Barbara Reynolds of Realty One Real Living

Realty One Real Living is the most recent incarnation of Hilltop Realty, which was founded in Lyndhurst by Vincent T. Aveni in 1953. Poke around online sometime and you’ll find that anything Aveni did as it related to Hilltop centered around innovation.

When the company formed over 50 years ago, the “flight to the suburbs” had yet to become a trend. Downtown living was real living. Big box stores, mega malls and the corporatization of outlying areas weren’t even a thought. Just the same, moving “outward” was considered something of an innovation at that point… and by the early ‘70s, a lot of people had decided to forage to new “suburbs.” Booming growth left downtown metropolitan areas across the country starved for residents, companies, talent and ingenuity.

Realty One Real Living (then just “Realty One”) worked hard and utilized fresh thinking during that time and steered (like so many other companies across the country) toward this unprecedented growth—so much so that over time it became the largest residential real estate firm in the Midwest and one of the largest nationwide as well.

Today they are the largest residential real estate firm in the Midwest, the fifth-largest in the nation (with nearly $7 billion in annual sales) and they’re on another mission: to bring the focus back on to big cities. Particularly Cleveland. Cool Cleveland recently spoke to their President Barbara Reynolds about Realty One Real Living’s “big move” downtown and other topics including the rebirth of Cleveland as it relates to real estate.

Cool Cleveland: How long did the plan to move downtown actually get talked about in earnest? And what, assuming there was one, was the tipping point for moving out of Independence and back into the city?

Barbara Reynolds: It actually had been a year and a half or so in the making… maybe even a little beyond that. I think the tipping point came in that we no longer owned the building we were in. The other is that we really wanted an opportunity to synergize our employees into a very wide open and connected space for working together. That was the major thrust behind a move into our new location… And when we decided to move, there was simply no question that we would move downtown. No question at all. It’s where to be.

That’s a big statement. I’ll nick Elvis Presley and say this move is your “A Little Less Conversation” message to the rest of the city. “Enough talk, already!”

(laughs) Indeed. Well, I have a huge commitment to Cleveland and want to be a big part of what our city can possibly do to maximize the economics and potential economics of this area. We can all talk about taking action and making things happen, or do it. And I love it. We love it. The future of the downtown urban marketplace will come only with contribution and connection. We have both by being in the heart of the city.

Tell me about the selection of the Joseph & Feiss building. It’s a grand choice.

My brother is Patrick McKinley, the head of operations for Jeff Jacobs. They had been together for 25 years and had owned the building at the time, so we were aware of what was happening with tenants. We had obviously wanted to move into a space that reflected all of [our] commitment to the city and had opportunity to move in when the architectural firm that was there decided it had outgrown the space.

Our buildout plan worked out absolutely splendidly and the space has accomplished everything we had hoped for to date. And our [residency] has only just begun!

You’ve said that you anticipate a very active real estate market downtown in the next several years. How do you suppose that activity will pick up?

It already has. I think that any great city needs to have a very robust urban market. That’s what makes a city attractive from the outside. It’s already beginning to play out with developers, who are seeing the progress and are stepping forward and taking that risk of moving inward.

When I think of properties… Bridgestone is a fabulous property, but most of the properties are fabulous in downtown Cleveland and it is even more important that developers are seeing it that way as well. Developers are the key in seeing Cleveland for the opportunity and potential that it is, how important that is, and how it will appeal to others.

How tied to local economic development success would you say the Cleveland real estate market is? What other factors may contribute to such residential economic growth?

It’s huge. Look, everyone wants to know the answer to the “Which came first—chicken or the egg?” question. You have to have the strong urban market up and running before outside businesses will look to the city as being a great place to settle in. There has to be a livable appeal to bring those people into Cleveland and experience it as the great city that it is. It’s that simple.

My hope is that if the largest realty company in Ohio makes that move, other businesses and consumers will begin to believe that. We’ve made that kind of a statement in coming down here and others will follow. They need to know it has been a great experience.

A lot of pundits would say that businesses are still leaving and residents are still fleeing for the suburbs. Is that fed by the general negativity here and what is it about Clevelanders and their negativity towards the city?

Not all of Cleveland shares in that negativity, though. I think the “Believe in Cleveland” campaign going on right now is a step in the right direction and I’d like to hope we’ve had a little bit to do with that. It’s nice to see people focusing on the positive aspects of what’s happening here instead of just talking about the negative.

We have a tendency [as Clevelanders] to be hypercritical of ourselves. It is just that criticism that’s been there all the while that comes and goes in waves. One of the big mistakes we make is in collectively thinking we don’t have successful business happening here. And part of that is self-inflicted.

When a large company like Progressive is in the news, they say they are located in Highland Heights. They are from Cleveland, Ohio. And others do the same. Who talks about the suburbs outside of Cleveland?!? We have to put Cleveland on the map for big business, because if we’re not careful no one outside of here will notice. Sometimes WE don’t even notice. We have big business here. They need to appear to be in the major market in which they are. (laughs) Guess that’s my soapbox comment of the day!

What kinds of long term benefits will the city realize, given a future that includes a retraction back to the city from the suburbs?

One of the single biggest things that will happen—something that could have a hugely advantageous impact on public schools—is the constituency. Our public schools have seen some improvements, but because schools are a reflection of the communities they serve, their improvement comes with added involvement and engagement. Business will see that as a benefit to employees, developers will see that as a means to create and improve housing and more people will move into the area.

Jane Campbell [had] been very positive in her support of the Realty One Real Living move downtown. Have you had an opportunity to speak to those other candidates at large, as it relates to what we’ve talked about today?

I have not, I am sorry to say. But I know that growth and development is something that [they] consider as a primary issue. That’s just imperative. We’ve had tremendous assistance, enthusiasm and cooperation from the mayor’s office and from the city as a whole. They are very enthused … and like us, they want to do whatever they can to make sure that the downtown market is growing.

The red-hot residential real estate market has cooled off some nationwide. Do you see this trend as impacting residential and commercial moves downtown?

Downtown Cleveland has not been sluggish, but the markets in the suburbs certainly have. Residents are energized by the [Cleveland real estate] product, tax abatements and the increasing vitality in some of the pockets downtown… like the renewal of the Flats, the Warehouse District and others—

In that sense, it wouldn’t hurt if oil prices continue to skyrocket. It could help reverse that 1960s flight to the suburbs by suggesting people reconsider their living arrangements—

Certainly. That won’t hurt. Not at all! (laughs). As a consumer, I could pay three dollars a gallon or I could walk down the street… that’s something I believe a lot more people will be thinking about over time.

Interview by Peter Chakerian peterATcoolcleveland.com

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