Each year, Midwest Real Estate News elects a new class to its Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame. Here is a look at one of our newest inductees, Sheryl Vickers, chief executive officer and owner of Kansas City, Missouri’s Select Sites.
It’s not easy crafting a successful career in commercial real estate brokerage, a business where you “eat what you kill” and there is no formal training other than CCIM classes. In commercial real estate, it’s all the “sink-or-swim” mentality. And when you’re a woman working in an industry still dominated by men, it can be even more challenging. But this didn’t stop Sheryl Vickers, and this industry veteran intends to change the ratio of men to women in CRE in the next 10 years through the advocacy of others.
Vickers has built a thriving real estate career of more than 28 years. Today, she is the owner and President of her Kansas City-area-based boutique firm Select Sites, specializing in retail and restaurant tenant representation and site selection primarily. She also excels in shopping center leasing, commercial acquisitions and investments.
Sheryl launched a small holding company in 2012, CRV LLC and Guest Suites KC, a short-term rental management company. Vickers also consults clients when it comes to construction and development, she says it’s her favorite new role, as a strategy partner for those up-and-coming developers who are just working on their first few projects. She’s very confident in this role because of her perfect investment record so far. No losses after her first 10 investment projects. Her strategy is her own recipe of three components: 1. to take some big, but calculated risks, 2. always start with the tenant, which she sees as the most valuable component of any investment, and 3. LOCATION, she often is pioneering emerging areas or opportunity zones.
She juggles a lot, but Vickers is a master at working efficiently yet tirelessly for her clients. Combine that with her market knowledge, honesty, and passion for the industry, and you have a recipe for long-term success.
Though Vickers has built a thriving career, she has faced challenges. She points to the economic crash of 2008 as her biggest, but another major challenge came 12 years later as she worked to keep Select Sites operational during the COVID-19 pandemic, when retail and restaurants had a period of unknown that caused some panic and so many projects collapsed.
“What I have learned is how to be resilient and find creative solutions to income issues during those difficult economic times,” Vickers said. “And 2008 was the catalyst to my focus on passive income strategies. I swore I would never be caught without back-up income again. By 2020, I was ready. Now I can survive even if commissions dry up temporarily in a recession.”
But even juggling so many roles hasn’t kept Vickers from supporting her industry and community. She is especially committed to finding ways to bring more women and minorities into commercial real estate. To help with this, she joined forces with Audrey Navarro to create Women in Real Estate Development, better known as WIRED.
WIRED is a women’s mentoring and support group with the goal of helping women begin careers in commercial brokerage, development, and make their own investments in the Kansas City market. Through this group and on her own time, Vickers spends long hours mentoring the future female and minority leaders in commercial real estate.
“I have focused on tenant representation and love representing retailers and restaurants who are seeking sites or expanding their brand into the Kansas City market,” Vickers said. “In the past 10 years, I have started to invest in properties, and I enjoy helping women and minorities learn to invest in commercial properties for passive income to build their wealth.”
In addition, Vickers in 2018 was selected to be a Real Estate Associates Program instructor. That program in 2019 was replaced by the ULI REDI program, a program that Vickers continues to support. She has served on the board of the Prospect Business Association and chaired the Economic Development committee for years.
Vickers’ peers have recognized her importance to both commercial real estate and her community. It’s not surprising, then, that she has earned several honors during her years in the business. This includes being listed most recently as The 20 People to Know in Commercial Real Estate by The Kansas City Business Journal, and also in the Top 10 Women Leaders publication of Industry Era magazine in 2022; being named a retail Power Broker in by CoStar Group four times; chosen as a Kansas City Influential Women Award honoree by Kansas City Business Magazine; and selected as a 2019 Enterprising Woman of the Year honoree by Enterprising Women Magazine.
As a mom of two teen girls, family time is important to Vickers, too. The family enjoys travel whenever they can sneak away, often taking long road trips in their Airstream trailer. Vickers is also a home-improvement DIYer and has been known to hit the pickleball courts with her friends and other WIRED women.