“Never waste a crisis, they all have opportunity.”

It is a common occurrence during difficult times, and there is something very human about perceiving the current situation and lamenting that it is the worst or most extreme crisis in history. Although most of the time this can be chalked up to theatrics or over reaction after hearing Mr. Andy Deckas, President of Founders Properties,

Moody's CPPI -- Pre and Post Bubble

speak about what happened in commercial real estate (CRE) over the past seven years, one can only hope that he is correct in his analysis that, at least for CRE, the market is moving forward and recovering from the difficulties of the last few years. Mr. Deckas gave a superb analysis of the root causes of CRE bubble, using a combination of personal narrative and hard data to support his claim, while being very specific in the way he defined the crisis in the context of the greater economy, and the world in general. His labeling of the fluctuations in CRE market, as the worst in history, based on the criteria of loss of equity, disruption of the industry, and systemic implications on the greater economy quantifies his claim, and despite the pitfalls of making such sweeping assertions, seems to be reasonable. Despite Mr. Deckas’s sober analysis of the recent state of the CRE market, his presentation had a positive tone that included optimism about current opportunities, as well as providing a recap of his fascinating career in the industry.

Resume | Mr. Deckas’s credentials as a commercial investor date back to beginning of the industry, when financial professionals were just realizing the value of securitizing CRE. Mr. Deckas earned his BA from Northwestern University, and planned on continuing his education by earning an MBA until he received an offer that he could not refuse. A personal connection encouraged Mr. Deckas to contact Tom Crawley, who was an executive at Heitman Financial. Mr. Crawley’s pitch was simple, come work for me, and in two years I promise you will learn more than you ever could about CRE in academia. Mr. Deckas agreed, and part of his initial responsibilities included working on raising the capital needed to construct the Mall of America. After nine years moving up through the ranks at Heitman, Mr. Deckas left the firm and moved to OPUS, which at the time  was one of the nations largest real estate developers. His first role at OPUS was creating and growing OPUS financing operation. At OPUS, Mr. Deckas moved the focus of there customer targeting from institutional investors, which were flush with capital but also with a highly bureaucratic structure that impeded flexibility, to high net worth, private equity. It was here that Mr. Deckas found an untapped niche of the market, linking investors eager to increase returns, with securities that offered high upside, with (at the time) minimal risk. Mr. Deckas’s final move brought him to Founders Properties, were he serves as the President of Operations.

The resume that Mr. Deckas possesses, especially the quick ascension to the c-suite in every firm he worked for, provides credibility for his opinions and the analysis of the situation on a macro level. Raising capital for funds in the $100M-$200M dollar range places Mr. Deckas in a unique echelon of individuals who were present in the board rooms and at the job sites of developments that represented the center of the looming decline of the industry

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