Foundry United: Issue 9

2020 HAS BEEN ANYTHING BUT TYPICAL, YET FOUNDRY’S 350+ ASSOCIATES CAME TOGETHER TO REMAIN

FRONT AND CENTERED

WHEN CHALLENGES ARISE, WE

ADAPT AND OVERCOME SUMMER 2020

ISSUE 9

THROUGH IT ALL, FOUNDRY FOUGHT THE ODDS AND CONTINUED TO SERVE WELL DURING

VIRTUAL SERVE WEEK 2020

3/16/20

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3/23/20

3/30/20

4/27/20

5/04/20

5/11/20

6/15/20 Donated by Darlene Squires

6/22/20 Donated by Louis Smart

7/27/20 Donated by Scott Renaud

FOUNDRY UNITED ISSUE 9

4/06/20

4/13/20

5/18/20 Donated by Julie Augustyn

6/01/20

4/20/20 Donated by Ford Gibson

6/08/20

Early on, most of us thought the shelter-in-place mandates would be short-lived; however, as the impacts of the coronavirus continued for months, it became clear we would need to hold Town Halls virtually for the foreseeable future. It’s no secret Paul Ellis is a big-time Gator fan, but - like us all during this strange time - he donned many hats. In his case, literally. Special thanks to those who sent hats to Paul to change things up every so often.

8/31/20 Donated by the Nashville Office

8/31/20 Donated by Monica Kapiloff

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“In times of crisis, the wise build bridges while the foolish build barriers.”

Wakanda Forever – Prince T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman, November 29, 1976 - August 28, 2020)

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FOUNDRY UNITED ISSUE 9

A LETTER AF R L EOTM TER P AFURLO M P A U L E L L I S Wakanda Forever My son, Hayden, and I have a tradition; it started when he was 12 and lives on even now as a 24-year-old. Whenever a Marvel movie comes out we must see it on opening weekend, only in certain theaters (RPX sound system is preferred), and Jordan, his sister, isn’t allowed as this is our tradition (although she was recently allowed in after she watched all of the movies, in order, and passed a test). This has lasted for the entire series. When he was away at college, he would come home for those opening weekends so we could keep the streak alive.

Traditions are important and when the current series finished with Endgame, Hayden and I were genuinely moved; we realized that we had invested 12 years in this together. We were standing in the kitchen after the last movie, which was so welldone and emotional, and he broke the silence, “Dad, what are we going to do with our lives now?” I felt the same way.

Of all the movies, Endgame and Black Panther were our favorites, and when Chadwick Boseman passed away, it was like a gut punch. Chadwick was part of our tradition, and he is a stellar, too young, too talented man to die this early (you should read his full story). And I said, when I heard the news, like I think many of us have said over the last several months… “2020 just sucks!”

Think about it. As I talked about during the Summit, this year started out with the death of my fraternity brother and the news about Kobe Bryant. It is just hard to see straight right now - a pandemic, civil unrest, and racial injustice playing out on our screens, and all during an election season. It is easy to get depressed right now, to feel bogged down. Initially I liked the 5-foot commute I have every morning… but now, not so much.

Then I remembered.

I am writing this after I took a walk this morning. I had a good work-out, the sun was just over the horizon, and my quarantine puppy was next to me. I was happy to be enjoying the morning, that I had the gift of life today, and I remembered that the best I can do is to truly live and enjoy today with all my heart and all my soul and to love my neighbor as myself. I believe you have to have a worldview that helps you interpret what is going on.

Mine says that yes, 2020 does suck, it doesn’t gloss over it, but it also says to look below the surface; don’t stop digging in where everyone else stops. There are things going on that aren’t always what they appear.

Yes, there is unrest and a history in this country that we are not proud of and we need to learn from, and it isn’t always playing out in front of us in a civil manner. But we are talking about the issue; don’t just look at the worst examples of any

side of this as there are many people who are engaging in the discussion in a thoughtful way.

Yes, we have a pandemic; there are tragic losses of lives. All that has to happen is someone close to you gets the virus, and your perspective changes. But we will have a stronger healthcare system as a result, and we will care for our most vulnerable better than we ever have before. Remote working will be a part of our lives going forward, and can actually allow us to work really hard AND spend more time with our families… in some sense, we have been searching for this all our careers!

And at Foundry, we started 2020 off with the celebration of recapitalizing the company, but within 30 days had re-built our business plan, had to part with associates that we care about, and hunkered down. Now, 6 months later, we look up and we are in the strongest financial position we have ever been in, poised for significant growth over the next 24 months, launching a healthcare business, and simply doing things and talking about opportunities that I did not think we would be talking about during a recession! And in some sense, the stories inside this issue are the reason why.

You deserve all the credit. Everyone started investing very quickly in what was happening. Dropping issues, having fun, working as one team, focused on serving our clients. All right out of our mission statement and core principles. I have talked about many of those efforts on Town Halls, so I won’t go into that here, but man it is humbling to look through these pages and see not only all that you have done… but more importantly, HOW you have done it. I might say that many of you have leaned in with all your heart, and you have loved each other and those we serve just as you wish to be loved, especially during a difficult time.

That also doesn’t take away from how hard this year has been, and it still is. We know it, and we are all going through different and personal challenges right now, our Raleigh office experienced the loss of Matt Gilliam and others have lost family members during this season. Try and remember that the best you can do is to focus on today, give it your best, get back up after being knocked down, give thanks for what you do have, and we all have a lot to be thankful for right now.

And remember this: “In times of crisis, the wise build bridges while the foolish build barriers.”

– Prince T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) P.S. Black Widow comes out in November; Hayden and I will be there.

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CONTENTS

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BY THE NUMBERS Even though the places from where we’ve been conducting business are a little more spread out than we’re used to, productivity numbers at Foundry have risen to all-time highs.

10 A BLENDED APPROACH Amidst the backdrop of a global health crisis, Foundry’s Human Capital and Marketing Leadership teams learned how to lean on one another more than ever.

14 IT’S {MORE} PERSONAL We’ve always been proud of our strong relationships, but this season really underscored why we strive for such closeness.

16 M O V I N G F O R WA R D , DESPITE SETBACKS In the Nashville market, we reflect on the ‘double whammy’ of a devastating tornado followed closely by a global pandemic.

20 FRONT AND CENTERED This season didn’t come without challenges, but they were met with can-do attitudes, smiles, and hard work.

Justin Ruby reading to his daughters for Foundry Story Time Orlando, FL

25 SEEING IT THROUGH Against all odds, Foundry’s Jacksonville team forged ahead as a global health crisis threatened business as usual.

26 WHEN CHALLENGES ARISE, WE ADAPT AND OVERCOME When being different really matters.

Frantz Blanchard, front-line engineer 525 N Tryon Charlotte, NC

28 R E L AT I O N S H I P S M AT T E R As Jimmy Grisham retires, we look back at the great impact he’s made at Foundry Commercial.

32 G R E AT R V A D V E N T U R E S Even vacations looked a bit different this year. Foundry’s President of Real Estate Services, Gregg Ickes, and family hit the open road for an impromptu RV trip.

Lunch and Learn with Rick Frazier

34 VIRTUAL SERVE WEEK When the world went virtual, Serve Week was no exception. Take a look at how Foundry’s associates still came together to serve others in not-so-traditional ways.

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FOUNDRY UNITED ISSUE 9

O U R C U LT U R E P R E VA I L S Even in the midst of turbulent times, there’s always something to smile about.

Hannah Chittum serves up some toilet paper on day two of Virtual Serve Week to Carlin Beekman and husband Michael during the toilet paper shortage Orlando, FL

Jimmy Johnson and Tim Kilkelly Tampa, FL

Yoga with Maxine Messina Charlotte, NC

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TIM E

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FOUNDRY UNITED ISSUE 9

155

EBLAS TS DESIG NED

94

COV ID-19 SIGN S DESI GNE D

75

VIDE OS CREATED

45

PROP OSAL S

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ADO BE SPA RK PAG ES

$570M

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BROKERAGE TRANSACTION VALUE

REBRA NDS

RELIGIOUS, E D U C AT I O N A N D N O T- F O R - P R O F I T

323K SF

R E TA I L

2.5M SF

7.7M

SQUARE FEET OF LEASING & MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENTS

INDUSTRIAL

3.6M SF

OFFICE

1.3M SF

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BLENDED APPROACH Foundry’s Human Capital and Marketing Leadership teams learned how to lean on one another.

