Jack Nathan joined Kennedy Wilson Brokerage as an assistant vice president. Experienced in retail, though, the Los Angeles area hadn’t always been his stomping ground.
“I was born and raised in suburban Detroit,” Nathan tells GlobeSt.com. He went to the University of Michigan and “had no intention or ambition to stay in Michigan upon graduation.” But circumstances gave him a reason when, in his early post-college days, he met a few executives who knew Dan Gilbert, founder of Quicken Loans.
Gilbert had just started his development company, Bedrock, as Nathan graduated. “Talk about changing markets, Detroit was changing every day,” he says. “We were stepping into a world where Detroit had years upon years of businesses missing and left almost like a shell.” He cut his teeth on major retail projects.
But sometimes you can’t stay where you’ve been. It might be because a market is turning cold, and you need to find better opportunities. Or it could be that you’re being in one place too long. Ultimately, it comes down to a move from where you were to a place you might want to be.
“I needed geographic change, step outside of my horizons and bubble a little bit,” Nathan says. He had been traveling for Bedrock, meeting with business owners nationally to see who might be interested in coming to Detroit. It was ideal for someone who wanted to try something else and taught him an important first lesson of staying curious and open. “I met two young developers who were partners in Runyon Group, which was building really interesting retail projects” in Los Angeles.
And so, he moved to L.A. as the firm’s first outside hire. “They had cut their teeth in the retail space,” says Nathan. “I was working with very interesting brands on the brokerage side of the business and in very interesting neighborhoods.”
It was familiar work — eventually. But in his first six months in California, he worked in a different industry as he got his feet grounded underneath him. “When I moved, it was a lot of uncertainty. You’re off-balance and you want to recenter yourself,” he says. “In hindsight, it’s helpful to know things change fast, but they also change more slowly. Whenever change happens, something provokes that change. There’s a catalyst. It’s very helpful to remind yourself that it’s a process and to trust the process.”
Nathan advises that before and after a move, determine what you want to do, including the freedom to consider whether to remain in the industry. And, if you do decide to stay in CRE, take the relocation as an opportunity to consider what part might be the best fit for you and how parts of the industry work in that location.
“If you say, ‘I really like these types of projects or tenants or markets,’ figure out what you want to do and see who’s doing it well,” he says. Without that curiosity, you won’t find what is right for you. “You have to be vulnerable and willing and open to pick a phone up and talk to.” Often there may be rejection or no response. Don’t let that stop you, he says. “You’ve got to have shots on goal. No good comes from hoping or wishing alone.”
For those shots, prepare. “Nobody expects you to be an expert, but there’s a certain amount of care and research and thought [necessary] to go into a conversation,” Nathan says. “In commercial real estate, there’s no lack of resources to learn what’s going on.”
Finally, expect to be in an uncomfortable place for a while. “Nobody wants to be in limbo, but that is the essence of change,” he says. “Embracing it is better than ignoring it. Immerse yourself in the community you’re entering. Embrace the new place.”