Each year, Midwest Real Estate News elects a new class to its Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame. Here is a look at one of our newest inductees, J.J. Smith, managing partner with Chicago’s CRG.
During his 20-year career in commercial real estate, J.J. Smith has led the development of $7 billion in projects across 40 states and multiple countries. For the last 10 years, he has specialized in multifamily and student-housing development and has built a reputation as one of the top experts in these sectors.
Before taking on his current role as managing partner in the Chicago office of CRG, Smith made a significant impact at his previous firm, CA Ventures. While holding executive leadership positions with that firm for 13 years, Smith led the transformation of a small student-housing start-up with under $100 million in assets into a global development and investment firm with more than $12 billion in assets.
During his time at CA Ventures, Smith oversaw the development of more than 40,000 units of housing worth more than $6 billion in value, helping to pioneer campus-adjacent, urban-infill student housing.
Smith points to several reasons for his success. First, he has a natural love for the design and development of real estate. Secondly, he boasts a full understanding of the work that’s involved in taking an idea from concept to fruition. He’s earned this skill from working his way up through the industry, holding positions as an architect, project manager and development manager before moving into executive leadership roles.
“Knowing how to perform each role essential to a building’s creation has allowed me to develop a keen eye for identifying talent and placing that talent in positions that support both professional growth and the growth of the business,” Smith said.
Smith is also known for his innate ability to, as he says, “connect dots,” always remembering seemingly small details that often result in large projects and new jobs.
“It could be remembering someone who went to a specific school and has an interest in investing in that market or someone who knows someone who owns land and would be willing to sell to a developer who can realize their vision for it,” Smith said. “The ability to connect dots between people and opportunities has served me very well.”
Today, Smith is overseeing the development of four student-housing projects and the pre-development of six multifamily communities comprising about 2,000 units across the United States.
This busy career hasn’t kept him from mentoring others. Smith’s peers say that he is known for nurturing young executives, and that he has built a strong team to support CRG’s continued growth.
Smith says that he is looking forward to the next two decades of his career. Why? He loves the business and has a passion for bringing buildings to life.
“I don’t consider real estate ‘work’ but rather a passion,” he said. “I have always enjoyed the autonomy of picking and choosing our target markets and product types and then dreaming up concepts and bringing them to fruition in collaboration with the talented team we’ve assembled. Real estate is a people business, and relationships are essential: I cultivate them at every opportunity.”
When not working on new development projects, Smith enjoys spending time with his wife, Julia, and three children. This often means playing or watching sports with them. Smith also enjoys spending equal parts of the year at the beach and on the ski slopes.