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hile the industry we work within may indicate we work in a business dealing primarily in real estate, it’s safe to say that Foundry’s associates all truly work in a business where people are the real focus.

Clients. Colleagues. Partners. One another.

When you boil it down to the very core, we serve people.

In some of Foundry’s departments and functions, the focus on people is a little more abstract, but for the associates working in Foundry’s Marketing Leadership and Human Capital departments, their day-to-day concentration is often very clearly focused on the people who make this business continue to run. From associate on-boarding to social media posts, from managing the logistics of maternity leaves to launching video conference platforms, and – more recently – from rolling out work-from-home guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic to generating video tours of available properties for potential tenants, Foundry’s Marketing Leadership and Human Capital teams have used this season of distancing to come even closer together.

For quite some time, it has been the vision of Brandy Garnero, Managing Director of Human Capital, and Nick McKinney, Chief Strategy Officer, to integrate the two departments in ways that would further the reach and capabilities of those on their teams.

For this issue of Foundry United, we sat down with them to learn more about how that vision became a reality.

WHAT INITIALLY SPARKED INTEREST IN DOING MORE TO INTEGRATE THE MARKETING LEADERSHIP AND HUMAN CAPITAL TEAMS AT FOUNDRY? BRANDY: Nick and I have always worked really well together, which is fortunate because we find ourselves working together frequently. There’s always been a great synergy between the Human

Capital and Marketing Leadership teams; you can even sense it when Nick and I talk to each other about our day-to-day plans and the larger strategy of growing the company. For some time, it has been apparent that the next logical step as we grow is to better integrate our teams.

NICK: If you think about the functions of our respective roles, we both focus a lot of our time and energy on the people we serve… whether that be inside or outside the organization.

Further, based on all of the trends and research we’re seeing in our respective industry segments, it appears that marketing / strategy and human capital / talent development are becoming more and more blended, harking back to that concept that it’s people who are at the core of what both departments do. The structures of our respective departments are also very similar, and the associates on our teams had already been working together in some form or fashion for quite some time. Finding a way to build upon this existing collaboration was actually one of my objectives heading into 2020.

SOME MIGHT ARGUE THAT YOU – AND YOUR TEAMS – WERE BUSIER THAN EVER AS THE COMPANY TRIED TO NAVIGATE HOW TO FUNCTION IN THE MIDST OF A GLOBAL PANDEMIC. WHY NOW? NICK: Ha! I’m not sure anyone could argue that! Since it became clear that we’d need to scale the way the entire company was working to account for a global pandemic, I’m pretty sure neither Brandy nor I have stopped long enough to take a deep breath. (For what it’s worth, I’m also pretty sure just about everyone in the company has worked harder than ever; it’s not just us.) As I mentioned earlier, the closer integration of Marketing Leadership and Human Capital was already an objective I set out to achieve this year, and while many of my team’s goals have had to shift due to the pandemic, this was one that we could throw ourselves into and make it a reality – a really well-oiled-machine type of reality.

BRANDY: There’s that old proverb that says: “Necessity is the mother of all invention.” We knew early on that we were going to need to lean on each other more than we ever had before. As things were evolving at lightning-speed, we needed to find ways to expand our individual teams, to help lighten others’ loads when work demands were becoming too much for a single person, and to use our respective areas of expertise and experience to help guide us through a period of time that essentially had no guidebook.

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOU FACED ALONG THE WAY, AND HOW DID YOUR TEAMS OVERCOME THEM? NICK: I’d say that the greatest challenge we faced – and honestly, continue to face – is the ever-changing nature of this situation. We have the difficult task of developing protocols and processes to keep our associates safe and productive, even when the resulting processes are not the most popular choices.

Brandy Garnero Managing Director of Human Capital

Director, Human Capital

Hannah Chittum Graphic Designer, Marketing Leadership

Emily Giordano Associate, Human Capital

Lauren Leetun Director of PR, Marketing Leadership

Lauren Marquess Sr. Digital Marketing Associate, Marketing Leadership

Brittney Wimberly Brand Manager, Marketing Leadership

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Nick McKinney Orlando, FL

NICK: We overcame these challenges by spending several days together on video chat. Like 7 - 8 days, back-to-back on video calls with one another day-in and day-out to ensure we were sifting through all of the data and eventually developing a comprehensive plan, communicating the various elements of that plan, and implementing that plan throughout the entire platform. Also, I’m sure it’s not a secret that Brandy and I are very passionate about ensuring the culture of our organization continues to be front-and-center. We love spending time on building cultural tissue such as virtual yoga, Story Time, Foundry Feast, happy hours, and such. It’s difficult to lead those fun culture initiatives, though, while also having the responsibility of being the COVID police. Early in the pandemic, we recruited “Corona Captains” (also known as “Comeback Captains”) in each market to help us. We knew that our teams would need to recruit others within the markets given the fluidity and complexity of the situation. They have been extremely helpful in managing all things COVID. Without them, we would definitely be underwater.

BRANDY: I agree with the challenges Nick mentioned, and I would add that for both of us, this has been an incredibly personal season… even more than usual. What I mean by that is that every day, we are connecting and talking with associates who are dealing with being sick or taking care of someone who is sick. We have some associates struggling with how to care for their families, and many are parents who are doing their best to try and make decisions around what school looks like for kids this Fall. Each person’s situation is very unique, and they all need something different from us. For me, it has been hard to see our people struggle, but at the same time, I am also grateful that people have trusted us enough to share what is going on in their worlds. In so many ways, it has deepened many of my relationships throughout the company.

I chose Human Capital as a profession because I ultimately wanted to be able to help people. And that reason remains true today 20+ years later in the middle of a global pandemic, even if that does mean some seasons are more challenging than others.

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As things were evolving at lightningspeed, we needed to find ways to expand our individual teams, to help lighten others’ loads when work demands were becoming too much for a single person.

Brandy Garnero Managing Director of Human Capital, Foundry Commercial

IN A SENTENCE OR TWO, DESCRIBE HOW YOU WERE ABLE TO BETTER INTEGRATE THE MARKETING LEADERSHIP AND HUMAN CAPITAL FUNCTIONS AT FOUNDRY DURING THIS TIME. BRANDY: It probably sounds cliché, but communication was key to making this work. We settled into weekly check-in calls, where we talked openly about what needed to be done, who could efficiently make those things happen, and who would need to be working with whomever else to prioritize those tasks.

Getting onto the same page came very quickly for our teams, and we were able to get so much more done because of it.

NICK: At Foundry, we’re very fortunate to work in an environment that encourages creativity and collaboration.

Without that baseline – without the foundational sense that we all had going into this that we’d all come out on the other side better because of it – I don’t think it would have worked as well.

There’s great comfort in knowing that the company was built upon partnerships and integrations such as these.

Kevin Will and Danielle Powell, Corona Captains Orlando, FL

Kristin Shearer, Foundry Story Time Atlanta, GA

OVERALL, WOULD YOU CONSIDER THIS TIME INVESTED IN BETTER CONNECTING THE HUMAN CAPITAL AND MARKETING FUNCTIONS AT FOUNDRY WORTHWHILE? ANY ADDITIONAL PLANS FOR THE NEAR-TERM? BRANDY: Absolutely; I think we learned that we can be more effective and more efficient if these teams are working more closely together. I know we plan to continue to hold the regular calls so that we are all on the same page and working together more cohesively into the future. Guess you can check-off that objective from your 2020 goals as a successful one, Nick!

Melissa Alexander, Yoga with Maxine Nashville, TN

NICK: This has been an incredibly tough time in the life of our company, our people, our partners, our country, and the entire planet. I don’t want to minimize what a struggle this time period has been for most of us. At Foundry, we’re so interconnected all the time, so to throw us into a situation where we were only communicating by video conference or were picking up our phones in a panic at 6:00 p.m. some nights to ask our teams to get to work on a task that needed to be completed right away… it has been very hard at times. But there is no one else I would have rather walked with through this season than those who are “in the thick of it” with us. The time spent better integrating our teams was absolutely worthwhile, and I think the company will continue to experience the positive impacts of this for many years to come.

