Real estate executive takes methodical steps toward success

At a time when many real estate companies are downsizing or closing their doors, Gatski Commercial Real Estate Services is setting higher goals.

Owner Frank Gatski has expanded his commercial property management portfolio from less than 400,000 square feet when he founded the firm in 1999 to more than 6 million square feet today.

His staff grew from five employees in the beginning to 71 with his latest hire, Rob Moore, to head Gatski Commercial's new investment sales and leasing division.

Gatski thinks he can take it to 10 million square feet in the next 60 months.

"What I'm most proud of is I have the same million square feet of clients that I started with 10 years ago," the 44-year-old commercial real estate broker said.

Inc. magazine ranked Gatski Commercial among the nation's 50 fastest-growing private real estate companies in 2008, based on revenue growth from 2004 to 2007.

Gatski said his annual revenue grew 65 percent over that three-year period. Last year he launched an in-house flooring division with its own showroom. Other services such as mold remediation and landscaping have contributed to the company's growth.

Gatski, the son of a career military veteran, was born in Greece and moved to Las Vegas in 1976 when his father was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base. He graduated from Chaparral High School.

"My father fought in World War II and Vietnam," Gatski said. "He told me how different it was in Vietnam. One war you come as a hero and one war you come back something different."

Gatski lives with his wife and two children in the master-planned Summerlin community.

Question: What is the general sense of Las Vegas' economy among real estate agents?

Answer: I think the general sense is that these are historic times and that nobody could have foreseen them. A lot of real estate agents are no longer in business and the ones that are are trying to figure out how to survive this downturn.

Question: How are you able to survive today?

Answer: I've been fortunate that my business model has been built around commercial property management. That's our core business. Off of that, I've diversified our services, trying to create a one-stop shop with building maintenance, landscaping, flooring and the new division for investment and leasing. We had a lot of good years of good times, but I knew there would be an end to the cycle. That's how real estate is.

Question: What are some of the problems facing commercial real estate development?

Answer: With the existing developments I manage, we're seeing many tenants coming back to landlords to renegotiate their leases.

Property owners and developers are having to evaluate whether they want to work with existing tenants and lower rates or gain another vacancy. It's a tenant's market. Tenants are coming and practically hold landlords hostage. Those are tough negotiations to be in if you represent landlords, which is mostly what I do.

Financing is one of the biggest challenges that are killing projects and commercial real estate owners face tough times with loans coming due.

Question: How can Las Vegas overcome these problems?

Answer: One thing nobody wants to hear is slow down development, which is now being forced to happen. We overbuilt office and retail. Industrial is hanging in there, though, because land prices were too high to work financially for that kind of development.

Question: Why did you go into commercial real estate?

Answer: As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to own my own business. That's why I got into real estate. ... We started with five employees and a small portfolio. A lot of people say, "You exploded overnight." Yeah, overnight 10 years later. We've grown methodically.

Question: Who do you go to for business advice?

Answer: There are several peers in the real estate industry and developers I've created relationships with. I'll pick up the phone and call them. I also seek advice from my own team.

Question: What advice would you give others in your field to survive these times?

Answer: Hard work. That's the only thing. Really, if I ever had a formula, that's it. That's the only thing that ever worked for me.

Question: Where are the opportunities for commercial business in Las Vegas today?

Answer: What I see from the development side, if they're not already in the pipeline, they're holding off. Investors are also waiting to see where the bottom is going to be. From a landlord's perspective, there is still activity and people looking for space. It's certainly not what it was. There are some survivors out there, but they're few and far between.

Question: How were you able to grow revenue 65 percent over three years?

Answer: By going from 3 million square feet to 6 million square feet in the last 24 months basically. That has certainly contributed to it and diversification of having different in-house divisions.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.