In the latest episode of Real Estate for Breakfast, host Phil Coover is joined by living Chicago real estate legend Bob Wislow. Phil and Bob discuss the properties managed and developed by Parkside Realty throughout Chicago, including the ground-up development of Fulton East – a 12 story commercial building including 5,000 square feet of retail, 3 levels of enclosed parking and 8 stories of office space. The top is crowned with an 8,000 square feet outdoor space. Fulton East is the nation’s first office building designed to deliver health-focused operating solutions for the post-COVID-19 business environment, and is receiving national publicity and attention. Each of the 10,605 square foot floor plans enable flexible, custom planning options to accommodate safe social distancing. State-of-the-art wellness features include a hands-free elevator system and air and surface disinfection systems housed within a beautiful glass and steel grid exterior design that fits the historic district where the property is located.

USE-CBRE_Robert_Wislow_Standard Linkden.png

Bob Wislow is chairman and CEO of Parkside Realty, Inc.

In 1978, Bob Wislow and Camille Julmy founded U.S. Equities Realty which they, together with Nancy Pacher, grew to be Chicago’s largest, privately-owned commercial real estate services firm. U.S. Equities has been responsible for a number of major projects including the development of the Harold Washington Library Center, Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, Center For Care & Discovery and Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago, Poetry Foundation and John Stroger Hospital for Cook County; co-development of One Financial Place , Grand Plaza and The Cook County Hospital Headquarters and Clinic Building; and the redevelopments of the John Hancock Center, Willis Tower, 20 North Michigan, and 840 N. Michigan in Chicago; as well as overseeing the development of Compuware’s Headquarters in Detroit, Bank Boston’s Headquarters in both Argentina and Brazil, 618 S. Main in Ann Arbor, and in partnership with Clayco Centene’s Headquarters in St. Louis.

In Spring 1999, U.S. Equities was retained by Millennium Park Inc., (the group representing the Park’s private donors) to oversee the design, engineering, fabrication and construction of Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion and BP Bridge, Anish Kapoor’s monumental Cloud Gate sculpture and Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain.

In addition to development and project management services the firm provided tenant representation, asset and property management, leasing, real estate consulting, and financial and investment services. Its Chicago headquarters, directly across from Millennium Park, housed original works of art, including paintings, prints and sculpture by over 150 artists. Through its annual Artist in Residence program, the company commissioned artists to create original, limited edition books related to the cities where the firm did projects.

After nearly four decades of success in Chicago, Wislow and his partners merged their firm into CBRE, the world's largest commercial real estate services firm, in the summer of 2014. At the time, U.S. Equities leased and managed 17 million square feet of Chicago property, including Willis Tower, 2.5 million square feet of office and retail space along Michigan Avenue, Union Station, Metra Market, and six Illinois tollway oases. The successfully merger brought more than 400 U.S. Equities employees under the CBRE flag.

In August 2019, after five successful years with CBRE, that includes projects like the World’s largest Starbucks Roastery on Michigan Avenue, Wislow and Julmy formed a new, boutique real estate venture called Parkside Realty Inc. The real estate veterans will maintain their portfolio and develop new projects, such as Fulton East, a 12-story, 90,000-square-foot office and retail building under construction at 215 N. Peoria Street, in the heart of Chicago’s Fulton Market.

A native Chicagoan, Wislow is known by friends as a dedicated heli-skier, road biker and fly fisherman, an avid arts supporter and longtime dedicated steward for civic engagement in Chicago. He has, or is serving, on the boards of many organizations and institutions, including the Chicago Public Library Foundation, Rush University Medical Center, Civic Committee, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Civic Consulting Alliance, CHICAGO Symphony Orchestra, Columbia College, North Central College and the Chicago Chamber of Commerce. Wislow has been honored with the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Lifetime Achievement Award, the NAIOP Chicago Award for Excellence, and the Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) Legacy Award.

For more information on the Fulton East project, visit https://fulton-east.com/.