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} e r o m { ’ s t I l a n o s r e P John Quincy Adams famously stated: “Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.”

COVID-19 has certainly forced us to come faceto-face with some harsh realities, but it has also opened up some extraordinary opportunities to get to know our clients better.

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arly on, when the pandemic was forcing many Americans to move their offices from large towers to dining room tables, many of us were understandably shaken. Not only were we being told to physically shelter in place, but the widespread panic caused by the rapid spread of COVID-19 was taking an emotional toll as well. No one was immune to this; least of all many of our clients who live and work in dense urban centers. Life as we knew it was completely upside-down, and there was no telling what our ‘new normal’ would look like and when we could expect to return to it. It’s during times like these that Foundry – so foundationally committed to building relationships – really shines.

Knowing we’ve built our business to ensure ‘boots on the ground’ knowledge in each of our markets, Foundry’s clients depend on us for real-time market intelligence. With that in mind, we strategically designed client touch-base calls to include representatives on the line from every aspect of our platform – from senior leadership to market analysis, from D&I to property management, and just about every department in between.

There would be no one person leading all the calls, or any one of the calls for that matter. One of the defining aspects that sets Foundry Commercial apart is our capacity for identifying and unleashing great talent among a vast array of expertise. Each Foundry representative on those calls took 4 – 5 minutes to share the latest news and best practices happening in their respective corner of the business – all in direct relation to the markets our clients served – and then we proceeded to have an honest and open dialogue with our clients.

“We are a relatively small team covering many markets, so it was really important to be able to lean on a partner that could offer this sort of in-depth and real-time insight,” said Travis Garland, Director of Leasing, Portman Holdings. “Foundry reached out early in the pandemic – in fact, I think this call was one of the first I participated in where I could actually see everyone’s faces – and it was extraordinarily beneficial to get on the line, hear from people in so many different facets of the industry, and to have a better idea of how the virus was impacting markets beyond what I could immediately tell from my own perspective.”

We thought we might have trouble filling an hour of time before hosting the first call. But it became apparent almost immediately that our clients were thirsty for this kind of conversation.

They craved a sense of normalcy. Even though they were taking these calls from their makeshift dining room offices or even from the foot of their beds, they wanted to lean into our market intelligence, if even for a few moments. They needed that touchpoint from outside their own four walls.

It has been easy to joke about a shift to Zoom or Teams calls and all the resulting hilarity that ensues, but it’s also important to stop and acknowledge just how much access these platforms grant us. We’re seeing clients – in some instances – at their most vulnerable. We’re being granted the privilege of entering their homes, seeing how they are dressed and how they interact in this very personal space, and there’s really something to be said for just how personal our connections became during this time.

With so many of our clients located in large, metropolitan cities – the municipalities that had to take the most extreme precautions due to how dense their populations are – life looked very different for them, very abruptly. Many experienced a complete shift in their day-to-day priorities. Days that once involved a three-hour commute into and out of a city now included home-schooling two or three elementary-aged students.

The hustle and bustle of back-to-back meetings was juxtaposed against a new backdrop of being able to watch a seemingly endless and frightening media flurry about a virus sweeping the world. In a way, these client calls became therapeutic for everyone involved, giving our team a set of clear directives regarding what we needed to bring to the conversation, and giving our clients an outlet amongst trusted friends and personal connections to ask questions, share concerns, and to just exhale for a moment or two.

While I don’t think I’d ever wish a global pandemic on our society again, I am grateful for the opportunity we have been given to get to know our clients even better during these difficult times. It would have probably been much simpler to put our heads down, do our jobs, and ride the wave of the pandemic until we felt comfortable coming up for air. But that’s never been who Foundry is. By our nature, we are social creatures and we’re constantly looking for ways to better serve others. To have been afforded the opportunity to connect with our clients in a more meaningful way, even if a pandemic did push us toward this atypical engagement… I’m glad we had the opportunity at all. Because now, It’s {More} Personal than ever before.

Foundry reached out early in the pandemic – in fact, I think this call was one of the first I participated in where I could actually see everyone’s faces – and it was extraordinarily beneficial to get on the line, hear from people in so many different facets of the industry, and to have a better idea of how the virus was impacting markets beyond what I could immediately tell from my own perspective.

d n a l r a Travis G Travis Garland Director of Leasing, Portman Holdings

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GERMANTOWN

FIVE POINTS

MOVING FORWARD, DESPITE SETBACKS 16 FOUNDRY UNITED ISSUE 9

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e’ve used the word “grit” to describe Foundry’s Nashville team on more than one occasion, yet the description has probably never been more accurate than it is in 2020. For many of us, the first few months of this year are all but a distant memory. However, just as a quick reminder, there were a few months when COVID-19 didn’t dictate every aspect of our lives. Thinking back to them now, they almost seemed blissful. But that wasn’t the case in all our markets.

On the night of March 2 and into the early morning hours of March 3, a line of deadly tornadoes tore through Middle Tennessee. Even the National Weather Service was caught off-guard. As a Washington Post article reporting on the tornadoes stated, “Touching down under the cloak of darkness, the funnels voraciously shredded buildings and infrastructure in their path, claiming at least 24 lives and laying siege to entire neighborhoods.”

Two of those hardest-hit neighborhoods – located within Nashville proper – were East Nashville and Germantown.

Associate Ally Lanahan lives in East Nashville, and Senior Vice President Andrew Maxwell resides in Germantown.

“Being from the West Coast, I’m used to earthquakes and thought tornadoes aren’t really a big threat in Nashville since we’re located within a valley,” Lanahan stated. “The morning after, walking down to the Five Points area just a few blocks from my home, I realized just how wrong that assumption was. It looked like a warzone there.”

Maxwell shared similar sentiments: “We [Andrew and his wife] could see only minor damage on the night the tornadoes hit from our roof deck. It wasn’t until the following morning when we realized just how close of a call it had been. There were portions of the Germantown community that were completely devastated.”

LOOKING FOR SILVER LININGS Long considered a welcoming community for those trying to break into the music industry, Nashville has gained a reputation as a melting pot of many different cultures and people. It is perhaps this sense of community that helped make Nashvillians so resilient in the face of such adversity.

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“In general, Nashville is a super generous place. The people of Nashville are very accepting of and welcoming to outsiders. That’s really how our city has come to prosper,” added Maxwell. “This tornado event made it abundantly clear just how resilient, generous, and supportive Nashville is.”

TOUCHING DOWN UNDER THE CLOAK OF DARKNESS, THE FUNNELS VORACIOUSLY SHREDDED BUILDINGS AND INFRASTRUCTURE IN THEIR PATH, CLAIMING AT LEAST 24 LIVES AND LAYING SIEGE TO ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOODS. Washington Post

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Although his neighborhood had so many downed trees and power lines that they were cut off from downtown, Maxwell made his way into the Foundry Nashville office the next morning. There, after all the local associates learned they had remained safe during the storms, they turned their attention to what they could do to help others who had not been as fortunate. He mentioned his plans to stop at Wal-Mart that afternoon to pick up supplies for neighbors that needed more assistance, and the Foundry Nashville team quickly mobilized to help him collect donations that could be used to buy those supplies. Maxwell laughed a little as he realized that visit to Wal-Mart was probably one of the last shopping trips he made before needing to don a face mask.

DOUBLE WHAMMY “It can be all-consuming when you see so much devastation all around you. We weren’t necessarily looking ahead to what the coronavirus might mean for us when there was so much that needed to be done immediately in our community,” added Lanahan.

However, it was a mere two weeks later that shelter-at-home edicts started to trickle out of state, county, and city leaders, as the country came to grips with the quick spread of a global pandemic. While some headway had been made to rebuild and recuperate losses from the tornadoes, progress certainly slowed as entire states slowed to a near stand-still in an effort to flatten the curve.

