Back in 2004, Ryan Kehoe was coaching swimming at the Lake Forest Swim Club and recalled the moment when he thought about his future. Considering a career change, Kehoe thought about one of the most influential people in his life—his father.
“My dad has been a commercial broker since the early 70s,” Kehoe said. “First with Sheldon F. Good & Company and now Inland Real Estate. At 79, he was Inland’s highest producing broker in 2014 and he has been my role model, and I try to conduct my business as he would.”
And it seems like that’s the direction he is headed.
“In early 2006, I closed my first deal, which was the sale of 10701 Belmont in Franklin Park to Centerpoint Properties,” Kehoe said.
He added that his first independent deal was also that year, where he represented Keenan Transit in their purchase of a property in Carol Stream.
Kehoe is vice president in the industrial services group of Lee & Associates. He joined the company in November 2014 after 10 years with Grubb & Ellis/NGKF. He said that in his current role, he is splitting his time between buyer/tenant rep, and landlord rep work. When he first started in the industry, Kehoe worked West Cook but since then, he has done deals from Northwest Indiana to Milwaukee over the years and currently focuses most of his business development efforts on North Cook County, Lake County and Southern Wisconsin.
“Currently, I am rebuilding my book of business,” Kehoe said.
His last big deals include the selling of 1817 Kenosha Road in Zion to Venture One in October 2014, which was 220,000 square feet, and selling Touhy, 300,000 square feet, in Niles to an investor around the same time.
He said that right now, he has several buildings under contract between 20,000 to 60,000 square feet, and is working with some buyers/tenants, too.
And what’s rewarding about his job, he said, isn’t just closing deals and getting commission checks, but it’s the flexibility the job provides between life and work, along with the appreciation of clients after having successfully helped them put a deal together.
The flexibility, though, is big for Kehoe since he spends a lot of his time with his niece and nephew and is highly involved with his community, Lake Forest. He serves on the Lake Forest Caucus, a group of citizens that find, interview and recommend other citizens to serve the community on various boards and committees, as well as The Sons of the American Legion and the local American Legion post 264 in Lake Forest.
Kehoe also enjoys Trap/Skeet shooting, fly fishing and looks forwards to festivals this summer and taking his niece and nephew to the beach. He also hopes to go on a hiking and camping trip in Michigan and plans to visit family in Colorado and Florida in the future.
And as far as personal goals for himself, Kehoe said he has several such as focusing on making healthy lifestyle changes, and he would like to buy more investment properties, too.
