Alex Blass, 34, briefly considered a career in retail before committing to his true love: real estate.
Blass graduated from the University of Arkansas with a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a double major in marketing and management. He joined Sage Partners in Rogers in 2011 and was named partner in 2016, the youngest partner in the firm’s history, which is now known as Cushman & Wakefield/Sage Partners.
Blass, the son of real estate titan Gus Blass III, was instrumental in the merger between Sage Partners and Hunt Ventures in 2016. He also helped found Sage Asset Solutions, and is the owner of Blue Ribbon Industries, which began as a landscaping venture but now includes nursery, excavation and dump truck subsidiaries.
What is the commercial real estate market like right now in Arkansas?
The market in northwest Arkansas is getting more active each month. It feels as if a lot of concerns tenants were feeling earlier in the pandemic are starting to subside as overall cases are starting to decrease and state/federal regulations have become more relaxed. We are getting more calls for office and industrial space each week.
I can’t speak to most of the other markets in the state other than the ones I actively work in. Outside of northwest Arkansas, we have property in west Little Rock that has been held by my family for more than 20 years that has seen strong interest in the first few months of this year. We have also gotten several unsolicited offers on buildings in Little Rock in the past six months, so that is a positive sign investors are looking for opportunities in that market as well.
What is the future of commercial real estate in Arkansas?
I think that is the million-dollar question. Just about anyone you talk to agrees that the post-pandemic real estate market will be different than the pre-pandemic one; just exactly how it will all net out feels too early to tell.
With people choosing to switch to services like grocery pickup, online grocery delivery and various online sites to stock up on necessities because of the pandemic, we have seen a much faster adoption rate to these new offerings. This will lead to more demand for warehousing to speed up time of delivery to homes. Restaurants will almost certainly be designed for areas such as curbside take-away. Office buildings will be redesigned to take into account things that were not necessarily as important before.
Will office space recover to pre-pandemic levels?
When I started in real estate, it was during the Great Recession. Companies at that point were trying to cram as many people into a space as possible. That trend continued beyond the recession up until the pandemic. It now looks like offices are going to require more space per employee than what was being done before. However, with the rotating schedules/remote work, there will be fewer employees in the office at one time. There’s a good chance the changes will be close to balancing each other out.
What are the top priorities and amenities for office clients now?
Between the pandemic and more recently the “Great Resignation,” almost all businesses are short on employees. This has put further pressure on companies to come up with more ways to retain employees. Finish-outs continue to increase in regard to amenities and quality. Outdoor spaces have been very popular in post-pandemic office searches, better ventilation within spaces, operable windows, if possible. Mixed-use buildings are becoming more desirable, where you can go downstairs from your office and have lunch or maybe an after-work happy hour.
Were you always interested in real estate or did you consider other pursuits initially?
I always knew I would end up in real estate at some point with my family connection to it. When I graduated college, I worked in the Walmart vendor world for a brief period. My wife, Lauren, and I both majored in marketing, and I thought it would be exciting to work for one of the big marketing agencies at the time for Walmart. I learned quickly that world was not for me.
Shortly after leaving Triad Retail Media, I was introduced by a friend to T.J. Lefler who worked at Sage Partners. Working under the oversight of Marshall Saviers, David Erstine, Tommy Van Zandt and T.J., I discovered my first true career passion.
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