Colorado Real Estate Journal -
Darren Nakos knew when he uncorked a career in commercial real estate he’d found his perfect fit. Ten years ago, Nakos made the move from startup entrepreneur to commercial real estate investor, developer and broker following the sale of wine auction site Winebid.com, which he co-founded in 1996 and under his stewardship grew to $25 million in annual revenue. “It was a really exciting time for startups and there were really good parties,” laughed Nakos, managing partner of Resort Realty Capital and founder of Landmark Real Estate Group Inc. However, “I fell in love with the fundamentals of brick-and-mortar real estate.” It was this passion for commercial real estate that prompted Nakos to sell his portion of the startup – a sale that allowed him and his wife, Amy, to choose where they wanted to start the next chapter of their lives. The choice wasn’t hard for the pair, who wanted a different environment from Chicago to raise a family. They settled on Summit County, where Nakos, after graduating from Indiana University Bloomington, had once worked and still owned a vacation home. In 2003, they made the move to Colorado and haven’t looked back. Nakos started Landmark Real Estate Group, a full service real estate company, which specializes in Summit County land, retail, office, multifamily, hospitality, industrial brokerage and investment real estate, in 2003 and, later, Resort Realty Capital, which teams small groups of accredited investors to create an investment group able to acquire undervalued resort-market real estate that would not be available to each of the investors individually. “I wear a lot of hats, all of which are real estate centric and all that I love,” said Nakos, who worked with Alliance Cos. in the Chicago area focusing on syndicated commercial real estate investments nationwide as an equity manager and participated on commercial real estate syndication as a limited partner and consultant. The biggest achievement in Nakos’ career, so far, he prefaces, is the co-founding of Rocky Mountain Commercial Brokers. “I think my best is yet to come, but I am very proud of Rocky Mountain Commercial Brokers,” he said of the network of independent commercial real estate firms serving the resort and mountain markets of Colorado, which is designed to provide clients and brokers a single source for all their commercial real estate needs. “It has been almost three years since Craig (Rathbun, The Fleisher Co.) and I formed RMCB and we are now starting to see the benefits of the network. It was an opportunity Craig and I saw, a niche, a gap in the marketplace for real estate professionals in the mountain and resort communities to come together to help each other.” Helping each other is at the heart of Nakos’ business. “The biggest reward I get from my work is seeing tenants succeed in their space, small-business owners who have invested a lot, if not all of their money, into their property and succeed. If I can place them or a tenant in their space and they thrive, it gives me a lot of satisfaction,” said Nakos.
Helping others succeed comes from Nakos’ belief in being honest, open and admitting and addressing problems when they happen. “Doing the right things every day add up to great things down the road and contribute to your long-term strategies and goals,” he added. “Real estate is an ever evolving industry with variables throughout your day and your year. It is very rewarding though to overcome the adversity and get a deal done.” The entrepreneur in Nakos finds real estate fits his personality and only sees the potential for growth in the mountain commercial real estate market. “I see a lot of growth potential in the mountains, as the planet and urban areas get hotter and people will migrate to the mountains. Real growth is commercial real estate in these areas, where lease rates are up but the supply is constant,” said Nakos, who is active with Certified Commercial Investment Members, the International Council of Shopping Centers and RMCB. “It’s a very exciting time to be here.” Not only did real estate attract Nakos to the mountains but so did the activities there. He is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys ski mountaineering, trail running and road biking. He also relishes spending time with his wife of 11 years and their sons, Tyler, 10, Max, 7, and their rat terrier, Chester. And he still has a penchant for wine, complete with a well-stocked cellar, and always has good advice on what wine with which to celebrate a successful commercial real estate transaction.