SD-Based Director To Head Faris Lee’s Chicago Office

Ventura: “After selling my retail portfolio I found that I truly miss the energy of the transactional side of the business.”

SAN DIEGO— GlobeSt.com has learned exclusively that Faris Lee Investments has hired long-time client Gene Ventura as senior managing director to lead client development, increase transaction volume and anchor the firm’s new Chicago office at 200 W. Madison Ave., Suite 2100. Ventura, who will remain based in San Diego, is an office and retail developer who brings three decades of commercial real estate expertise to his new role and is well known in the Chicago market. Ventura’s experience includes the development, leasing and disposition of four Chicago-area office complexes and seven Wisconsin retail centers.

Ventura joins Faris Lee from Kirkwood Partners Ltd., a commercial development, management and leasing company he founded in 1997 and continues to operate. Between 2000 and 2008, Kirkwood built 100,000 square feet of retail space on speculation in the Kenosha, WI, area. Each asset achieved 95% to 100% occupancy prior to being sold through Faris Lee’s Jeff Conover.