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, Jon Dahl, managing director with the Minneapolis office of JLL.
Jon Dahl has worked on some of the largest and most complicated lease transactions in the Minneapolis market. And has done this with an amazing level of success.
An example? In 2009, Dahl successfully negotiated the largest U.S. office transaction, one encompassing almost 900,000 square feet. This industry veteran — he’s worked in commercial real estate for more than 23 years — has also leased some of the most challenging spaces in investors’ portfolios.
But these challenges are part of what make commercial real estate the perfect career for Dahl. No two days are the same in this business, and success usually comes from working hard, serving clients and studying the market.
Then there are the people. Dahl says that he’s formed long-lasting friendships through his work.
“I truly enjoy the other professionals in our industry,” Dahl said. “Some people say it’s a cut-throat business, but I’ve never witnessed that. I pride myself on being open, honest and trying to work in everyone’s best interests. That is the key to success and enjoyment, in my opinion. It can be such a fun career if you just open yourself up to it.”
In addition to leasing services, Dahl also has experience in the appraisal, sales and development sides of the business. In 2011, he formed the Agency Leasing Group with his business partner Brent Robertson. The current version of this team includes seven professionals responsible for more than 10 million rentable square feet in the Minneapolis market. This team averages more than 100 transactions each year.
Dahl credits both luck and hard work for his success. He learned the basics of cold-calling and what he calls “old-fashioned” sales work early in his career. He then had the good fortune to get thrown into the spotlight leasing high-profile assets for Brookfield Properties in downtown Minneapolis.
“That experience really helped when my partner and I started up the JLL Agency arm of JLL,” he said. “We have never looked back, and it’s been an amazing journey. Now I’m just so excited to help our younger teammates grow in this amazing business while keeping our clients’ best interests in mind at all times.”
And when newer brokers ask Dahl how to grow a thriving CRE career? He has some simple, but important, advice: “My answer will be to always work hard but to keep your clients’ interests first. Success will follow. Don’t follow the paycheck.”
When not working, Dahl enjoys spending time with his wife and two sons. This means spending plenty of time watching school sports. Dahl also enjoys fishing as a way to fully unwind from the challenges of commercial real estate.
