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THE PERFECT STORM
Mike
McDonald on commercial real estate sales |
 In
the last five years, Mike McDonald
(MSRE95) has witnessed a global
acceptance of real estate as a true
asset class. "It now sits at the big
table at Thanksgiving dinner," says
McDonald, Director of investment sales
of commercial property at Eastdil
Secured, a real estate investment
banking company and subsidiary of Wells
Fargo.
As real estate has come into its own
as a bonafide investment so has
McDonald’s career. He first got the real
estate bug when he searched for a new
manufacturing site for his employer,
Kimberly Clark. He returned to graduate
school at the Robinson College for his
MSRE, working on the degree at night and
by day as a financial analyst in market
research. In 1997, McDonald joined Ben
Carter and Associates, helping develop
such projects as the $250 million Mall
of Georgia. He joined Eastdil Secured
six years ago, opening its Atlanta
office, which provides sales, financing,
joint venture, entity, and other
transactions. McDonald’s sales portfolio
includes the Atlanta Financial Center in
Buckhead, One Buckhead Plaza, Peachtree
Mall in Columbus, and West Oaks Mall in
Houston, Texas. Last year, McDonald was
at the top of the commercial real estate
game in the Southeast with approximately
$3 billion in sales.
He describes the current climate of
the commercial real estate industry as
"a perfect storm." With low interest
rates and alternative investments such
as the stock market failing to provide
the returns of previous years, there is
a lot of capital out there seeking an
investment, he says. There is an
imbalance now, with not enough supply
for demand.
Today’s perfect storm marks a
monumental shift in the market,
according to McDonald. Nationally 2005
saw sales of commercial real estate
totaling $250 billion. Eastdil Secured
was responsible for approximately $60
billion of those sales.
Last year, McDonald logged more than
100,000 miles on Delta, and despite the
hectic travel schedule, he still took
time to return to the Robinson College
to present case studies and interact
with students. He credits the real
estate program as being an integral part
of his success. With the contacts he
made in the program, he developed
relationships that continue to this day,
with friends on the acquisitions side
buying the properties he sells. The
interpersonal skills he developed and
the discussions between students who
were already working professionals in
the field launched him. Now, in typical
McDonald style, he is doing his part to
make the program "not one of the best,
but the best in the country."
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