Notching up 15 years in business, and managing more than $1.1 billion in combined retail rents for clients over that time, is a significant achievement in any industry.
Notching up 15 years in business, and managing more than $1.1 billion in combined retail rents for clients over that time, is a significant achievement in any industry.
But for Lease Equity’s Jim Tsagalis, the longevity of his business and the value of deals presided over are not his most treasured achievements.
Instead, Mr Tsagalis says, he’s most proud of the role retail leasing specialist Lease Equity has played in the evolution of Perth.
“After 15 years, I’d like to think we are a part of the establishment and I would like to think that we’ve played some special part in helping Perth grow and sculpt it,” Mr Tsagalis told Business News.
Lease Equity’s presence in Perth’s retail property sector is almost ubiquitous in 2017, where it is rare to see a retail precinct without one of Mr Tsagalis’s signs adorning the window of an empty store.
The company has helped manage and shape some of Perth’s most heralded shopping and foodie precincts, including Brookfield Place, 140, Waterford Plaza and Belmont Forum, among others.
Mr Tsagalis said the main driver of Lease Equity’s sustained success was a commitment to create value for clients through the management of assets.
“From the very start, my analysis of the industry was that real estate agents are transactional,” Mr Tsagalis said.
“Whether the roller coaster goes up or down, as long as there are transactions, they take a percentage.
“But what I thought was ‘if we can add value, and if we can look at something and see how one plus one can equal three through our involvement, then we will be remunerated based on adding value or protecting value’.”
Mr Tsagalis said that approach had evolved in recent years, to the extent that he saw Perth city itself as another client.
“Over the course of the last 15 years we have seen market conditions oscillate considerably, and while there are few absolutes in the commercial property sector, the necessity to work in close partnership with clients, offer predictive advice based upon meticulous and methodical research and changing market conditions remain vitally important,” he said.
“Moments such as this allow us to reflect on the hard work of the team as a whole, and over the past decade and a half we have come to view Perth’s city as a client itself.
“Part of our responsibility is to represent Perth to the world and bring the best and most sought-after retailers, restaurateurs, operators and investors to our doorstep.”
It is that approach to business that Mr Tsagalis will take to Lease Equity’s next list of projects, including the $100 million redevelopment of Forrest Chase, QV1’s revamp, Yagan Square, and Hibernian Place at 480 Hay Street.
Mr Tsagalis said the goal for the next 15 years would be to continue to broaden the firm’s reach into sales and consultancy, with property management to remain the backbone of Lease Equity’s portfolio.
“That’s been one of our secret sauce ingredients, that every day we’re continually challenging ourselves,” he said.
“It’s really nice for someone to say ‘you’ve cracked $1 billion in deals, you’ve brought 20 stores first to market’, but that’s just in the process of doing what we do.
“It’s for others to define if we are ranked one, two or three, but for us, every project that we do we want to get it absolutely right.
“You have to believe in what you are doing and deliver it.”
