This podcast features the first Champions DFW roundtable discussion. Joining co-hosts Ron Taylor and Jim Kelley on this Champions DFW roundtable discussion is Rudy Janecka and Eric Goodwin. Rudy is the Director of Retail Services for Champions, and Eric is the Director of Office and Industrial Services at Champions.
After you read this excerpt of the Champions DFW roundtable, be sure to listen to the podcast for the entire conversation:
Jim Kelley: Rudy, I want to start with you. Give us an update on your background and a little bit about what you’re doing at Champions and talk to us about retail services.
Rudy Janecka: Well I’ve got over almost 35 years of development experience. Most recently, have 15 years on the corporate side working for some national food retailers. Done mostly tenant rep, you know, representation in those years. However, it’s been an easy transition over to the listing side now that I’ve come to the dark side as some of my broker friends have reminded me. Prior to that, I have had about 20 years of design, construction, and project management experience, again, focused mostly on retail throughout my career. So retail is my passion, you know? What I enjoy doing, and I honestly never dreamed that my real estate career would go back and use so many of the tools of the trade that I’ve learned over the years as it relates to permeating in construction and budgeting and you know. And then the franchising experience that I’ve had as has also been very beneficial especially with new clients that we bring in that maybe have never done development or new franchises be able to help them with their first time experience. And then, on the corporate development side, I mean I’ve started relationship building with a lot of my peers on the corporate side just to leverage. I mean, I know the shoes that they walk in are the expectations that are on them. So I’ve tried to now market myself as someone who can help make their life easier to get those new store openings done to make corporate happy.
Rudy Janecka
Ron Taylor: Sure, sounds like you found a fit with Champions.
Rudy Janecka: I really did. It’s been great partnering with Jim and Eric and the rest of the team. And it’s just kind of been natural, and I feel like I’ve been here a long time even though it’s only been about eight months.
Jim Kelley: What’s going on in retail? We talked about some of the new corporate relocations and new development. Bring us up to speed on the retail. What’s happening in retail in Dallas-Fort Worth?
Rudy Janecka: Well, as you guys well know it chases the rooftops and there’s a lot of rooftops being billed as evidenced in our past shows. We’ve announced a whole lot of residential developments over the years, especially up in the northern part in Collin County and so forth, but there’s also stuff going on in Tarrant. So a lot of small shops are being built to…you know, the neighborhood style markets as well as some of the larger shops that are also being built. You know, H.E.B. announced 15 locations that are going to be coming in North Texas in the next couple of years to come up and compete with Kroger and Walmart Neighborhood Market and some of the other local right grocers in the area. Of course, the developments loves big grocery-anchored shopping centers because that spawns a lot of small shop and pad site development opportunities for the restaurant folks and the other retailers to come in and just serve the needs of the consumer.
Listen to the entire Champions DFW roundtable in this free podcast.
Learn more about Jim Kelley, here.
Learn more about Eric Goodwin, here.
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