CHICAGO, TORONTO—Avison Young has just hired industry veteran Danny Nikitas as its new managing director of the Chicago office. Effective immediately, he also joins Avison as a principal. Nikitas has more than 25 years of commercial real estate experience and was most recently an executive vice president with MB Real Estate in Chicago.
In the past few years, Avison has expanded across Canada and then the US, opening dozens of offices to better serve its globe-trotting clients. And in his new position, Nikitas will play a leading role in further expanding the firm's Midwest footprint, as well as manage the company's day-to-day operations in Chicago, and service new and existing clients.
“Danny will oversee our continued growth and development in the region, take the lead on recruiting more great folks into the organization, continue to work with clients to develop solutions to their real estate issues, and partner with all of the other principals to further build our brand in the Midwest,” Mark E. Rose, chairman and chief executive officer of Avison, said in a prepared statement. Neither he nor Nikitas were available by press time.
Avison opened its first US office in Chicago in January 2009. The company opened a Detroit office in October 2012, followed by a Columbus office in January 2014.
“We are very fortunate to have Danny join us, and he will, no doubt, continue the successful growth path established by Avison Young principal Michael McKiernan, our former managing director in Chicago,” stated Earl Webb, Avison's president of US operations.
McKiernan became managing director in July 2009, and will now take on senior production responsibilities, primarily in the industrial sector, with key national and regional clients.
During his career, Nikitas has completed more than 500 lease transactions spanning more than 4.5-million-square-feet of office space in the Chicago metropolitan area. He spent seven years at MB Real Estate, where he was an executive committee member and led the company's business development program.
Over the past five years, Avison has grown from 11 to 57 offices and from 300 to more than 1,500 real estate professionals across Canada, the US and in Europe.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
