Each year, Midwest Real Estate News inducts a new class into its Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame. Here is a look at the successful career of one of our new inductees, John Wilson, president of HSA PrimeCare in Chicago.
“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just stand there.” This is the quote HSA PrimeCare President John Wilson lives by, and one that’s led him to enjoy success in nearly every aspect of CRE, including brokerage, tenant representation, property marketing, real estate development, land transactions and owner representation.
From his early days at Cushman & Wakefield to becoming a partner at Irvine Associates/Realsource, Wilson has negotiated hundreds of lease transactions valued over $1 billion on behalf of tenants including The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Kemper Financial Services, Honeywell and Bank of America, along with marketing properties such as the now Willis Tower.
In 1995, Wilson initiated HSA PrimeCare, one of the first healthcare real estate service groups, operating as a separate division of HSA Commercial. Over the past 25 years, he has led the growth of this group—with clients such as Advocate Healthcare, University of Chicago Medicine, Loyola Healthcare, Trinity Health and Franciscan Alliance—which has developed, leased and/or purchased more than one million square feet of healthcare facilities across the Midwest.
His projects have received award recognition, along with Wilson himself. He has been recognized as a “Healthcare Real Estate Pioneer” by RE Forum and a Healthcare Real Estate “Influencer”. Additionally, Wilson is a member of both the Chicago Office Leasing Brokers Association, the Healthcare Financial Management Association and the Center for Health Design and is on the Board of Directors of B.U.I.L.D.
Though the recognition speaks for itself, Wilson’s favorite aspect of the business is the people. “I have been fortunate to meet and work with people from different real estate sectors,” he said, “including contractors, banks, brokers, architects and the healthcare providers HSA PrimeCare has partnered with. Business is people and having good relationships to celebrate the achievements and overcome the challenges is key to business success.”
Outside of work, Wilson enjoys traveling with his wife, Sue, and attending family gatherings with their children and grandchildren.