the northwest, in Nashville, a class A office space happens to be in short supply (due to a seemingly endless stream of corporate relocations). In other words, there is plenty of money to be made.

And the 101 business people listed here – the most influential movers and shakers in Tennessee commercial real estate – are doing a large percentage of the work behind major commercial developments in the Volunteer State.

They might even teach you, but they’ll have to charge.

Rusty Bloodworth • Executive Vice President of Boyle Investment Co. in Memphis Builds large-scale multi-use communities he calls “new towns.” Studied community development in Scandinavia where he got enamored with European ideas of New Urbanism. Bloodworth’s firm Boyle built Farmington, one of the earliest New Urban communities.

Mark Halperin • Executive Vice President of Boyle Investment Co. in Memphis At Boyle since 1973, Halperin is responsible for leasing and management of all office properties at Boyle Memphis, overseeing some two million square feet of class A space. Built and now manages Ridgeway Center, which spans nearly one million square feet.

Jeff Haynes • Chief Manager of Boyle Investment Co. in Nashville Oversees Boyle’s Nashville operations, where he came after 17 years at Trammell Crow Co. In charge of Boyle’s aggressive build-out and acquisitions in the Nashville area, including 40 acres near I-65 in Cool Springs and Meridian business park.