12:00 PM
Newmark is pleased to announce that Chris Sonne and Jonathan Lang are joining Valuation & Advisory (V&A). Sonne will co-lead the Self Storage practice with incumbent Newmark Self Storage Practice Leader Steve Johnson, while Lang will serve as a Vice President. While their work will be national in focus, Sonne and Lang will be based in Irvine, CA.
“I’m thrilled to reconnect with Chris, following our time together at Cushman & Wakefield, and to join him with our current Self Storage practice leader, Steve Johnson,” said Newmark V&A President John Busi. “They both share a special bond from earlier in their careers as both are connected to appraisal pioneer, Ray Wilson, who specialized in a sector known as ‘mini warehouses’ back in the early 1970’s, before real estate was classified into distinguishable asset classes. In 2008, Ray sold his practice to Integra Realty Resources (IRR). Shortly thereafter, as Chris Sonne began at Cushman & Wakefield, he requested that Ray join the Self Storage practice. This created a powerful combination and Chris came to be known as the preeminent Self Storage appraiser in the industry. The other truly recognized name in that sector at the time was Steve Johnson, who was running the legacy practice that IRR acquired from Ray in 2008. In 2018, Newmark acquired that Pasadena based practice led by Steve. Here we are today, full circle, co-joining these ‘larger-than-life’ specialists, Chris Sonne and Steve Johnson, to lead Newmark V&A’s Self Storage Specialty Practice.”
Steve Johnson added, “I have been following Chris for 15 years and we have always been friendly competitors. This is a chance to take the self storage valuation practice to a new level by combining our efforts.”
An added benefit, according to Busi, is that Newmark has an industry dominant Self Storage Capital Markets practice co-led by industry experts Aaron Swerdlin, Vice Chairman and Kenneth Cox, Executive Managing Director.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled; Chris has a phenomenal reputation in the industry. We’ve tried a couple times since we’ve been at Newmark to get Chris on board so it’s great that it’s finally happening,” said Swerdlin from his Houston office.
“Industry data and industry knowledge are the two most important aspects in building relationships within this sector. Both Chris and the legacy Newmark Self Storage team will benefit greatly from being under the same flag,” added Cox.
Sonne has authored the Appraisal Institute’s 2012 guidebook for self storage, titled “Self Storage Economics and Appraisal,” and he is currently working on a Second Edition. The Appraisal Institute seminar by the same title has been taught in over 12 states, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Canada. Sonne has been published more than 100 times regarding the sector, authoring articles for the Appraisal Journal, Inside Self Storage, the Pwc Investor Survey, Mini Storage Messenger and others.
About Newmark
Newmark (“Newmark”), operated by Newmark Group, Inc. (“Newmark Group”) (NASDAQ: NMRK), is one of the world’s leading and most trusted commercial real estate advisory firms, offering a complete suite of services and products for both owners and occupiers. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, Newmark’s 16,000 professionals operate from approximately 430 offices on six continents. Newmark’s investor/owner services and products include investment sales, agency leasing, property management, valuation and advisory, diligence, underwriting, government-sponsored enterprise lending, loan servicing, debt and structured finance and loan sales. Occupier services and products include tenant representation, real estate management technology systems, workplace and occupancy strategy, global corporate services consulting, project management, lease administration and facilities management. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com.
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