Each year, Midwest Real Estate News elects a new class to its Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame. Here’s a look at one of our new inductees, Jim Carris, executive managing director and Chicago market lead with the Rosemont, Illinois, office of Colliers.
During a career that has spanned more than three decades, Jim Carris has built a reputation as a hard worker, true leader and dedicated advisor to his clients. This work ethic and market knowledge have led Carris to his current position as executive managing director and market lead for Chicago with Colliers.
In this role, Carris oversees Colliers’ Rosemont, Illinois, and downtown Chicago offices. He guides the office advisory, industrial advisory, agency leasing, land, retail and investment groups.
“I think I’ve been successful in the business for two reasons,” Carris said. “I treat everyone with honesty and respect, and try to create an environment that I would want my family to work in. And I keep striving to learn. I started out as a real estate lawyer, pursued my CCIM, earned my MBA and still take classes on finance and real estate development. You can never stop improving.”
It’s not surprising that Carris has earned this leadership position. Throughout his career, he’s demonstrated a true knowledge and aptitude for the commercial real estate business. Before joining Colliers in 2018, Carris served as senior managing director of CBRE’s Chicago region. In this position, Carris was a member of CBRE’s Executive Committee and led the firm’s overall regional operations and business strategy.
Before his time at CBRE, Carris worked as a senior vice president at JLL, where he managed account teams that completed more than 400 transactions involving 13 million square feet of space, $250 million of invested capital and sustainable cost savings of more than $50 million.
And that’s not the full extent of Carris’ career. Before joining JLL, he oversaw global real estate operations, including office, industrial and land transactions in Europe, Asia and the United States, for BP’s former chemical subsidiary, Innovene. Carris also served as project executive for BP’s 640-acre multi-use commercial development Cantera in Chicago’s west suburbs.
That’s a long and busy career. Carris says that he’s never regretted his decision to enter this field some 33 years ago.
“I truly enjoy the people I’ve worked with,” Carris said. “The talent in the real estate industry is truly remarkable. From the risk-taking investors to the creative architects and designers to the brokers who strategize for the best deal for their clients, real estate people are some of the most talented, creative, client-oriented people of any industry I’ve been involved with.”
Despite his busy career, Carris does find some time for himself. When he’s not working, he likes to spend time with his wife and three children. He enjoys coaching his children’s sports teams, studying history and politics, riding motorcycles, hiking and lifting weights.
