Profile: Noel Liston of Darwin Realty shares his appreciation for helping people both inside and outside the industry and explains how others can impact the community

Liston-Noel-(3)Helping other people is something Noel Liston, principal at Darwin Realty & Development Corporation, finds most rewarding. He said he’s had the pleasure of working with and training three young brokers at Darwin over the past five years, which renews his excitement and passion for the industry. And there’s another way that Liston intends to help others, this time not in industrial real estate, but rather, it involves exploring his charitable, personal side.

“I strongly believe it is up to the individuals to make our community a better place,” Liston said. “When I have accomplished everything I need to in industrial real estate, I intend to dedicate the majority of my time to serving others less fortunate.”

The father of four, who spends almost all of his time outside of work with his children, and works in brokerage—researching trends on a macro level with capital markets, vacancy, absorption, new construction starts, and on a local level with transactions completed and deals in the marketplace—said he hopes to one day establish or work with a charitable foundation.

But currently, Liston appears to be keeping himself busy with the responsibilities that come with being principal, which also includes packaging and disseminating critical information to existing clients, both landlords and tenants, property tours and client consultations, daily meets with his team to review their activities, correspondence and business development.

Although those seem like a handful, Liston is proud to be a part of the firm and even credits Darwin Realty for getting his start in real estate.

“Without question, the individuals at Darwin Realty & Development Corporation were the main reason I got into the real estate profession,” Liston said.

It was shortly after college when Liston met with his brother who had been a broker and partner with the firm at the time. He explained that he spoke to his brother briefly about the successes and challenges in the industry and had the opportunity to meet the other partners and brokers at Darwin at the time, and happened to make a lasting impression on Liston.

And above all, its attention to details and hands-on approach to transactions are what Liston said sets the company apart from the rest.

“I think we understand cost structures as well or better than the majority of industrial brokerage firms,” he said. “We place an emphasis on asking the question, ‘how and why does a property or lease sell?’ We partner with some of the top design build firms so that we can understand the trends in replacement costs.”

Additionally, Liston said the company also has an extensive network of subcontractors, architects, environmental consultants and real estate attorneys that work closely together to better understand every aspect of a transaction and how it may impact cost.

As for projects and deals, Liston has no trouble naming one that’s been particularly memorable to him—The Weber-Stephen Products, 757,000-square-foot built-to-suit for lease in Huntley, Illinois, was one Liston recalled as “probably the most unique transaction I have been involved with in the last several years.”

The project began in January 2014 and revolved around a 75-acre parcel of land that hadn’t been zoned or annexed into the Village of Huntley at the time, but later came to be the site for a 757.000-square-foot new facility, expandable to 1,100,000 square feet for Weber-Stephen Products to occupy by January 2015.

Between January and May 2014, Liston said they successfully negotiated more than thirteen legal documents pertaining to the acquisition of the land, annexation and the Lease Agreement between the tenant, and developer and landlord, Duke Realty.

He included that during that time, they were able to:

  • Finalize a Purchase/Sale Agreement between the land owner and Weber-Stephen Products.
  • Conduct an extensive interview of the top industrial development groups in the country who could work on this project and ultimately own the facility.
  • Execute a 12-year lease agreement between Weber-Stephen Products and the chosen developer/landlord, Duke Realty.
  • Execute an assignment of the land Purchase/Sale Agreement that was entered into between Weber and the land owner to the chosen developer, Duke Realty.
  • Take the property through the annexation and development process with the Village of Huntley.
  • Negotiate and relocate AT&T fiber optic lines that ran across a good portion of the site.
  • Fully design and engineer the facility of 757,000 square feet with consideration for future expansion up to 1,150,000 square feet.
  • Obtain needed economic support from the Village of Huntley through concessions we were able to structure with respect to capital development and annexation fee reductions, as well as participation at the state level through an IDOT grant program.
  • Close on the purchase of the land and commence site work effective May 20, 2014

Liston has a positive outlook on the market for the remainder of the year. The industrial market in the greater Chicagoland area, he said, has been on somewhat of a roll for the past two years with some of the lowest vacancy rates in 10-plus years.

“Well located, Class A product that is fully-leased is extremely attractive on the investment side of the business right now,” he added. “Buyers and owners of industrial real estate have once again ventured into value add acquisitions and ground up speculative development.”

Ultimately, though, Liston said there is currently a noticeable shortage of available, functional, Class A and B buildings available for sale, and an extremely sparse land inventory for infill development, too.