Editors’ Note

Jodi Meade founded and launched CBRE’s Automotive Properties Group in 2004 and, in 2009, CBRE adopted Meade’s service platform nationwide. Prior to 2004, Meade was one of CBRE’s leading retail investment specialists in Southern California.

Company Brief

Avison Young (avisonyoung.com) is a leading commercial real estate services firm, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, that provides investment sales, leasing, advisory, management, financing and mortgage placement services to owners and occupiers of office, retail, industrial, multi-family and hospitality properties.

Would you provide an overview of Avison Young’s national specialty Automotive Properties Group (APG) practice?

In leading the Automotive Properties Group for Avison Young, I focus on the acquisition, expansion, leasing, relocation, disposition and auto-mall-development needs of owners, tenants, investors, developers, manufacturers and franchisees.

My past and current clients make up an impressive roster with some of the most successful and recognizable names in the auto industry, including: GM, Ford Motor Company, Premier Automotive Group, Sonic Automotive, Sage Automotive Group, West Coast Customs, Penske Automotive and O’Gara Coach Beverly Hills to name just a few.

How do you differentiate APG’s services and solutions from its competitors?

I founded and launched one of the country’s first Automotive Properties Groups at CBRE. Since that time, this area has evolved into a well-defined niche that has grown exponentially. I’ve led more than $1 billion in automotive commercial real estate transactions. Three and a half years ago, I brought the Automotive Properties Group to Avison Young, where the company’s entrepreneurial platform has made way for a growing number of new opportunities.

Where do you see the greatest opportunities for growth for APG?

As a company, we continue to deliver difference. The automotive group does just that. The challenge in today’s real estate environment is to stay ahead of the competition. Avison Young gives us the platform to grow and excel by embracing unique business models and specialized niche practices to set us apart from our competition, which allows us to rise above the noise.

How critical is it to expand the group on a national level through strategic partnerships and acquisitions?

I’m dedicated to the continued growth of our APG into a nationally and internationally recognized niche specialty within the firm. Partnering with the firm’s most talented professionals, I am driven to make the automotive group the “go-to” resource for all automotive real estate needs in the industry. Whether in times of expansion or contraction, we provide real estate solutions to perpetuate our clients’ goals; maximize asset performance and provide strategic and informed decisions necessary for our clients’ future growth and success.

What attracted you to the real estate industry and what makes real estate so special for you?

My mother, Norma J. Meade, was a true pioneer in business and an amazing example to me as I grew up, seeing first-hand that women could be successful in anything they wanted to achieve. My mom began her career as a trailblazer in the ’70s as the first woman store director on the West Coast for a major national grocery chain. In the ’80s, she then shattered another glass ceiling by founding a commercial real estate company in Beverly Hills that developed regional enclosed shopping centers across the United States. Needless to say, I saw my mother and role model “slaying dragons” every day – and my interest in continuing this legacy of success in retail and commercial real estate prevailed. I worked with my mother and learned the business before I made a transition into other commercial real estate brokerage opportunities in 1991.•