Colorado Real Estate Journal - February 4, 2015
Everyone wants to know how Cushman & Wakefield of Colorado’s new investment brokerage team will fill the last team’s exceptionally large shoes. The answer is that Jon Hendrickson and Aaron Johnson are going to wear their own shoes. “We want to create our own brand, our own team, our own way of executing the business,” said Hendrickson. Hendrickson’s recent move from Marcus & Millichap to Cushman & Wakefield adds a full-service, global dimension to his 10 years in commercial real estate investment sales. It’s also a chance to build a partnership with Johnson, a longtime friend with a complementary skill set and the same, competitive drive. “One of the attractions to having joined Cushman & Wakefield is I now have a partner in Aaron Johnson and a team that will be able to serve a larger portion of the market,” said Hendrickson, whose expertise is in retail and office investment sales. Johnson brings an ownership perspective, having worked with Etkin Johnson Real Estate Partners and Opus. “That is the combination of skills we can utilize to benefit our clients,” said Hendrickson, noting the team’s relationships span both institutional and private capital clients. Hendrickson, a Minnesota native with a degree in finance and marketing, has done nothing but investment sales since graduating from the University of Iowa and moving to Colorado in 2004. He learned the business from Marcus & Millichap’s Garrette Matlock and can’t imagine a better mentor. “As an investment broker, you have to understand the entire operation of an asset. You have to understand the dynamics of what’s taking place in the leasing market and how that relates to the property. You need to understand what’s going on on the debt and equity side of things,” he said. Hendrickson’s transactions have included the multimillion-dollar sale of a 15-building office/retail portfolio on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, a deal that took two years to complete. “I look at that transaction as a privilege because I was able to work on behalf of an entrepreneur who had compiled one of the most unique portfolios in the Front Range,” he said, adding the deal allowed the seller to maximize the value of his life’s work. He also sold Plante Properties’ collection of historic buildings in Lower Downtown and the Central Platte Valley, and the $10.45 million Riverfront Park retail portfolio. His work has included numerous sales of groceryanchored shopping centers, including the Marketplace at Austin Bluffs in Colorado Springs for more than $33 million and Kipling Marketplace, a $12.45 million transaction that involved two of the nation’s largest retail owners. First and foremost in any transaction is “the outcome that the client is seeking,” said 33-year-old Hendrickson. “The client is interested in two things from us: information and opportunities. They want to understand all aspects of what’s taking place in the market and affecting the value of their property or portfolio, and to have a global, full-service platform behind you gives you the ability to provide more information and more opportunities,” he said. “Clients are seeking more sophisticated insight and analysis,” said Hendrickson, adding the move to Cushman & Wakefield improves upon the quality of information and services he provides to clients. Hendrickson and his wife, Ali, live in Washington Park and enjoy all that Colorado’s lifestyle has to offer. Hendrickson’s pastimes include golf, bicycling and skiing, as well as playing hockey. “I guess I like to compete whether I’m in the office or out of it,” he said.