Maxwell notes, though, that it wasn’t necessarily the worst timing. “As we came to terms with the fact that a pandemic was going to be shutting down businesses and commerce around the country, there was already a sense of resilience that had built up throughout Nashville. We understand what it takes to rebuild, and we’ll lean even harder on that spirit of tenacity coming out of both these challenges.”

“This tornado event made it abundantly clear just how resilient, generous, and supportive Nashville is.�

Andrew Maxwell Senior Vice President, Foundry Commercial

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F RO N T & CENTERED THIS SEASON DIDN’ T COME WITHOUT CHALLENGES, BUT THEY WERE MET WITH CAN-DO AT TITUDES, SMILES, AND HARD WORK.

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he exact timing was different for each of us… that moment when we ultimately grasped that COVID-19 was going to change our lives in some way. For some, that moment occurred when we learned we would be responsible for one end of a distance learning equation. For others, it happened when an upcoming conference or business trip was cancelled. And for others still, we knew it was serious when an entire sports league determined they would need to scrap the season. But for those at Foundry whose jobs revolve around the day-to-day nuances of building operations and the safety of the individuals who occupy those buildings, the moments leading up to bracing for impact came a bit earlier.

“With so much of our operations focused within the southeastern United States and in Texas, we’ve obviously prepared for our fair share of emergencies in the past. And we’ve gone through preparedness planning and training before, but it was clear pretty early on that the coronavirus was behaving much differently than anything we’d encountered before, so we had to be able to pivot rapidly,” said Scott Renaud, Principal and Chief Operating Officer.

The term “front-line employee” became common nomenclature almost overnight as workforces throughout the globe quickly came to grips with a striking dichotomy between those who were asked to work from home in order to help flatten the curve and those who needed to continue their job functions

on-site in order to keep operations – and thus, the economy – running as close to normal as possible.

“There was almost a palpable feeling of relief when the associates who work so hard at these properties learned they would be able to continue to serve in their same capacities,” added Cary Fronstin, Partner and Director of Management.

“If an associate was in a role that necessitated they be at a property in order to keep the tenants safe, they truly embraced that responsibility. We may have had to adjust shifts to mitigate risk or modify the ways in which our managers and engineers were completing certain tasks, but they were all in and it’s been really humbling to be a part of that.”

For Foundry Commercial, these associates working on the front line had responsibilities and titles spanning real estate manager to building engineer, from controller to project manager, and many roles and titles in between. And while some were as new to the industry and their positions as two months, while others were as tenured as 25 years, not one expressed any hesitation when asked if they would still be able to perform their job functions as property managers, building engineers, real estate managers, facilities managers and maintenance staff, directors, and so many more.

It has been repeated often by many Foundry team members, clients, and vendors that these front-line associates’ overwhelming willingness to jump in and lead efforts at their properties, and on behalf of the larger company during such an unprecedented time, was both awe-inspiring and eternally appreciated.

Leading the day-to-day planning and the process development – starting as far back as the first of the year – were Scott Renaud, Principal and Chief Operating Officer; Cary Fronstin, Partner, Executive Vice President- Building Management; and Scott Langley, Senior Director of Building Management. The three began talking almost daily in early January as they heard rumblings about a highly infectious and serious virus spreading throughout China. Having experienced the preparations necessary during the SARS and H1N1 epidemics, they thought it might be best to at least start discussing the potential that this new virus could impact operations in the U.S.

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Rick Nelms, Kirk Piranio, John Jackson, and Malcolm Lee Old Parkland, Dallas, TX

FOUNDRY REALLY EMERGED AS AN INDUSTRY LEADER DURING THIS TIME. Scott Langley Senior Director of Building Management, Foundry Commercial

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Over time, as it became increasingly apparent that social distancing measures were going to need to be put into effect and many Americans would be asked to work remotely, Fronstin, Langley, and Renaud took charge of the operational efforts to safely transition properties, watching closely as national, state and local governments released guidelines that impacted every building, every tenant, and even every employee of every tenant differently. And while all three agreed that they didn’t have a specific playbook at the ready for COVID-19, they felt their combined experience, individual strengths, and years of training leading up to this moment helped make them wellprepared to lead the property and project management operations necessary to not only survive this season – but to stand out as industry leaders focused on serving clients, tenants, partners, and associates during this time as well.

“It’s a great testament to Foundry’s leadership that everyone really trusts one another, allowing us to remain nimble and formulate plans tailored for individual markets and properties so we could respond in real-time to what each tenant and each project needed,” said Scott Langley. “Foundry really emerged as an industry leader during this time.

We’ve received numerous calls and e-mails from clients, from peers in the industry, from tenants who shared that Foundry really got it right in terms of our planning, the resulting processes and procedures, and the critical communications happening alongside those processes.”

MEETING THE CHALLENGES Due to the very nature of the pandemic, Foundry’s property and project management associates were challenged in ways they had never been before. In addition, our client accounting teams were challenged with continuing all critical services with no lapse in service.

Fortunately, elements from emergency preparedness plans, building safety drills, and technology integration exercises had long been a part of the operations team’s annual implementation plans, allowing the team to seamlessly adapt when the spread of the coronavirus dictated it was necessary. The uniqueness of a global pandemic didn’t come without its own set of challenges, however.

“We had to figure out to how to instantly change our properties and Foundry’s workplace, and we knew so little about how COVID-19 acted or spread,” said Scott Renaud. “Early on, we were trying to determine how to implement changes in case it

Errol Woodham and Kysent Lewis Sawgrass Lake Center Sunrise, FL

spread to the United States, while still performing our regular functions. Soon thereafter we weren’t planning for an if, but a when, and we were rolling out enhanced safety procedures and building management measures for properties in a variety of locations – many which were under different phases of lockdown and social distancing measures. It was a huge undertaking.”

“It felt a bit like a constantly moving target,” added Scott Langley. “Even when reopening measures started to go into effect, they were different for every market. There was a lot of eagerness on the part of tenants to get a plan from our building and property management teams to serve as the basis for their own workplace reentry plans.”

IMPACTS FAR AND WIDE While there were a number of global and national health organizations as well as industry associations disseminating information and recommendations, the unknown nature of COVID-19 made it difficult to know exactly what the U.S. was facing. Fortunately, since Foundry’s operations teams had started to prepare at the beginning of the year, they had the foresight to order supplies and start to put together communications plans ahead of many others in the industry.

“We heard from a few clients in early March that Foundry’s messaging and plans were clear, concise, and appreciated, and that we were communicating faster than what they were hearing from others in the industry,” added Scott Renaud.

As many companies across the nation were informing their workforces they would need to start working remotely, there was a lot of fear and trepidation around what the implications would be for their office spaces, on their ability to complete their jobs, and to their bottom lines.

In line with our “It’s Personal” mantra, Foundry’s property managers, engineers, and others working on the front line became a calming voice of reason to tenants and building owners, sharing detailed plans and policies that were rooted in fact, and were created after a thorough review of the hundreds of

documents and recommendations coming out of industry associations, health departments, the WHO, the CDC, and other governing agencies.

“We heard early and often how much our efforts and our continuous communications were appreciated, and how Foundry was one of the leaders in the industry in devising and implementing plans,” added Cary Fronstin. “One of the most surprising byproducts of this whole experience has been the amount of collaboration resulting from a common threat.

Organizations that would typically be considered competitors and may not traditionally want to reveal their ‘trade secrets’ are working hand-in-hand to share best practices and to get through this together.”

Leif Skeibrok 8080 Dallas, TX

From industry peers to tenants, from clients and investment partners to colleagues in other industries, Foundry has been regarded as a leader during this time of chaos, and it’s a testament to the collaborative, agile team assembled, ready to respond and act no matter the circumstances.

HOLDING THE (FRONT) LINE Without the leadership of Foundry’s operations team – and without their collective experience and calm approach while the rest of the world was feeling fairly panicked about what the pandemic meant for our everyday lives – it’s safe to say that Foundry Commercial’s property management, client accounting and

Left to Right: Alex Freeman, Chip Howell, Barry Lawrence, Lee Biggerstaff, Kenny Davis and John Powell.

Water Ridge Office Park, Charlotte, NC

project management teams in locations throughout the U.S. would not have felt as safe, confident, and empowered in their own leadership to quickly implement the necessary procedural changes within the properties where they are assigned.

