CHICAGO—Real estate auctions continue to gain popularity among owners and investors as an alternative to traditional sales, and Sperry Van Ness AuctionWorks, a Chicago-based auction house, has decided to make three new hires. Andrew Benson and Sagar “Sam” Shah join the firm as advisors, and Rose Lucania joins as operations manager.
“This summer alone we have more than 200 properties, both commercial and residential, up for auction,” Diana Peterson, president of SVN AuctionWorks, tells GlobeSt.com. “We've had no choice but to grow our team. It's not a bad problem to have.”
As reported in GlobeSt.com, the properties up for auction include a 10,500 square foot luxury estate in suburban Oak Brook; five separate portfolios comprising more than 150 income-producing, Section 8 rental properties; a former Fuddruckers restaurant; and many bank-owned properties. Last November, the firm held an auction with more than 90 listings and the previous June it held one with 27.
Benson most recently held positions in banking and finance at Northern Trust and William Blair & Co., and will specialize in the sale of commercial and residential real estate. He began working in residential real estate at Baird & Warner and then moved into commercial real estate with Inland Real Estate Brokerage & Auctions Inc. Benson holds a bachelor of arts in business from Holy Cross College at Notre Dame.
Shah will specialize in multifamily investment sales in Chicago. Most recently, he served as a banker with MB Financial Bank for 11 years. His wide-ranging experience includes establishing ADTime Marketing, an advertising agency, and in 2004, co-founding India Bulletin, the largest South Asian newspaper in North America.
With that kind of marketing experience, Shah can leverage “his numerous national and regional media contacts to raise awareness of client properties up for auction,” Peterson adds.
Lucania manages office operations but is also fully involved in the auction process. Prior to joining AuctionWorks, Luciana served as a senior auction coordinator with Rick Levin & Associates where she managed hundreds of personal property and real estate auctions serving clients that included the FDIC, US Marshals Service, US Treasury Department, and the US Army. Prior to that, Luciana spent 10 years at First Eagle Development/KMA Development as an office manager.
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