John Fricke
Executive Vice President
Colliers
Royal Oak, Michigan
John Fricke’s real estate career spans more than 35 years, a career in which he has successfully completed impactful real estate acquisitions and dispositions for clients in Michigan, throughout the country and across the globe.
Fricke boasts an extensive background in the office, educational, medical, financial service, automotive supplier and research and technology sectors, and is currently the primary account manager of several large institutional clients. He also completed work for several state universities including Michigan State University and the University of Michigan; large health care organizations such as Trinity Health/ St Joseph Mercy Hospital System and Michigan Medicine; AAA Michigan/AAA Life; and automotive suppliers such as BorgWarner and Bosch.
Fricke has also been extremely successful on agency side assignments, including representing ownership of the Fairlane Mall in Dearborn on a 240,000-square-foot lease with Ford Motor Company in 2016. He led the leasing team that for over 20 years consistently kept the 600,000-square-foot Oakland Towne Square in Southfield at well over 90% occupied and has led successful leasing efforts for almost every Southeast Michigan developer, including REDICO, Kojaian Companies, Schostak Brothers, Northern Equities and The Blain Group.
Fricke recently assisted Michigan State University with a large two-building acquisition near its campus in East Lansing and assisted Michigan Medical (UofM Health) with leasing 50% of a former four-story 90,000 foot office building in downtown Ypsilanti, Michigan for a medical office campus.
Fricke joined Colliers International as an executive vice president in 2018 after spending 26 years as a founding principal of the office division at Signature Associates. He started his career in commercial real estate in 1987 with the Detroit office of national developer Trammell Crow Company including managing the Michigan office as marketing principal from 1989 to 1990. He has consistently been a top 10% producer in the field, with numerous top sales awards at every stop.
Fricke prides himself on his many long-standing relationships with clients, with some of these relationships stretching back 20 to 30 years. He believes in total transparency and has absolutely nothing but his client’s interests at heart. He also loves the variety of experiences the job provides.
“While I have primarily focused on office and research-type buildings and spaces, the fun part of the job is the variety of real estate that you end up working on,” Fricke said. “I’ve sold and assisted with the purchase or lease of several churches, a car dealership, a surgery center, a golf driving range and a county-owned facility that housed a prison/trustee camp. Every one of those was a new experience that I learned a lot from and thoroughly enjoyed.”
Fricke grew up in the Chicago area, attending Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and then receiving his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. His off hours are filled with enjoying most sports, and he was active in coaching both his daughter and son in their sports activities. He has also been an active supporter of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program.
Fricke and his wife, Lori, live in Birmingham, Michigan, where they enjoy spending time visiting their daughter, son in law, and two grandchildren in Chicago. They look forward to their youngest son Matthew graduating from Michigan State this Spring and hopefully starting his career in commercial real estate.