Two established, highly regarded national real estate professionals are launching Evoke Partners, a dynamic new platform of companies playing at the intersection of commercial real estate, energy, and digital disruption. The company is starting with critical mass: an established, active base of clients, early-stage development projects underway across the US, and significant investment positions in several notable or upcoming property technology or “PropTech” firms. Evoke Partners is based in Chicago with an office in Minneapolis, and more locations to follow.
The founders of Evoke Partners are Ra’eesa Motala, SIOR, a fast-rising star with a national footprint in commercial real estate, and Geoffrey Kasselman, SIOR, LEED AP, an accomplished industry veteran and thought leader with decades of national large-scale experience as broker, advisor and developer. Motala is the firm’s president and Kasselman is its chief executive officer.
Evoke Partners has been established to help “future-proof” its clients and deliver exponential, ROI-driven results, drawing on their vast experiences in the most relevant and forward-looking innovation aspects and opportunities of the corporate occupier, commercial real estate development, and energy ecosystems.
The comprehensive services offered by Evoke align with an increasingly important focus of Corporate America: social consciousness and responsibility (known as environmental, social and governance or ESG). Further, the partnering of Motala and Kasselman underscores their personal commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).
Evoke Partners is starting with impressive depth and scale, including:
- Five early-stage development projects with an aggregate value of more than $100 million in the midwestern and western U.S.;
- Dozens of active real estate clients and several hundred active energy clients;
- Investment and involvement in several PropTech companies as well as the adoption of AI and blockchain concepts to enhance project results and internal operations; and
- Expansion plans that include the addition of construction and property management divisions.
Kasselman is also the founder and CEO of Op2mize Energy. He was the SIOR global president in 2016-2017. He is a highly acclaimed “Business Futurist” keynote speaker and has won several notable awards and accolades.
Motala already has a long list of impressive local and national awards, accolades and distinctions as well. She is an accomplished national keynote speaker. Further, as a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), she sits on the ULI WLI America’s executive leadership committee and is chair of its real estate diversity initiative. Further, earlier this year she was a recipient of the NAIOP and Prologis Inclusion in CRE scholarship and earned the coveted SIOR designation after meeting a series of stringent requirements.
In aggregate, the founders of Evoke Partners have completed more than 100 million square feet of client projects in 147 cities, 45 states and 14 countries. The financial consideration of those assignments totals more than $2.1 billion. Additionally, Op2mize Energy clients have realized total energy supply savings (in kWh and/or Therms) exceeding $15 million.