Cawley Chicago adds Bliss, Dixon and Harvey to its capital markets platform

Cawley Chicago has appointed Mike Harvey, J.J. Bliss and Robert Dixon as senior vice presidents, as the firm continues to build a competitive and comprehensive commercial real estate services platform for its clients. The addition of these experienced professionals expands Cawley Chicago’s capital markets brokerage capabilities and formally introduces its ability to provide creative financing services, including debt and equity placement.

“Adding of Mike Harvey, J.J. Bliss and Robert Dixon continues the building and refining of a comprehensive, first class platform for clients and prospective clients of Cawley Chicago,” said Dan Cawley, president, Cawley Chicago. “In the last year we’ve added key brokers, services and a downtown office to make us even more competitive than before.”

In joining Cawley Chicago, Mike Harvey will continue his focus on executing disposition strategies for office investment properties located in downtown Chicago and throughout its surrounding suburban markets. He will draw on more than 15 years of capital markets experience for both leased properties and redevelopment opportunities. Harvey’s success in the capital markets arena is based, in part, on drawing from his diverse experience in management and business consulting, brokerage, architectural design and construction.

Before joining Cawley Chicago, Harvey was vice president of investments for Spectrum Real Estate focusing on commercial office buildings for direct purchase by Spectrum and disposition to private equity investors. Previously he was a real estate investment broker for Marcus & Millichap specializing in downtown Chicago class B and C office properties, as well as repositioning and redevelopment of underperforming sites.

Representative transactions completed by Harvey include: 168 N. Michigan Avenue, a 74,000 square foot redevelopment project; 441 W. Huron Street, a 45,000-square-foot redevelopment project; 223 W. Erie Street, a 69,000 square foot property and 230 E. Ohio Street, a 75,000-square-foot property.

The addition of Bliss and Dixon help to further round out the service capabilities now offered by Cawley Chicago including the expertise and ability to leverage the optimal mix of debt and equity sources at all levels of the capital stack for both new acquisitions and existing investments. According to Bliss, the capital markets group can help clients secure sources of capital—conventional funding, bridge loans, etc.—for acquisitions, build-to-suits and new construction.

Bliss brings approximately 8 years of commercial real estate experience to his position as senior vice president to Cawley Chicago. Before joining Cawley, Bliss and Dixon formed and operated BD Capital to help clients secure capital for myriad types of real estate transactions. They have been involved in projects and transactions that include acquisitions, development, redevelopment and tenant improvement projects, among others, across a diverse mix of product types, including office, industrial, multifamily and senior housing properties.

Before co-founding BD Capital, Bliss worked with Xceligent, a competitor to Costar and a first generation commercial real estate data company and Dixon was an independent title agent and ran his own commercial finance company. During their careers, including their time working together at BD Capital, Bliss and Dixon have completed representative debt and equity transactions that include: a 53,000-square-foot Industrial building in Milwaukee and a $21 million loan for a 130-unit multifamily project located in Racine, Wisconsin. To date, they have closed 15 deals encompassing the financing of 30 properties across the U.S., in Illinois, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Georgia, Arizona, New York and Florida.