Shopping Center Business is the leading monthly business magazine for the retail real estate industry.
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CULLINAN 226 • SHOPPING CENTER BUSINESS • May 2017 C ullinan Properties Founding Part- ner and Chairman Diane Cullinan Oberhelman says making a dif- ference is the most important part of her team's work, and it's what motivates them to grow into many communities. The Peo- ria, Illinois-based, full-service commercial real estate and development company, with additional offices in Chicago and St. Louis, has been making a difference since the early 1980s by building a spectrum of projects, primarily mixed-use centers that are community-focused, successful places that benefit cities, patrons and investors. A 2003 development in Peoria, the Shoppes at Grand Prairie, for example, brought in $40 million in sales taxes from retail sales in the center's first decade, ac- cording to a study by Bradley University cited in The Peorian magazine. Cullinan Properties was early to the mixed-use property scene. In 1994, the company developed EastPort Commer- cial that included 100,000 square feet of GLA for office and retail; townhomes; condominiums; and even a 580-boat slip marina. Today, mixed-use is still steering the ship, and almost all retail the company develops going forward is likely to be part of a mixed-use, lifestyle property. That pipeline includes Rock Run Cross- ings in Joliet, Illinois, Waller Town Center in Waller, Texas, and the near-complete Streets of St. Charles in Metro St. Louis. Incorporated in 1988, Cullinan Prop- erties has grown into a full-service com- mercial real estate and development company, offering asset management, development, tenant coordination and leasing and marketing services. To date, the company has developed more than $1 billion in retail, office, gov- ernmental, medical and multifamily proj- ects, with retail comprising a majority of the total portfolio. Cullinan has approximately 3 million square feet of various asset classes cur- rently under construction. It's this diver- sification of investments that has kept the company on firm footing, even through some lean years. "Our company has humble origins in Peoria, Illinois, where we couldn't just focus on one asset class and one market to grow the company," Cullinan Oberhel- man says. "So we started in Peoria and the Midwest with residential development and soon grew into other areas of com- mercial development, such as retail and medical, in order to capitalize on opportu- nities in Peoria. Ultimately, this has really helped diversify the company and was one of the reasons Cullinan Properties was one of the few developers, particu- larly in the Midwest, to grow during the recession." The company inevitably grew beyond Peoria, seizing opportunities to develop in other markets in Illinois, Texas, Mis- souri and the Southeast. Cullinan has a staff of 150 with offices in Peoria as well as Chicago and St. Louis. The company typically targets greenfield or brownfield development or will purchase existing properties with large value-add compo- nents. The overall investment goal is to have a diverse, recession-resistant com- pany that has enough flexibility to make changes if market fundamentals shift. Cullinan's portfolio is defined by its spectrum of real estate, which continues to widen. The Lofts @ Euclid in St. Lou- is was a redevelopment of a seven-story Neighborhood Partners For three decades, Peoria, Illinois-based Cullinan Properties has grown by building essential, market-changing properties, even during the leanest of years. And there's plenty more to come. Lynn Peisner Rock Run Crossings is a proposed super regional site with approximately 2 million square feet of retail, entertainment, hotels, medical, office and multifamily. It is located at Interstates 55 and 80 in Joliet, Illinois, the gateway to Chicago.