REAL ESTATE
{ MULTIFAMILY BUILDERS } CHRIS BROZINA
Executive vice president Mark-Taylor mark-taylor.com
Brozina’s career began at CBRE. He partnered with Tyler Anderson and Sean Cunningham in the brokerage of multifamily assets nationally. While there, the team transacted more than $1.59 billion, consisting of more than 17,300 units in seven states. Brozina joined the state’s largest apartment developer, Mark-Taylor, in 2011. Since then, the company has completed more than $700 million in new development and more than $80 million in site acquisition. Today, he is involved in devising the company’s overall strategy, spanning development, management and acquisition operations. Toughest challenge: “Beginning a career at the start of the Great Recession. There’s no question, it thinned out the industry and provided a ‘right place, right time’ opportunity for myself and a lot of my peers.”
CHAPIN BELL President P.B. Bell Companies pbbell.com
Bell oversees a companywide personnel, accounting, financial analysis and support functions. Bell is also responsible for overseeing development and acquisition activities. To date, Bell has participated in the development of nearly 3,000 multifamily units. Prior to joining P.B. Bell in 1993, Bell was a commercial lending officer and vice president of National City Bank, a major regional financial institution headquartered in Cleveland. He is currently an active board member of the Arizona Multihousing Associatio. His roles at the AMA have included chairman of the board, secretary of the board, finance committee chairman, government affairs committee chairman, AMAPAC chairman, education and trade show committee chairman, and co-chairman of the Big Hands for Little Hearts committee.
BRUCE GRAY
Owner and architect Gray Development Group grayus.com Gray was an architect and land planner in Phoenix before starting Gray Development Group in 1991. The goal was to push the envelope on urban housing density and design to counter sprawl. His company has built 8,000 apartments and condos in the Valley thus far. Gray is now master developer of Desert Ridge and focused on planning and building out the commercial core, as well as high-density infill projects in the Biltmore area and downtown Scottsdale. Childhood aspirations: “I grew up in Boulder, Colo., where developer is a fourletter word, so I pursued architecture by default. It was only after becoming an architect that I realized I wasn’t happy sitting on the other side of the table. Now, I’m doing exactly what I wanted to do as a kid. But when I return to Boulder, I still say I’m an architect.”
BRUCE WARD
Chairman and CEO Alliance Residential Company allresco.com Ward oversees acquisition, development/rehabilitation and property management efforts. Ward and his executive team have acquired or developed 74,000 apartment homes across 27 markets and the company manages a $9 billion portfolio. Toughest challenge: “We haven’t had many challenges, thankfully. The recession of 2008 was tough on a personnel front, but we have grown back to the size we were pre-recession and then some.” Business advice: “Start your career with a high-quality company that has scale and processes in place that you can learn and incorporate into your professional life. ” Childhood aspirations: “I wanted to be a fireman. Today, I’d say it seems to help putting out fires in business today.” Surprising fact: “I grew up in Indonesia and still have a working knowledge of the language.”
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PAT WATTS
Partner Deco Communities decocommunities.com Watts is determined to break the mold of affordable apartment living. With a belief that the surrounding environment has a profound effect on daily attitudes and feelings, Watts guides her company in creating comfortable and relevant home environments that have a positive impact on residents. Business advice: “Look forward, not back. Business models that were successful in the 2000s will not be successful now. All aspects of consumer and economic fundamentals have changed and are still changing, and businesses need to evolve more quickly than ever to adapt.” Childhood aspirations: “I wanted to be a writer. Creating a story from a blank piece of paper seemed like magic to me. And, in a way, designing projects for a vacant piece of land gives me that same sense of magic.”