My First 100 Days as JLL Atlanta’s Industrial Brokerage Lead

Just over 100 days ago, I joined JLL’s Atlanta industrial brokerage team as senior managing director. At the time, COVID-19 was at its peak, and everyone was trying to adapt to a new reality – both personally and professionally. While the pandemic caused many facets of commercial real estate to pause or constrict, the industrial sector has continued to surge ahead.

This momentum has kept our team busier than ever as we support our clients by finding the logistics and warehousing solutions needed to meet their customers’ demands. We’ve been working incredibly hard, and I’m especially proud that our entire team transitioned back to working at the office five months ago, giving us the invaluable opportunity to safely collaborate and drive our business forward.

I’ve spent 18 years working in commercial real estate, but this year has been by far the most challenging and rewarding. From supporting our clients through an uncertain business landscape to expanding our team and continuing to cultivate a culture of learning, I’m looking back on my first 100 days with JLL to acknowledge a few of the many things we accomplished.

Meeting demand and maintaining momentum

By the end of last quarter, Atlanta saw 14.2 million square feet of absorption in 2020 so far, according to JLL research. This would not have happened without the pandemic, which has caused e-commerce sales across the country to spike by 37% this year.

Across Atlanta, there are more than 38 million square feet of active deals and more than 110 known tenants surveying the market for over 100,000 square feet of space. This activity illustrates the confidence and continued interest in the market.

Just a few hours south, we’ve seen the Port of Savannah continue on its robust growth trajectory. This year, the port became the largest and fastest growing container terminal in America. By 2030, JLL predicts the port will reach an estimated 11 million twenty-foot equivalent units annually, while industrial occupancy across the city is expected to reach more than 150 million square feet. Over the past five years, the market (which is currently 96% leased) has generated over 29.7 million square feet of positive absorption.

These projections excite our team about growing our presence across the state and instill confidence in our clients.

Cultivating a collaborative learning environment

JLL’s brand purpose is “Achieve Ambitions,” and it’s my responsibility to make sure all team members have the opportunities and tools to achieve their professional goals. Since returning to the office, I’ve prioritized maintaining a collaborative learning environment and workplace culture.

We’re accomplishing this by hosting monthly training sessions around JLL technology, as well as surrounding ourselves with experts that can help us sell our platform to multi-market tenants. We’re also consistently bringing in developing team members while executing deals to expose them to larger, more complex transactions.

We’ve even started an industrial rising stars group that holds monthly meetings to demonstrate best practices and accelerate the adoption of JLL technology that uniquely positions our team to help clients define and execute thoughtful, data-driven strategies more effectively than ever before. This is part of a broader technology-enabled journey that helps clients understand their needs and make better, faster decisions. 

I’m looking forward to growing my skills as a coach and mentor, but also continuing to be an active player and producer for our firm.

Ramping up business development and growing our team

With every member of our industrial team back in the office, I’ve loved seeing the energy and sense of camaraderie return to our workplace. This has been instrumental in spurring deals, boosting morale and inspiring creativity.

I have a new appreciation for the value of passing someone in the hallway (though it takes a second to recognize who you’re looking at with masks on) and comparing notes on the latest activity and trends in the market. These moments help us connect the dots on additional opportunities for our clients. 

In the past few months, we’ve also made two new hires, Kamani Mustafa and Erin McCloskey both with incredible potential to become top producers. In just a few months, we’ve been educating them on best practices, helping them survey markets, demonstrating how to prospect, teaching them how to run financial analyses and more.

This year has been difficult and challenging, but if my first 100 days at JLL Atlanta have taught me anything, it’s that we have countless reasons to be optimistic for the future. I’m proud to be on a team of experts who consistently adapt their skills and resources to an ever-evolving marketplace, and I can’t wait to see what we will accomplish in 2021.