FEATURE ARTICLE, SEPTEMBER 2005

THE DAWN OF MILLENNIUM
Millennium Real Estate Services, LLC brings the expertise of REIT professionals to local property owners.
Susan H. Fishman

When Marc Jasso met Nick Pavich through a local residential developer and family member, Pavich had control of 650 acres of property in Sparks, Nevada. Pavich, whose background is in land sales and residential development had no retail development experience to complement his proposed master planned community. Jasso began talking with Pavich about forming an entity that would provide retail expertise to Pavich, thus creating the required retail component to accommodate Pavich’s vision. As a result, in December 2004, Millennium Real Estate Services, LLC (MRES) was formed to provide local land owners with retail, residential and redevelopment expertise for mixed-use development.

“Our first project was in Sparks to accommodate residential master-plan developers who were looking for a knowledgeable retail developer,” says Jasso. “MRES was a perfect fit since we were able to bring to the table not only retail development expertise, but construction, leasing, asset management and property management expertise.”

Jasso maintains that by offering a full range of services, this creates a watchful eye on each project through stabilization.

“Basically, we become a fee developer for the property owner,” he notes.

The partnership also includes three other members: Lawrence Lipp, who specializes in retail development and redevelopment; Nick’s brother, Anthony Pavich; and a local partner, Jack Ferris. The principals bring nearly a century of combined experience in the residential and retail real estate industry. MRES now has two regional offices serving the northern California and northern Nevada markets in Sacramento and Reno, respectively.

Jasso formerly served as Director of Real Estate for Kimco Realty Corporation, the largest owner, operator and developer of neighborhood, community and promotional shopping centers in the United States, where he was responsible for budget assumption, leasing, marketing, LOI and contract negotiations for 1 million square feet of retail space in the Fremont, Daly City and San Ramon areas of California. Lipp also comes from a retail real estate investment trust background including Western Properties Trust and Kimco, formerly directing all of the company’s development, redevelopment and construction activities in 11 western states. To date, Lipp has developed or redeveloped more than 3 million square feet of retail projects.

“There’s a void when it comes to capturing development sites for property owners with no experience,” Jasso says. “You see a lot of real estate REITs are now partnering up with established developers in order to get control of the site early. We’re coming in and trying to provide the local property owners the ability to see the project all the way through.”

Millennium Real Estate Services is developing the Stonebrook Shopping Center, a 460,300 square-foot grocery-anchored center  in northern Reno, Nevada.

The future goals for the company are to establish a portfolio of asset management properties and broaden its territory to the western states.

“We hope to broaden our appeal to property owners who would like to create significant value to their existing real estate holdings,” says Jasso.

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