Likewise, tenants, property owners, and clients would not have felt the comfort of the safety net provided by Foundry’s industryleading communications and processes.

Scott Langley and Scott Renaud shared their calm responses to the quickly evolving operational shifts at this time could – in part – be attributed to the training each received in the military. Both recalled the importance of gathering all the facts of a situation before jumping to conclusions or making rash decisions – a skill that has been extremely useful during such uncertain times.

And while it seems a bit premature to claim any victory over the chain reactions of a global pandemic that’s certain to have implications for years to come, in some small way it feels like Foundry Commercial can raise a flag and claim victory in the face of extreme adversity.

For so many reasons, this is possible because of the team that held the line…

...FROM THE FRONT LINES. 23

THE A -TEAM WHEN THE GOING GOT TOUGH, FOUNDRY’S CLIENT REPORTING ACCOUNTING TEAM STEPPED UP TO THE CHALLENGE.

The notion of a ‘front-line employee’ has taken on new meaning this year; most think of first responders, grocery store clerks, and other professionals who must be on-site to complete their jobs. At Foundry, front-line associates serve in many capacities throughout the company, yet the ones we probably first think about are engineers and others in property management functions. Unless we really consider the critical processes involved in the dayto-day operations of our business, we might not recall that there are a number of associates in Client Reporting (CR) Accounting roles that have definitely served on the front lines throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Comprised of nearly 40 people and five distinct specialty groups (accounting, A/R, A/P, lease administration, and treasury), Foundry’s CR Accounting team manages more than 300 properties in coordination with property managers.

Each accounting associate oversees a portfolio between 13 and 28 properties, dependent upon the size and scope of the assets under management as well as the complexity involved in reporting to ownership.

Over the years, Foundry’s reporting process has become well-known and well-respected as one that is meticulous and systematic. Foundry’s monthly accounting reports help owners understand exactly what’s taking place at their properties, so they can act upon that intelligence in real-time. In fact, as the months wore on and the coronavirus exposed the vulnerabilities of others in the industry, Foundry was contacted by several existing clients and awarded additional property management assignments due in large part to Foundry’s ability to deliver thorough reports on time.

“Our system is deadline-driven, and our team works seamlessly to meet those deadlines, so our clients receive 24 FOUNDRY UNITED ISSUE 9

their reports on time. The functions of our CR team revolve around and lead up to delivering these comprehensive, real-time reports on a monthly basis,” stated Mary Beth Paris, Controller.

“We have a tremendously talented group of people working here; I call them the ‘A’ team. Everyone does their part, meets their deadlines, and pitches in to help one another when they can see a colleague is overwhelmed.”

When it became obvious that COVID-19 would shift the majority of Foundry’s associate-base to remote working environments, the CR Accounting team acted quickly to determine which associates on the team would need to report to the office regularly in order to continue to fulfill their job responsibilities.

For many on the team, they would be joining most of the country in moving their jobs into home office settings. For others, whose roles impacted the team’s ability to deploy reports by deadlines, there were times it was necessary to be at the office to receive mail, organize records, scan checks, and make deposits.

“Our system had to continue working, so we figured out how to keep it running. Sometimes that meant operating in shifts, and sometimes that meant taking on tasks outside our typical job responsibilities,” added Paris. “Our team takes great pride in the reports we deliver to clients, so there was never a question of whether we’d get it done.

We knew we would make it happen.”

Members of Foundry’s CR A-team were joined on the front lines by their coworkers from our Tax and D&I teams.

Left Photo: Ann Peery, Najuina Challenger, Aarin Fine, Rayanne Charles and Sovanna Duong toasted the team during a socially distant happy hour.

Right Photo: Wilma Esponda, Michele Hochreiter, Ashley Ball, Maria Linares, Maria Duarte and Darlene Squires celebrating Maria Linares and her baby boy, Samuel.

Orlando, FL

WE HAVE A TREMENDOUSLY TALENTED GROUP OF PEOPLE WORKING HERE; I CALL THEM THE ‘A’ TEAM. Mary Beth Paris Controller, Foundry Commercial

SEEING IT THROUGH

Against all odds, Foundry’s Jacksonville team forged ahead as a global health crisis threatened business as usual.

A

s with all the markets in which Foundry operates, Jacksonville has its own unique attributes and subtleties, and the Jacksonville team – as with most other Americans – suspected the impacts of COVID-19 would be shortlived. “There were a lot of uncertainties surrounding the coronavirus, but it was our impression – especially considering how spread-out the market is – that it would blow over in a few weeks and we’d return to normal,” said Mark Scott, SIOR, Senior Vice President. “Imagine our surprise when – months later – we’re all still experiencing the effects. Yet, we feel honored to know our clients still depend on us to help them with their real estate needs. It has been important to put our heads together and continue to move forward.”

Hailing from New York and having worked a few blocks from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Senior Vice President Andrew Hawkins brings a different perspective to the experience of working through a global pandemic. “Obviously, these are two very different scenarios, but the common denominator is the sense of uncertainty and dealing with the emotions that come along with that,” Hawkins added. “One of the ways we can help others deal with those feelings is to keep moving forward on behalf of our clients, albeit a little more creatively during these times.”

In spite of the need to quickly shift to virtual operations, Foundry’s closeknit Jacksonville team was ready to face these challenges head-on and see projects through to the finish line.

Principal and Jacksonville Market Leader, Brad Chrischilles, represented The CSI Companies for their recently signed 50,000-square-foot corporate headquarters. Foundry had completed market tours and analysis, full negotiations on the desired building, and were in lease negotiations when COVID hit. “At times it was tenuous,” stated Chrischilles. “CSI is a large staffing agency client, and during many discussions with their team, they were feeling the effects of a constricted economy and U.S. workforce.

Fortunately, they were focused on seeing the forest through the trees and decided to move forward, anticipating the economy will bounce back within the next 6 – 12 months.”

Beyond the closing on the CSI Companies’ new HQ building, the Jacksonville team has been hard at work during the pandemic negotiating more favorable terms for several other clients, using the opportunity to get creative and generate win-win scenarios all around.

Serving as the landlord’s representative in the renegotiation of two leases with Fanatics totaling 120,000sf in the Cypress Point Business Park, Foundry was able to secure longer-term leases with the sports apparel retailer in exchange for some added rent relief in the interim. As live sporting events such as March Madness and The PLAYERS Championship were cancelled, Fanatics was appreciative of the immediate relief. Similarly, another client opted to complete an expansion of their workplace while their employee-base was furloughed, setting up the space for added social distancing measures in the near-term and additional growth in the longer-term. At the same time, Foundry was able to renegotiate a seven-year lease at better terms for the client.

J AC KS O N V I L L E B R O K E R AG E T E A M Brad Chrischilles Principal, Jacksonville Market Leader Brokerage Services

Andrew Hawkins Senior Vice President

Mark Scott Senior Vice President

Lauren Musielak Marketing Coordinator

And the team has been forging ahead professionally all the while there have been personal battles to fight. One associate lost his father during this time and was unable to see him toward the end due to hospital visitor restrictions. Another had to coordinate from afar both immediate and longer-term rehabilitative care for his 91-year-old mother, who took a fall that necessitated surgery. And of course, there were a host of other obstacles – personal and professional – to overcome during the past several months. “At Foundry, and in our office, there truly are no silos. We operate as a family here. We all have one another’s backs and we’re all rooting for the other to be successful,” added Hawkins. “That was a saving grace during this unprecedented time.”

Asked what advice they would have given themselves back on January 1 if they knew then what they know now, all four Jacksonville associates agreed with Marketing Coordinator Lauren Musielak, who stated: “It’s important to take things day-by-day. There are so many unknowns in the future, so there’s no need to stress yourself out about anything that is outside your control or too far down the line.”

A life lesson we could all probably stand to be reminded of – pandemic or otherwise.

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our creativity, our unwavering spirit, and our team’s ability to find a way to keep moving forward when much of the world was stuck at a standstill.

