RBL Lures Longs Drug Real Estate Director

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SAN FRANCISCO-Retail industry executive David Greensfelder has joined Rawson, Blum & Leon, a locally based real estate acquisition, development and management firm. Greensfelder was most recently the real estate director for Longs Drug Stores, where he spent eight years.

RBL’s director of acquisitions Jeffrey Leon says Greensfelder’s tenure at Longs will “greatly” assist the firm in building a development pipeline for its financial partner Weingarten Realty Investors. The partnership was formed to focus on ground-up and redevelopment opportunities of urban retail properties in fast growing Western US markets.

Greensfelder was responsible for developing new store projects for Longs Drug throughout California, which included mixed-use and redevelopment projects. His responsibilities have included site selection and new market analysis, overseeing property entitlement and development, site planning, construction management, strategic long-range planning, portfolio administration, and development of internal systems for rapid retail expansion programs.

“The reason I made the jump was to get back on the development side, which is where I started,” Greensfelder tells GlobeSt.com. “I was basically doing development in-house for Longs, but the idea was to try and broaden the horizons a bit.”

At RBL, Greensfelder will be primarily responsible for acquisitions throughout California. RBL’s interest is in acquiring ground-up development opportunities with a minimum size of 10 acres and redevelopment/value add opportunities with an existing value of $10 million or larger. Presently, RBL is under construction on a Home Depot anchored center in Spokane, Washington and in the development process on retail projects located in the California cities of Santa Rosa, Sacramento and Apple Valley.

RBL’s partnership with Weingarten Realty Investors was formed in late 2004. Earlier that same year, RBL principals David Rawson, Joseph Blum and Leon formed a strategic alliance with industry veterans Russ Pratt and John Reininga to invest in developing shopping centers throughout the Western United States.

Prior to Longs, Greensfelder served as VP of development for Brinker International’s Eatzi’s restaurant, Director of Development for High Tech Burrito, Western Region Real Estate Manager for Super Crown Books and Director of Leasing for California Factory Stores.