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Forrest Blake 310-850-2381 fblake1000@gmail.com |
| Career highlights:
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A commercial real estate and tenant representation veteran with more than 24 years of experience, Forrest Blake is a Vice President in DTZ’s Downtown Los Angeles office. Drawing on his extensive history representing tenants in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, Forrest skilfully represents the interests of DTZ’s occupier clients throughout the area. A passionate tenant activist, thought leader in occupier challenges and prolific speaker on tenant representation, Forrest has represented the needs of established corporations including Warner Brothers, Blue Shield, Texaco and Hertz. An expert negotiator, Forrest has brokered transactions in total of more than two million square feet.Throughout his career which started in 1989 as a tenant representative, Mr. Blake has worked with Studley, Cresa Partners and Travers Realty. He is also a successful entrepreneur, one of California’s Top 50 Amateur Golfers, and a published author. His most recent books are, “The Art of the Commercial Real Estate Deal” and “Rich Landlord – Poor Tenant.” |
| Recent experience: | Mr. Blake decided to execute on his entrepreneur and operational experience and build a golf instruction company. His GolfTEC franchise grew to 15 retail locations in California and was then sold the business in 2012. Returning to full time in commercial real estate with a enhanced skill set, his active clients are professional services firms, owner/user building investments and a development project. |
| Qualifications: | Currently serving on the executive governing board of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC). He is also involved with the International Facilities Management Association (IFMA), Association of Corporate Growth (ACG) and Financial Executives International. |
| Client experience: | Warner Brothers – 662,000 square feet
Blue Shield – 201,546 square feet Texaco – 193,552 square feet Future Electronics – 189,424 square feet Frontier Commutations – 104,000 square feet |
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Retail Roll up & Turn Around
Forrest Blake |
| December 2005 to June 2012 Title: CEO – Southern California• Purchased first franchise in 2005 and opened the first 2 centers in 2006 • Obtained financing • Rolled up 15 Southern California Centers (Click Here for OC Register Article) • Implemented client payment plan options • Closed 2 Centers to eliminate negative cash flow • Upgraded staff with 30% positive turnover • From 2008 prices were raised by 35% in order to target the right demographic • Accelerated Success System was put in place to have the employees train with other successful employees • Completed all accounting functions including: budgeting, payment processing, bank reconciliations, lender reporting and cash flow management • Same Store Increases ending August 31st – 2010 of 27%, 2011 of 25%& 2012 of 12% • Converted all non-management staff to hourly in order to control our largest expense • Created a private placement and raised over $1M and then elected to sell the business to the Franchisor and returned the money to the investors • Hired by the Franchisor to help on a national basis to implement changes that made the Southern California market extremely successful • Became a plus 3 handicap player and won several SCGA events |
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| Fairway Vacations – International Golf Travel | Forrest BlakeCEOFairway Vacations |
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Title: CEO & Co-FounderFairway Vacations provides guided group golf trips to Scotland. • Primarily responsible for building the website from start to finish using the WordPress platform • Launched May 2009 • Created many site videos using AVID software. These videos became a cornerstone of the marketing efforts on the site • Most of the sales is initiated from a strong Google keyword campaign<a href=”http://www.golftectravel.com” target=”_blank”>GolfTEC Travel</a> July 2012 to Current Title: DirectorGolfTEC Travel is exclusive to GolfTEC clients and their guests. Differing from Fairway Vacations, this company will be providing an extensive selection of golf destinations and competitive events. • Managed the early development of the site and ultimately took over this function and saw the project to its completion • Developed and edited all videos on the site • Created the itinerary and negotiated with the resort destinations for the trips • Launched in November 2012 and the first trip is planned for February 2013Commercial Real Estate with Multiple Companies February 1998 to May of 2006 |
Title: Vice PresidenOver 16 years in commercial real estate representing tenants in their office leasing needs.
• Multi-market transactions skills on a local, national and international basis
• Clients include Warner Brothers, Blue Shield, Texaco, City of Glendale and many internet and software companies
• Close to 2,000,000 square feet of office space acquired for clients
• As a single point of contact, managed company’s portfolios of real estate leases
• Budgeted real estate expenses
• Site review, demographics and reporting for clients
• Coordinated the hiring of project teams including architects and contractors
• Negotiated rent and concession agreements
• Managed the project for on time completion
• Performed operating expense auditsFICTION WRITER
May 2004 to May 2006Co-Authored as a ghost writer two novels, Sullivan’s Justice (2005) and Sullivan’s Evidence (2006) with New York Time best-selling novelists Nancy Taylor Rosenberg. Publisher was Kensington Books. Wrote a yet to be published novel, “December.”MyGolfPeople
August 2009 to June 2012
Title: CEO & Co-FounderMyGolfPeople was an online golf community where people could come and connect and play.
• Worked with a team of developers both in the US and overseas
• Launched in March of 2010
• Had a 6 member board and one full time employee
• Sold 1,800 memberships for $99
• Organized and ran 15 golf related events
• Created discount vouchers for the members
• Sold in June, GolfTEC plans to develop the site and concept further