ALL ABOUT PERSPECTIVE

WHEN

CHALLENGES

ARISE

WE

ADAPT & OV E R C O M E By: Gregg Ickes, President of Real Estate Services

If there was one word that could be used to describe Foundr y Commercial at the beginning of 2020, that word was probably ‘momentum.’

W

e had built a team of 80 brokers and were leasing and managing nearly 60 million square feet of projects, were closing in on $2 billion in joint ventures, had just acquired majority ownership of the company in our second management buyout since launching in 2007, and were expanding both service lines and pipelines at an exceptional clip. Then a global pandemic struck, and it felt like the entire planet hit the pause button.

WHEN BEING

DIFFERENT

REALLY MATTERS.

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Looking back at those first few weeks of transitioning to a remote work setting, it’s easy to understand why anyone might feel shaken and out of sorts. It was even a little surprising to me that I felt a sense of calm in the midst of this big storm, until I stopped to think about why. Our leadership team has been here before, and I had a great deal of trust in the team that we’ve assembled at Foundry to adapt like we have in previous times of uncertainty. I had all the faith in the world that Foundry would continue to set ourselves apart through

Most people reading this already know the story of how and why Foundry Commercial was created. An opportunity caused by what many might consider a negative situation led 12 people to start this company, and we decided to make the leap just before we barreled into the Great Recession. From any vantage point, it may have seemed like a crazy time to build a company, but I knew I was surrounded by people I could trust. These leaders quickly proved to be calm in the face of one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression, as we put our heads together and figured out how to pivot… how to shift our energy and our efforts by taking control of what we could and positioning our platform to serve clients in an uncommon way in the face of significant adversity.

It has been said before that great teams are often defined by having complimentary skillsets as well as shared core values. We knew then what set us apart, and we have been deliberate about trusting associates across the platform to use their skillsets whenever the going gets tough. Like when COVID-19 started to spread throughout the U.S. We have been intentional since day one about assembling a team that is nimble, smart, and strategic. Our culture is defined by professionals who are driven by gratitude, creative beyond all normal boundaries, who are agile and able to make quick adjustments when the situation calls for a new strategy, and for our hustle when everyone else is too worn down to stay focused. I’d argue that we stack up against anybody in the industry at knowing how to wrap around our clients – how to truly understand their needs and what motivates them – to go far beyond the generic ‘how much square feet are you looking for?’ to ‘how is your daughter doing during her freshman year of college?’

And it’s our tenacity – coupled with our determination to approach relationships differently – that I think resonates with people. You always learn why during the hard times.

GETTING CREATIVE In a service-based industry, the customer must remain your numberone priority. That’s true at Foundry, except we view our associates as our

primary ‘customers.’ If we want to be a different kind of services company, we understand that we must first attract and retain talented people who are going to treat their clients, their colleagues, and everyone else they encounter as they want to be treated. It’s one of our core values. In setting up Foundry this way, we intentionally created an environment for talented people to unleash their creativity and remain nimble during both the good and the more challenging times.

I wish I had been given 30 pages to write about all the wins Foundry achieved during this difficult chapter. It’s remarkable, really, considering all we were up against.

CHALLENGE: If your job function allows, you must shelter-in-place and work from home.

F OUNDRY: No problem. We’re already setup to collaborate using a variety of technology platforms (thanks to the foresight of Scott Renaud and Nick McKinney), and we’ll even ask our family members to limit their home Wi-Fi usage for a couple hours so we can pitch and win business during a video conference.

True story.

CHALLENGE: You must account for at least 6-feet social distancing between each individual.

F OUNDRY: Got it. We’ll quickly create customized signage for the properties we manage, for our own office spaces, and for potential tenants to ensure we’re all abiding by those mandates. And in cases where we know we can’t do that safely, we’ll invent creative solutions – such as a virtual toilet paper scavenger hunt – to stand apart from the competition, encouraging brokers to have a little fun while taking a digital tour of our properties.

CHALLENGE: Keep associate morale up, while simultaneously teaching everyone how to best utilize remote-work platforms.

F OUNDRY: We’re on it. It doesn’t matter what computer you have, what generation you’re a part of, or how fast your Internet connection is. We’ll help get you up and running so you can continue to do your job well. Oh, and we’ll also

coordinate virtual happy hours, all-associate town halls, an abundance of communications tools and updates, an entire master-class series taught by associates across the platform, a virtual Serve Week that makes a true community impact, and we’ll also throw in some yoga to stretch your mind and body as well as some entertaining story times for those children or grandchildren you are sheltering in place with. We’ve got you.

CHALLENGE: Although it may feel like the world is stopping, our industry and our clients are hoping to move forward. Keep the momentum.

F OUNDRY: So, we should film our team’s {socially distant} bike ride to the assets we’re pitching and share that video and an accompanying data-laden placemat with the potential client, showing off how scrappy and creative we can be for them?

We’re on it. We might as well also form a joint venture with an industry-leading operator of independent living, assisted living, and memory care communities throughout the country, letting the rest of the world know we’re adding seniors housing to our expanding and successful healthcare platform.

And there are a whole host of additional examples of challenges not only met but unequivocally overcome. It has been one of the greatest honors of my career to date to watch what has unfolded – what Foundry’s associates have collectively made possible – during these extraordinary times.

WHY WE DO IT As we heard several times during leadership meetings and town halls, it’s easy to become wrapped up in the doom-and-gloom that is presented 24/7 on social media or on the news. There were a lot of scary statistics being thrown around as the world faced a common threat, and yet, we have been conditioned to remain calm, to gather and act upon real information, and to show the world why Foundry is a different kind of real estate company.

Our team found their footing almost immediately and never skipped a beat. Many of the transactions already underway as COVID-19 was hitting in the U.S. still closed on schedule. We saw many of our teams pitch new business in ways that were safe – yet uber creative – and we secured more than 4 million square feet in new leasing and management assignments. We quickly adapted to learning industry-leading techniques for making office buildings safer, and we communicated these changes with our tenants and clients quickly and effectively. Foundry was fortunately already setup to be a leader in the industrial space, ready to serve clients with a variety of ecommerce and logistics needs as the oncoming tidal wave of industrial property needs hit the shore.

When existing clients began to feel uneasy about their relationships with others in our industry, we were able to build upon those existing relationships – some who were ready to shift additional assets under Foundry management.

It’s just further proof that our relationship-based approach and our elite performance really matter during times that otherwise feel chaotic.

It’s great to be the calm in someone’s storm, and for many of our clients, that’s a role we have played on their assets.

There have been times during Foundry’s 13-year history when I thought I could not be prouder of what we have all built here. Time and time again, I am reminded that it’s the people who make up this great company that are truly setting us apart from everyone else. And when you’re blessed to work with the most talented and courageous professionals in the industry, you’re always going to be set up for victory.

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Relationships Matter A commercial real estate legend, Jimmy Grisham starts the next chapter of his life into retirement.

F

ew tenets remain important throughout the entirety of a career, yet two that stand the test of time – regardless of person, place, origin, or moment in time – are that “It’s Personal,” and “Relationships Matter.” There’s a reason Foundry operates on the basis of these core beliefs, and it’s no accident that the team assembled now lives out those values just as much as the original team who founded the company did in their early days.

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Later this year, one of the Foundry ‘originals’ – D&I Principal Jimmy Grisham in Foundry’s Dallas office – will celebrate the journey of a successful career and will transition into a well-deserved retirement.

It’s obvious to anyone who knows Jimmy that his leadership, his ability to connect with others, his outside-the-box thinking, his dogged perseverance, and his spot-on instincts will be missed. He has been a huge part of starting something special that continues on a path of accelerated growth.

As with many of the associates who have been a part of Foundry Commercial since the beginning, Jimmy first crossed paths with several of the company’s key leaders early in their careers with Trammell Crow Company. He oversaw Trammell Crow’s national retail team through the National Retail Executive Committee and led the Southwestern region of Trammell Crow’s retail division. He led numerous regional and national business initiatives during his time with Trammell Crow.

“I was a brand-new analyst when I met Jimmy in 1992 at the Trammell Crow Orlando Christmas party he was hosting. As a rookie who was eager to learn, I remember Jimmy always being accessible, and he was always willing to spend time with people early in their career to help them along,” recalls Foundry CEO Paul Ellis.

