Doug Pack and Sam Hansen join Avison Young in Houston

Top agency leasing brokers become Principals, will build office project leasing platform

HOUSTON, Dec. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Rand Stephens, Avison Young Principal and Managing Director of the firm's Houston office, announced today that top agency leasing brokers Douglas Pack and Sam Hansen have joined the company.

Effective immediately, Pack and Hansen become Principals of Avison Young with a mandate to form, lead and build the firm's new office project leasing team in Houston. They will work with owners and developers to improve asset value through strategic leasing.

Pack and Hansen bring a combined four decades of commercial real estate experience to Avison Young, most recently as vice-presidents with NAI Partners in Houston.

"Sam and Doug are high-quality professionals who bring great expertise to project leasing in our Houston office," comments Stephens. "Most importantly, they're terrific guys and a great fit for us culturally. We couldn't be more thrilled that they have joined us, and we look forward to helping them take their business to the next level."

Stephens adds: "Their track record of success, reputation and depth of relationships in the industry will be an asset to our team as we continue to extend our reach in the region through a steadfast focus on providing best-in-class client service."

Pack brings 21 years of commercial real estate experience to Avison Young, most recently as an executive vice-president with NAI Partners in Houston. During his career, he has been active in all facets of real estate management and leasing while working to advance project leasing, property management and investment sales. While at NAI Partners, he tripled the office leasing portfolio to 3.8 million square feet (msf) of class A and B office space, and brokered 16 class B office building investment sales, valued in excess of $65 million.

"I am eager to join the Avison Young family as a new Principal," says Pack. "Avison Young provides opportunity for growth unlike any other firm because of its Principal-led structure, local-level management and entrepreneurial work environment."

Pack started his commercial real estate career with Boxer Property in 1994 and held several leadership positions in both leasing and operations with the company. As a key executive with success in both property management and agency leasing, he was responsible for developing Boxer's third-party management and leasing service line, which grew to more than 5 msf during his tenure. He also led all business development and supervised the third-party portfolio, its management and leasing platform, and the asset management team.

In his role as the firm's director of leasing, Pack was responsible for a portfolio encompassing more than 8 msf of assets located across the U.S. The portfolio consisted of office, medical office, retail and multi-family properties. Prior to assuming that position, he was a regional operations director for a portfolio of office buildings in Dallas and Tulsa covering 2 msf of assets. After he implemented the Boxer management and leasing platform, the Tulsa portfolio was sold to a third-party investor. Pack holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from the University of Houston.

Hansen brings 18 years of commercial real estate experience to Avison Young, most recently as a senior vice-president with NAI Partners in Houston. During his career, he has worked primarily as an office landlord leasing agent. During his eight-year tenure with NAI Partners, he built a successful office portfolio of class A and B office buildings. He also assisted NAI Partners in building a successful management platform totaling nearly 4.5 msf of industrial, office and retail properties.

"We were drawn to Avison Young because of the family-like culture and collaborative partnership," notes Hansen. "The firm's client-centric service model and entrepreneurial approach to transaction management provide opportunity to grow our business. We are eager to collaborate with our new colleagues in Houston and the rest of the U.S."

Prior to joining NAI Partners, Hansen worked as a leasing director for 12 years with Hines Interests in Houston, where he was solely responsible for approximately 5 msf of class A, trophy office buildings, including JPMorgan Chase Tower, Williams Tower, and Greenspoint Plaza – ExxonMobil's global headquarters for upstream development and exploration. With Hines, he completed 156 significant office leasing transactions totaling more than 1.85 msf. Representing building owners, he has negotiated leases on behalf of such Fortune 100 companies as ExxonMobil, Wachovia (regional headquarters), Citigroup, Verizon, Merrill Lynch, and Lehman Brothers. He has also completed transactions for such notable tenants as Locke Lord, Breitburn Energy and Williams.

In addition, Hansen was one of the first in the U.S. to complete Hines' advanced technical core program and was part of a pilot project to generate a standardized training program for Hines to deploy worldwide. Hansen holds a Master of Business Administration degree in international management and a Master of Arts degree in Latin American economics from the University of New Mexico; and a Bachelor of Arts degree in liberal arts from the University of North Texas.

Avison Young is the world's fastest-growing commercial real estate services firm. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Avison Young is a collaborative, global firm owned and operated by its principals. Founded in 1978, the company comprises 2,400 real estate professionals in 79 offices, providing value-added, client-centric investment sales, leasing, advisory, management, financing and mortgage placement services to owners and occupiers of office, retail, industrial and multi-family properties.

For further information/comment/photos:

• Sherry Quan, Principal and Global Director of Communications & Media Relations, Avison Young: 604.647.5098; 604.726.0959
• Rand Stephens, Principal and Managing Director, Houston, Avison Young: 713.993.7166
• Douglas Pack, Principal, Avison Young: 713.993.7173
• Sam Hansen, Principal, Avison Young: 713.993.7174
• Earl Webb, President, U.S. Operations, Avison Young: 312.957.7610
• Mark Rose, Chair and CEO, Avison Young: 416.673.4028

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Editors/Reporters
• Please click on links to view and download photos of Douglas Pack and Sam Hansen:
http://www.avisonyoung.com/sites/default/files/content-files/Media_Room/Temp/DougPack.jpg
http://www.avisonyoung.com/sites/default/files/content-files/Media_Room/Temp/SamHansen.jpg

SOURCE Avison Young Commercial Real Estate (BC)

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