Dan Tausk, found his way into real estate when his older brother directed him to an entry-level position doing market research for CBRE. Although it took him some bartending at Harry Caray’s to make ends meet at that time, Tausk stuck around, and now holds nearly twenty years of real estate research, specialty marketing and tenant representation experience in the industry.
Currently, Tausk is principal and retail tenant specialist for Mid-America Real Estate Corporation and one of Illinois Real Estate Journal‘s speakers for its upcoming Chicagoland Retail: State of the Market Conference on September 9.
At Mid-America, he’s the head of urban tenant representation and handles the urban rollout for seven national retailers. So when asked about what makes the firm stand out, naturally, Tausk said it’s the disciplined specialization leading to the creation of true market experts.
There’s also been a variety of reasons as to why he’s chosen to stick around real estate; the people—friendships and relationships—along with the creativity it allows, and the flexibility to chase down crazy ideas and actually deliver them.
His most memorable experience in real estate happened early on when he attended the grand opening of the very first Caribou Coffee store he had a hand in. Tausk recalled feeling like a VIP.
Lately, one of the most recent trends in commercial real estate he’s been seeing is the retail resurgence overall, especially in all areas of food. Other trends include urban residential high rises returning to life, and medical retail concepts moving into the shopping center.
There’s no doubt that the industry is growing rather quickly with several entering, and many just barely getting their foot in the door. Luckily for them, Tausk shared a piece of advice for the fresh new faces.
“Seek mentorship from the start and try to find an existing team you can help grow,” he advised.
But most importantly, he said to be passionate about the specialization you choose.
Outside of work, Tausk enjoys traveling with family and exploring new types of coffee and beer. He also coaches basketball and with summer closing in, it’s already time to go back-to-school for the coach, too.