The new year rang in a new home for a local commercial real estate team.
The Graski team of Voit Real Estate Services moved over to ROI Commercial Real Estate, Las Vegas’ second oldest commercial real estate brokerage firm, on Jan. 1.
“My whole intent is that I’m taking over my whole team, and we plan on serving our business as usual without any interruption to our clients,” said Kit Graski, the incoming director of ROI. “Different company logo on the business cards, but the same service from my team, the Graski team.”
The move comes after Voit Real Estate Services decided to shut down all of its holdings except those in Southern California. Voit had offices in Phoenix, Sacramento and Las Vegas, along with Southern California.
The team, which specializes in retail, has more than 55 years of combined experience in the market. It has been responsible for $1.1 billion in transaction value over the past 30 years with a portfolio of about 2.5 million square feet of space.
Graski’s career spans more than 30 years in the industry, the past 13 of that at Voit. Along with experience, Graski brings his client list, including Chick-fil-A, a recent entry into the Las Vegas market.
Joining Graski in making the move is George Okinaka, who will join the ROI team as executive vice president. Okinaka is a Las Vegas native with 16 years of commercial real estate experience.
Two others will also follow: Gavin Kakol, who will join the team as an associate with a management and customer service background, and Maureen Waters, who has worked as a marketing specialist for seven years.
Florida firm buys retail plaza
Sterling Organization, a private equity real estate investment firm from Palm Beach, Fla., recently acquired a grocery-anchored retail plaza at the northeast corner of South Fort Apache Road and West Flamingo Road.
Sterling purchased the 108,731 square foot Smith’s shopping center for $20 million from a subsidiary of Kirkorian Enterprises in December. The center is 100 percent occupied.
“We are quite pleased to add Smith’s Shopping Center to our core/stabilized SUP portfolio,” said Ed Senenman, senior managing director of investments and portfolio management for Sterling Organization. “Smith’s location just south of Summerlin, the grocer’s solid sales and the ability to grow rents at the center over time all combine to give us confidence that this center will generate consistent cash flow and will provide excellent risk-adjusted returns to our investor partners.”
The firm recently opened an office in Los Angeles, which is being headed up by Jonathan Mendis.
“With this Las Vegas acquisition, we continue to execute our strategy for SUP by investing in shopping centers that are anchored by market-leading grocers, have solid retail real estate fundamentals, are located in major markets and should provide durable and consistent cash flow to our partners,” said Brian Kosoy, managing principal, president and CEO of Sterling Organization.
Law firm moves into green building
Las Vegas-based Fox Rothschild LLP, a full-service law firm, is going green with its recent move into a new building at 1980 Festival Plaza Drive, Suite 700 at One Summerlin.
The building is full of green-oriented features, including high-efficiency air conditioning, waste management and recycling. The LEED certified building is surrounded by 125 shops, restaurants, entertainment venues at Downtown Summerlin.
“We are thrilled to transition to this new and environmentally friendly office space, which features additional conference rooms as well as impressive views of the Vegas skyline,” said Brett A. Axelrod, Fox’s Las Vegas office managing partner. “As the firm continues to grow nationally, this space provides a platform from which we can expand our Southwest presence.”
GLVAR honors Kasama
The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors has honored Heidi Kasama, a Realtor at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, Nevada Properties in Las Vegas— as the 2015 realtor of the year. Kasama was GLVAR’s president in 2014.
The Dec. 12 event also ushered in the annual installation of new officers and board members for 2016.
There were also several other award winners at the GLVAR event: David Crete won the Gene Nebeker Memorial Award for outstanding service to the GLVAR and the community; Ronnie Vause took the Ronn Reiss Award for educational excellence and leadership; Lillian Spencer won the Frank Sala/Marv Rubin Award, recognizing long-term commitment to grassroots political action and protecting private property rights; and Rosa Herwick won the Jack Woodcock Professionalism Award.
David Brownell and 2013 GLVAR President Dave Tina Sr. and Robyn Yates were inducted into the GLVAR Hall of Fame.
