Mark T. Sonnenberg is Senior Vice President/Principal and director of Industrial Sales and Leasing for Colliers Turley Martin Tucker. He’s been a broker for 12 years, spending a year with Cohen-Esrey before coming to CTMT.
“I am a strong believer in the power of mentoring and teaming,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to have a great mentor who helped me elevate my skill sets and work more quickly that I could have done on my own. I’ve tried to pass those same lessons down to younger brokers in our office.”
Teaming, he said, has become a very important part of the brokerage business over the last decade.
“It is the best way to leverage yourself so you can stay focused on the things you do best and it provides a better service to your clients,” he said. “I have very few clients who believe that one single broker can provide the level of service they are expecting on any given assignment.”
What is the “state of real estate” today?
The local industrial market is still very slow on both leasing and sales. I was lucky enough to broker several deals in different markets outside of Kansas City this past year and there are very few signs of improvement even in many of the first-tier markets. I am optimistic that the local market will start to improve by mid-year.
What’s your game plan for 2010?
Last year was a year of small wins, no real big wins. It was a very tough year. My local brokerage business was way down. Luckily, I had some national tenant rep work that helped weather the storm. Moving into 2010, I think the best place an industrial broker can be is focusing their new business efforts on pursuing owner/user sale listings. In my opinion, this is the best opportunity to make money in 2010 as sellers start to get realistc on the current value of their buildings, and buyers start to take advantage of adjusted pricing. That’s my game plan.
What’s your niche?
Anything industrial fits in my niche. Most of my business right now is coming from three areas — institutional landlord rep, land sales and national tenant rep. Those areas will change over time as the market changes and new opportunities arise.
What’s the market like right now in KC compared to other areas?
The biggest difference between the KC industrial market and most markets we compete with for deals is that KC still has a relatively low vacancy rate. We did not get overbuilt during the last development cycle like most competing markets. Hopefully, this will equate to a quicker transition back to the development cycle. With that said, local deal velocity is still very slow and that needs to pick up before we can start thinking the development cycle.
Tell me a little about yourself and your hobbies.
I have two young sons (Grant, 3, and Crews, 1) so my main hobby is spending time with my family. My wife and I love to travel without the kids when we can pull it off. I am also really focused on losing the 10 plus pounds I just gained eating and drinking my way through the month of December. And contrary to what most brokers think, Mike Sonnenberg (broker with LaSala-Sonnenberg) is not my younger brother. He is my older brother by two years. So please do us a favor and stop hurting his feelings by asking him if he is my younger brother. Honestly, I don’t know why people think I am older, other than that I am taller and better looking.