Saying goodbye to a real estate legend – Daily News
The commercial real estate industry lost a lion this week. Bill Lee died on April 5th surrounded by a family. We are deeply saddened by our loss, but grateful that Bill no longer suffers and is with the Lord.
Many of you knew Bill, did business with him, and had a great respect for his business prowess. In honor of the life Bill led and the impact it had on our business, I revived a column I wrote in his honor in 2019. Have a good rest, my friend!
I reconnected with Bill during a real estate summit in Las Vegas several years ago. It was great to see Bill and hang out with him for some time. Unfortunately, Bill had been absent from the last summit. And while I missed him, it felt like we had a weekly chat. Bill was legendary, but how did he become legend? My thoughts …
Bill noticed a problem. He was the top guy at Grubb and Ellis before Nixon was a crook. He was the most competitive guy I had ever met. However, Bill realized that competition within the office was detrimental to the good of the office.
He says it like that. “I had a 30,000 square foot listing. A competitor in the cube next to me had an occupant requirement of 30,000 square feet. I didn’t tell him about my listing because I didn’t want him to receive any of the fee. The culture of the office dictated this approach. “
Bill later realized that the “company” was suffering and created a platform that leveraged profit-sharing and rewarded collaboration while promoting competition. That was heady stuff folks. Talk about disrupting the way commercial real estate is advertised. IMPRESSIVE!
Bill had the courage to change. Great, there was a problem. Now Bill had to convince some fellow brokers that change was key to their collective future. Getting brokers to change anything is tantamount to separating related twins.
But Bill, always the persuader, convinced a small group of brothers to follow him into the abyss of the cooperative. John Matus, John Sullivan, Mel Koich, Larry O’Brien, John Vogt, Tom Casey, Dennis Highland, Len Santoro, Bart Pitzer and Bill’s college friend Al Fabiano answered the siren call and left the building.
Bill had a tireless vision. One of the other vintage cars and I wondered how those eleven people in an executive suite in El Toro started a company that now has 65 global offices, nearly 1,200 agents, billions in sales, an international presence and coastline visibility and the best Place in the world to handle commercial real estate. Period!
I asked Bill if he had ever believed in his wildest dreams that the company would one day be this big. He looked at me rather confused and said, “Of course! When we opened your office in Orange, I knew that we were on the way to becoming an international company. “Talk about tireless seeing.
Bill got out of the way. At one point, Bill realized that in order to grow, Lee & Associates had to step back and let the eagle fly. Since he knew Bill as well as I did, this was justified, but the hardest part for him.
Bill co-authored a book called Chasing Excellence, Real Life Stories from the Streets with Craig Coppola, a recent William J. Lee Award-Winner of His Life. It’s available online and in bookstores.
Do you want to become a legend? Just do these four things. Easy right?
Allen C. Buchanan, SIOR, is a Principal at Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services, Orange. He can be reached at [email protected] or 714.564.7104.