Each year, Midwest Real Estate News runs its Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame edition, spotlighting the careers of the top pros in the CRE industry. This year, we are also running those profiles online. Today, we highlight the career of Reuben Pate, senior vice president with Block & Company, Inc., Realtors in Kansas City Missouri.
A fascinating background: Commercial real estate stars come from many walks of life, but few have the background of Reuben Pate, of Kansas City’s Block & Company, Inc., Realtors.
Pate picked up much of his expertise with the U.S. Army, where he was involved in planning military installations and managing bases toward the end of his time in the service.
The bio: The beginning of Pate’s 25-year career included piloting multi-engine planes and helicopters. He also served two years in combat in Vietnam. Later, he served as an inspector general and on the staff and faculty of the Army Command & Guard Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Pate came to Block in 1985. He has served as a senior property manager, overseeing the work of other property managers, while managing more than 100,000 square feet of commercial property, including retail, medical office, office and office/warehouse property.
A busy CRE career: In his current role as senior vice president for development and construction, Pate has overseen the development of more than 5 million square feet of commercial property, and is involved in all aspects of the commercial real estate field.
“The leadership and organizational skills I gained during my 25 years of service as a military officer, coupled with my engineering background, gave me the tools necessary for a successful career in commercial real estate,” he told us.
More than military: Pate has a civil engineering degree from the University of Arkansas and an master’s degree in business administration from Northwest Missouri State University.
Pate says the most challenging part of his job is figuring out how “to configure a specific site to meet the needs of the client.”
But it’s great when it’s done: Pate said that he loves seeing “new developments come out of the ground, and the finished project contributing to the overall economy of the community.”
