Retail Veteran El Warner Moves to Colliers

Retail veteran El Warner has joined Colliers International as EVP, GlobeSt.com reports exclusively. Warner joins the firm from Matthews Real Estate Investment Services, where he served as National Director of Shopping Centers. In his new position as part of Colliers’ capital markets team, Warner will focus on retail investment transactions. He will be based in the firm’s Irvine office.

“The timing is perfect for me to rejoin Colliers because their goal to expand and grow within the capital markets sector match up well with mine,” Warner Tells GlobeSt.com. “I really value their entrepreneurial culture, experienced brokers and overall environment that supports collaboration and teamwork. I will be able to be uniquely entrepreneurial while leveraging their international platform providing the best of both worlds to service my clients at a very high level.”

Warner is joining the firm with lofty goals. In the next three years, he expects to double his team’s size and revenue. “I aim to leverage the Colliers platform, internal services and resources to double my teams size and revenue over the next three years,” he says. “I will also be donating a percent of every fee earned to a charity that supports the advancement of children and provides them with basic retail necessities such as clothing and food.”

From a market perspective, the timing is right. Warner has noticed what he calls the “breaking up of retail” across the country. “The flow of capital is changing, and the bigger groups are not chasing retail like they used to due to either ecommerce or big box retailers not providing a better shopping experience,” he says. “As a result, property owners are asking for strategies to break up big centers into smaller pads to provide bite-size parcels that open sellers up to a larger buyer pool.”

As a result, there have been fewer large deals above $25 million; however, transactions less than $25 million have increased. “My team and I specialize in creating solutions for big box owners on how to reutilize the space after an anchor tenant vacates and create cash flow,” adds Warner. “The Collier’s platform allows me to provide national services on a local level and provide solutions by collaborating with different service lines, like leasing and prop management, to create creative strategies.”

Looking ahead to the second half of the year, Warner expects this trend to continue, creating opportunities for relationship-oriented brokers that can provide the kind of portfolio solutions that meet investors’ goals. “Sellers will have to be selective on who they hire because it is increasing difficult to source buyers,” he says. “While the retail market is still challenged with disruption, I believe that with the right advisors, this market could create opportunity for both buyers and sellers. If owners have a creative outlook they can take advantage of this market and realize that retail provides not only a viable investment, but a preferred investment for those looking to create value.”