Chris Merrill is the Co-Founder, President and CEO of Harrison Street Real Estate Capital,
LLC, a real estate private equity firm he co-founded in 2005 that has completed
over $19 billion in transactional volume and currently has over $13.7 billion
in AUM. He is also a Member of the firm’s Board of Directors and Chairman
of the Investment & Management Committees.
The firm was an innovator
and early adopter of a focused investment strategy around the Education,
Healthcare and Storage segments of the real estate market. Investments have
been made through a series of discretionary, commingled real estate funds,
including an opportunistic closed end fund series (Funds I-VI), and an open-end
real estate fund that collectively have raised over $10 billion in
discretionary equity capital. The firm’s global investors include U.S.,
European and Asian Pension Funds, Corporate Plans, Insurance Companies,
Endowments, Foundations and family offices. Other firm platforms include two
value-added funds targeting the European Student Housing market as well as a
Real Estate Securities practice, which is developing a long/short strategy. The firm has offices in Chicago and London.
Prior
to co-founding Harrison Street, Mr. Merrill was a partner, owner and Managing
Director of Heitman, a large U.S. Pension Fund Advisory firm where he
developed the firm's presence in Europe, creating the first ever real estate
funds exclusively targeting the markets of Central Europe.
Throughout
his career, Chris has led the creation of a series of differentiated real
estate products, which have acquired and/or developed over $23 billion of real
estate in both the U.S. and Europe. Since 2000, he has led the launch and
oversight of numerous distinct, discretionary real estate funds throughout the
U.S. and Europe, raising over $14 billion in equity commitments. Chris has been
active in many segments of the property markets, and has established and
implemented over 100 joint ventures with real estate operating partners across
the U.S. and Europe.
Chris
has appeared in numerous real estate journals and speaking engagements
regarding investing in the U.S. and Europe. In recent years, National
Real Estate Investor Magazine has named him one of the "10 To Watch"
leaders in the industry, PERE nominated him as one of the top real estate
executives in North America and Real Estate Forum named him one of “Chicago's
Real Estate Icons.” Mr. Merrill was also featured in the 2016 Forbes Investment
Guide.
Mr. Merrill is a member of the NAREIM
Board of Directors, Pension Real Estate Association (PREA), The Real Estate
Advisory Board of two Chicago based family offices (Gore Creek and Kinship
Capital), The First Tee of Greater Chicago Board, The Economic Club of Chicago,
the Chicago Commonwealth Club and the Young Presidents Organization
(YPO). Mr. Merrill earned his MBA in the evening from the CASS
school of business in London, England.
When
I was working on launching IREI’s business in Europe, starting in 2004, I began
attending a number of European real estate events. As some of you know, MIPIM is the largest
such event held annually in Cannes, France.
Having known some Heitman people from the U.S., I was invited to stop by
their ‘stand’ (aka ‘booth’). Lewis
Ingall, one of Heitman’s partners introduced me to Chris and we hit it off
right away – he’s that kind of guy! He was the individual that built Heitman’s
business in Europe and we have maintained contact ever since. Chris is one of the deepest and most creative
thinkers I know in the industry – it’s his DNA – as is evidenced by the success
Harrison Street has enjoyed.
Q. How
did you get your start in commercial real estate?
A. I began my real estate career when I was 18
years old. I was given a summer
internship from Norman Perlmutter, who was the founder and Chairman of Heitman. During college, I spent each summer working
in a different division within the firm.
The first summer was in property management and leasing. Then I spent a
summer in construction and engineering and finally a summer in the acquisitions
business, where I was ultimately hired. Norman
gave me a shot and during that internship really allowed my fellow interns and
myself to spend a lot of time participating in company-wide meetings. It was a very hands-on internship.
Q. What advice would you give someone who has
been in the industry for a short time, or a student looking to get his or her
start?
A. I
spend a lot of time with the younger people at Harrison Street as well as
others interested in a real estate career. The first and most foremost piece of
advice is to be patient. This is a
business that requires experience; it requires you to do things over and over
again. Patience can contribute to a
tremendous career. In contrast to other sectors such as technology where their
peers may work, where things may be happening a little bit quicker. It is also important to differentiate
yourself within an organization. Do you
have international experience, a strong understanding of other asset classes, ideas
related to new processes or other skills/ideas that make you unique?
Q. As
you look back on your career, is there anything you wish you had done
differently? If so, what?
A. First
of all, I recognize that I have been extremely lucky. There are so many people
that have helped me, and our firm, get to where it is today. It is hard to think of anything I would have
done differently. We hope to continue to build a unique platform by attracting
strong talent and giving back to an industry, which had done so much for me, my
team and our stakeholders.
Q. Who
have been major influences on your career and how/why?
A. The fellow that immediately comes to mind,
and I’m fortunate to be working with him today, is Chris Galvin. Chris was the Chairman and CEO of Motorola,
the business that his grandfather founded. He’s been my mentor since I was a
teenager. He really helped shape how I think about business, how I think about
values, and how I think about company culture. We created Harrison Street together.
It’s been an honor to work with Chris, and understandably, it is very difficult
to put my appreciation in words.
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