“Jimmy and I worked closely together starting in the early 90s, when he moved to run the retail group for Trammell Crow out of Dallas, and I was running the property management group here,” added Jim Wells, Principal, Head of Asset Management in Foundry’s Dallas office. “He eventually left the company a few years later, but we remained in close contact. When the opportunity to become a part of a new commercial real estate firm opened in 2009, he reached out to me and asked if I would like to become a part of something special. In 2010, we reunited to join Foundry – then CCRE – to establish the Dallas office.”

TRULY CONNECTED There are few commercial real estate professionals who are as well-connected as Jimmy Grisham. Jimmy is truly able to call upon any one of his contacts and they’ll not only know exactly who he is, but they’ll have established a solid relationship built upon trust and mutual respect. These connections often served as the foundation upon which Jimmy’s leadership and influence was built.

“There are many elements of success, but one of the most critical is you have to be able to form real, lasting relationships with people who want to help you succeed, and Jimmy has certainly mastered that,” stated Rick Coe, Partner, Fidelis Realty Partners DFW, LLC. While Coe briefly worked alongside Jimmy starting the Dallas office for CCRE, he was eventually recruited to work for CNL, and the two have remained close friends ever since.

“Jimmy has always been calm, collected, and under control. He’s thoughtful in his approach, earning the respect of his peers and others in the industry,” added Pryse Elam, Foundry’s President of Development & Investments. “He is a highly regarded community leader throughout his circles in Dallas, and his leadership has been earned, not bestowed.”

TURNING FOSSIL TO GOLD It was upon his strong connections that one of Foundry’s very first – and probably most significant (to date) – D&I deals closed.

“I remember him coming to the larger team to try to convince us to purchase a warehouse and office in Richardson, Texas – the former Fossil headquarters – which had been sitting there unleased for a couple of years. In the middle of an office corridor, with little to no parking, the deal didn’t really seem like the sure bet Jimmy thought it was,” Elam laughs. “But Jimmy has real estate instincts like no one I’ve ever met before, and he saw the possibility in that property. Lo and behold, he zeroed in on that project and came up with a way to turn the empty warehouse space into a parking facility, and voilà, we had the parking ratios that were desired in that market. From the day we closed on the property to the day that Geico purchased it from us at more than a 50% return, it was less than six months.”

“Jimmy was key to pulling that off,” added Ellis. “It was a huge momentum-builder for Foundry to have such a unique deal to showcase how creative and skilled we were at uncovering opportunities. A lot of the success our company is experiencing now can be attributed to that momentum he started.”

“Jimmy has always been calm, collected, and under control.

He’s thoughtful in his approach, earning the respect of his peers and others in the industry.”

- P r ys e E la m

Austin Taylor, Paul Ellis , Jason Holwerda, Jimmy Grisham, Chris Mauth, Ryan Weekes , Paul Reynolds, Leo Karpeles (Cadence Bank) and Fritz Konker (Clarion Partners) Malibu XI 2019

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IT’S SEE YOU LATER With nearly four decades of experience in institutional real estate, asset services, and development and investment throughout the U.S. – and having consistently been a top performer for Foundry’s D&I platform – Jimmy has certainly earned every moment of the opportunity to enjoy his retirement.

Several closing remarks and well-wishes for Jimmy follow.

“Jimmy does everything with style. He’s going out in style, and for this next chapter, he’s going to have a great time. We are so grateful for the time we had with him and envious of the time he is going to have in retirement,” said Elam.

“We are absolutely going to miss Jimmy being a part of Foundry.

He has been a key part of the organization since the beginning.

We are so grateful for his service,” added Ellis.

And to you, Jimmy, best of luck in retirement. I hope you aren’t a stranger, and I hope we actually get to go play golf a little bit more.”

- Pau l Ellis

Austin Taylor, Jimmy Grisham and Jonathan Balthrop Malibu XI 2019

Coe and Wells don’t seem to be adjusting to the transition as easily.

“I will still see Jimmy every other week, I’m sure. We live in the same town and run in the same circle. From my perspective, I’m not going to acknowledge any sort of ‘departure’ because he isn’t getting away.” joked Coe. “I wish him well, but he knows I’m going to be calling. For so long, I’ve been able to lean over to ask him questions, but now I’ll have to rely on him on the other end of the line to share his institutional knowledge. The thing is, I know he’s going to respond immediately,” Wells laughed. “In all honesty, though, I wish him and his family the best in this next phase of life.”

Serve Week 2018 Dallas, TX

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Happy trails from the whole Foundry family, Jimmy!

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Gregg Ickes

I

f you were on the July 27 Town Hall then you heard the big boss, a.k.a Paul Ellis, share that we are all human and sometimes just need a break. He also communicated these sentiments with our leadership team a few weeks prior so I took boss’s orders and rented an RV for my family to hit the open road for an impromptu vacation. When I say hit the road, I mean really hit the road covering 2,100 miles, 6 states and too many s’mores to count. And as if we haven’t seen enough of each other as a family during this isolated COVID season, now Dad (that’s me) decides that our family is going to live out of an aluminum capsule on wheels with nowhere to escape each other. Haha, I guess I am officially “that Dad,” but I am happy to play the part.

For a little backdrop, my wife (Nikki) and I are passionate about traveling and showing our kids all of the beautiful cities, regions, foods, cultures and people that our country provides. Additionally, my daughter (Madison) turned 10 in July and my son (Grant) turns 13 in August, so we had planned a big family vacation to Chicago this summer to do all of the classic Chicago things like taking in a baseball game, visiting world-class museums, going to a theater show, finding the best deep dish pizza, and staring down from the observation deck at the Sears Tower. I believe the skyscraper is now named Willis Tower, but I still like to call it the Sears Tower from when I was a kid.

Like so many of you, as the summer approached, we started receiving all of the cancellation emails and flight changes and ultimately decided that getting on an airplane to head to Chicago was not meant for our family this summer. So we shifted our summer plans, and I found a really cool website called RV Share, and we booked the perfect 32 FOUNDRY UNITED ISSUE 9

Great R V Adventure Front Porch Friday

RV for a 2020 summer adventure to explore the mountains around the Southeast. We sat the kids down and said “kids we got an RV for our summer vacation but have no real agenda other than driving through the mountains so what do you want to do on our trip?” The only rules we provided were that we can’t go to any theme parks, restaurants, movie theaters, shows, sporting events, crowded public places, etc…well you get the picture. After a long pause, Grant and Madison started to rattle off some of the things they wanted to do on our journey.

TOP TEN See a waterfall Go on a bunch of hikes Summit the top of a mountain Have big campfires Make a ton of s’mores Zipline in the mountains Go horseback riding See animals in the wild Grant surprised us with do some painting Eat a bunch of good food

We successfully accomplished the Top 10 during our time on the road, and it was amazing how being in nature truly has a way of resetting the soul. Whether it was an early morning coffee listening to the birds sing, or stopping in the middle of a mountain trail to realize there was no ambient noise around, or watching the waters of a rushing stream carve its own path down a mountainside, or the dancing flames of a hot camp fire.

Someone in Texas once told me they call watching a camp fire “Cowboy TV.” Our family binge watched some Cowboy TV during our trip!

The unexpected icing on the cake during our journey was all the friendly people (most wearing masks) that we crossed paths with on our travels, from someone pointing us in the right direction on a hiking trail, to the friendly staff at Love’s Truck Stops where we would fuel up the RV, to our new nightly neighbors at the different RV parks to the horseback riding stable owner that is a 7th generation North Carolina mountain man. His beard was way more impressive than Nick’s beard.

Grant, Madison, Nikki and Gregg Ickes

My new word to share is Coddiwomple, which means “To travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination.”

Gregg, Nikki, Madison and Grant Ickes

So to wrap up this Front Porch Friday, I thought that I would share some basic encouragement, a great quote, and a new word.

My encouragement is to give yourself permission in the months ahead to disconnect and get out into nature. If you can make it a RV trip, then I highly recommend it, but if that is not in the cards right now, then just get out for a few hours or a day to reset your soul. I know all of the states where you live and there are beautiful vistas, hiking trails, mountains, lakes, oceans and bike paths right around the corner. So turn off the Disney+ and go take in some of Mother Earth!

