Liz Holland is now CEO of her grandfather’s over 77-year-old real estate business, Abbell Associates. She never imagined she would end up there, but she says it was amazing creating a relationship with her grandfather and becoming his colleague for two years before he passed away and continuing his legacy.
“It’s such a challenging time in retail real estate because things are transforming so quickly and certainly there have been big retail disruptors in the past and there will be bigger retail disruptors in the future, so it’s been quite exciting for us both in our real estate business and our software business to anticipate those disruptors and ride the wave.”
Early CareerHer early career in bond trading, law school, her time at Sekadden Arps, and then working in government for a congressional commission gave her a thick skin and taught her how to take risks. She also was quick to learn that she had a strong desire to be an expert in whatever field she was in and make sure that what she was learning today would benefit her tomorrow.
The Family BusinessWhen her grandfather called her to run his business in 1997, she said yes. She started updating it with the new technology necessary for lease management and bringing a new energy to the efficiency. Her grandfather was very open to every change she proposed and she learned many lessons from him, including:
You have to be patient.
You have to have the long view.
Sometimes the best deal you do is the one that isn’t done. Don’t chase it.
The right deal for you will come along.
Understanding the MarketAt Abbell, their portfolio is 75% is retail, and 25% office. However, they are looking to grow the office percentage specifically in Chicago and are excited to have Liz’s new app LayerCake assisting in guiding their development decisions.
LayerCake is changing the way developers and retailers choose their location. It allows a detailed look at the new developments going on in and around the site, as well as how customers behave at the surrounding locations.
“What’s so exciting to us about kind of the big data introduction into this analysis is any market study from the past was driving down the road looking in the rearview mirror because you were always looking at what happened in the census 2 years ago, 5 years ago, 9 years ago… but the predictive analytics component to it of knowing that what people are doing there today likely predicts what they’re going to be doing there tomorrow… is really cool.”
What’s NextLiz reminds us that shopping is behavior and people are creatures of habit. With technology, we have so much more access to information and data on customers that stores are able to tailor what they carry in store according to their customer’s needs and wants.
People used to say retail was dead, but over the last two years, that narrative has changed (despite what the papers may say).
Businesses are discovering that there is a very narrow margin between online and storefronts, and if you want to make money, you need the customer to come into your store.
What they’ve learned is that certain retailers can change the shopper profile. For example, at one mall they added a Target, and that changed the mall from a monthly destination to a weekly destination. Now, they’re focused on creating more of hybrid assets rather than traditional malls, adding external entrances rather than the enclosed mall retailers of the past.
Liz also foresees the convergence of big entertainment venues with shopping malls as something we will see a lot more of in the future.
FulfillmentFor Liz, seeing members of the community at a mall getting all of their needs met in a clean, safe, welcoming space is what fulfills her.
AdviceBe willing to do the job that nobody wants to do.
This episode is made possible by our sponsor JLL. Learn more at jll.com/voices.
Jesse Stein | Global Head of Real Estate at Airbnb
Hamid Moghadam | Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Prologis
Sharon Wilson Géno | President of the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC)
Alice Carr | CEO of April Housing
Francis Najafi | Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pivotal Group
Doug Weill | Co-Founder and Co-Manager of Hodes Weill & Associates
Steve Kimmelman | Founder, CEO and Executive Chairman of Redwood Living
Gary Beasley | CEO and Co-Founder of Roofstock
Brad Inman | Founder of Inman
Michael Covarrubias, Chairman and Co-CEO of TMG Partners | Cyrus Sanandaji, CEO of Presidio Bay Ventures
Mark Zandi | Chief Economist at Moody’s Analytics
Daniel Radek | President of First Washington Realty
Deb Harmon, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Artemis | Anar Chudgar, Co-President of Artemis
Amanda Fajak, President of Walking the Talk | Larry Krema, Managing Director of ZRG
Rick Caruso | Founder and Executive Chairman of Caruso
Stephanie Biernbaum, Chief People Officer of Hines and Doug Holte, CEO of EXP by Hines
Scott Rechler | Chairman and CEO of RXR
Colin Connolly | President and CEO of Cousins Properties
Caroline Johns | Director of Sustainability at Pembroke
Brad Dockser | CEO and Co-Founder of GreenGen
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