I am not sure if Webster agrees this is an official word yet in the English language, but a lot of other folks on the world wide web believe it’s a word. And I feel like Coddiwomple describes what our family did this summer as we traveled with sincere purpose together but were wide open to where the journey took us on our great RV adventure.

May you (and your families) find great new adventures is the months and years ahead!

TWENTY YEARS FROM NOW YOU WILL BE MORE DISAPPOINTED BY THE THINGS THAT YOU DIDN’T DO THAN

BY THE ONES YOU DID DO. SO THROW OFF THE BOWLINES. SAIL AWAY FROM THE SAFE HARBOR. CATCH THE TRADE WINDS IN YOUR SAILS. EXPLORE. DREAM. DISCOVER Mark Twain American Author

Gregg Ickes President of Real Estate Services

My quote comes from the iconic American author Mark Twain, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

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V I R T U A L S E RV E C O M M U N I T Y

S E R V E

W E E K

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As the world went virtual, so too did Foundry’s Serve Week. And while the week may have looked different than in previous years, we still came together to serve others in not-so-traditional ways. From donations to food banks and homeless shelters to making cards to cheer up elderly residents of assisted living facilities, the Foundry family generously gave back to our communities. During the week, several Foundry associates were surprised to open their doors to a socially distant Foundry colleague, offering a few rolls of toilet paper, dropping off some diapers, or even serving breakfast for the family in the backyard. Others dropped off treats to our front-line workers; others made masks to donate; and others treated their child’s daycare staff to a BBQ lunch.

Many Foundry associates also took the opportunity to Serve Local by ordering takeout from local restaurants struggling during the pandemic. It may have been a different experience, but we are proud to have still made a meaningful impact during a challenging season.

(Pictured here, Nick McKinney and Hannah Chittum hopped on their bikes to brighten the spirits of several local colleagues during 2020 Serve Week.)

DAY O N E | A P R I L 27 We encouraged our associates to find ways they might have been able to help charities and organizations that Foundry supports, or to dive deeper into a charity that has a mission near and dear to their heart.

1 1. Sareska Batista, from our Coral Gables office, worked with her mom, who was knitting kids face masks with pockets to put a filter inside, to drop off or mail them to their family and friends with kids.

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S E RV E T H O S E YOU LOVE DAY T H R E E | M AY 1 We asked associates to take some time to show those they love just how much they appreciate them.

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S E RV E L O C A L DAY T W O | A P R I L 2 9 Associates went out and supported local establishments by ordering take-out, writing thank-you cards to managers of local supermarkets, and much more!

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5 2 2. Gregg Ickes’s daughter Madison, with help from her dance troupe friends, bought Ms Susi, the owner of their dance studio and prominent member of their community, a bouquet of flowers.

1. Lauren Marquess from the Orlando office purchased a custom t-shirt designed by a local shop, which supported local businesses and Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

3. Keely Hines from our Charlotte office, with the support of the Men’s Shelter Charlotte/Urban Ministry Center board members, arranged to have meals or treats delivered twice a week to front-line staff.

2. Brandy Garnero’s son Quinn sent handmade cards to the people in assisted living facilities who could not have visitors in Charlotte, NC. 3. Brittney Wimberly from the Orlando office showed her support in Orlando by picking up lunch at a local restaurant.

4. Since we could not go out and serve physically in our communities this year, Melissa Alexander from our Nashville office, chose to dust off her sewing skills and make masks (Nashville themed of course).

4. Ashley Robinson from the Orlando office, provided lunch for her son’s daycare teachers as well as got take out at their favorite local restaurant.

5. Lauren Musielak from our Jacksonville office decided to deliver lunch to a great friend who had been working nonstop for the City of Jacksonville Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security Division, keeping the public informed.

5. Nick McKinney from the Orlando office started an Instagram account called Orlando Takeout which alerted people on what small businesses were offering curbside delivery.

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1. Olivia Griffin from the Charlotte office served the ones she loved by delivering warm cookies to her neighbor, aunt, niece, and nephew.

2. Nick McKinney packed a picnic and spent the day riding bikes with his wife Kara, in Orlando, FL, on her birthday.

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3. Katie Kidd from the Charlotte office served the ones she loved by delivering sunflowers to two of her neighbors as a surprise.

4. Brandy Garnero’s family created their own vacations at their home. One of which was them visiting the “Florida Keys,” where they enjoyed tropical drinks, relaxing music, and quality time together.

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LIFE M U S T GO ON

W E DDI N G B E L L S Alex Smith popped the question! Palma said yes on February 28, 2020, in Savannah, GA.

A TRUE MIR A C LE Twins Vivienne and Margot, born more than 18 weeks ahead of schedule - both joined parents Jerod Freeland from the Orlando office and wife Laura at home on July 28, 2020 after a long stay in the NICU.

G RO W I N G FA M I LY Jordan Jameison Rosario is the newest addition to the Rosario family. Alex from the Orlando office and his wife Kristen welcomed their baby girl on May 7, 2020.

NE W PARENTS Hillary Stamas from the Orlando office and husband Demetri welcomed their first child, George Stamas, into the world on July 16, 2020 in Orlando, FL. FA MILY FUN John and Meredith Ball enjoy happy hour with their kids in Charlotte, NC.

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IT’S 5 O’CLOCK SOMEWHERE Cheers to virtual happy hour! Brittney Wimberly and Hannah Chittum share a drink over Teams.

SMALL WORLD Melissa Alexander and Don Albright from the Nashville office ran into each other while on vacations in Gatlinburg, TN

B U N DL E OF JOY Born April 6th, Esther De Jesus was 6 lbs. 10 oz. Congratulations Rachel and Gabe De Jesus on your baby girl!

W E LC OME TO T H E WORLD Congratulations Nicole and Ryan Weekes, from our Boca Raton office, on your baby girl!

Madeline Belle Weekes was born July 23, 2020 at 7 lbs. and13 oz.

I T’S A GIRL James Mattox out of Raleigh, NC and wife Reston are thrilled to announce the birth of their daughter, Margaret “Miller” Mattox, who was born at 5:45 A.M. on July 28, 2020, at 5 lbs. 13 oz.

N OT A D RY E Y E Ben Rowell, in the Charlotte market, and Carly Jones got engaged on June 16, 2020 at Alys Beach in Florida. Tears of joy were shared by all, even beach bystanders watching with excitement!

T H E N E W EST PROPE RTY M A N A G E M E NT ME MBE R Susan Hahne, in the Charlotte market, and husband Jeremy welcomed baby boy, Luke Henry Hahne on July 14, 2020.

FRE SH AI R Jas Reber, from our Tampa office, and son Mason enjoy an afternoon bike ride.

TI CKLED PINK Karl Hudson, in the Raleigh market, and Jenna Cooper welcomed baby girl Presley Belle Hudson on May 30, 2020.

B IK IN G FOR B R E W S The Orlando brokerage team practiced safe social distancing while taking a bike ride through West Orange county, culminating in a stop at local brewery, Crooked Can.

PA R FOR TH E C O U R S E David Kafel and Bryan Phillips, from our Raleigh office, share beers over a game of golf. This served as the perfect activity for proper social distancing.

HELLO WORLD Congratulations to Maria Linares, from the Orlando office, and Juan Duque. Samuel Duque Linares born June 14, 2020, at 10:22 A.M. He was 10 lbs. 3 oz, 22 inches long.

BA B Y BL ACKBURN Ryan Blackburn, from the Atlanta office, welcomed baby Brooks with wife, Brittney, on March 24, 2020.

MAN’S BEST FRIEND Stephen Ball from the Orlando Office rescued Magnolia “Maggie” from Sophie’s Circle on March 13, 2020.

B A B Y G IR L Abigail Anne Elam was welcomed into the world July 16, 2020 by Ted Elam, from our Boca Raton office, and his wife Lizzy.

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Lease Administration Happy hour with Nick McKinney and Gregg Ickes Orlando, FL Katie Trott, Jas Reber, Jimmy Johnson, Tim Kilkelly, and David Kern Tampa, FL 39

Onward and Upward.