This is always fun. I'm not one to toot my own horn about specific projects with which I am involved, but this is one where the national Prudential Commercial Services newsletter editors have seen fit to feature one of my projects as a news story. It is a leasing story regarding the BODIES exhibition, the national tour from Premier Exhibitions, which recently closed down after a successful run in Central Ohio.
Here is the story from Volume 3, Issue 4, just off the presses:
"Brent Greer, Sales Associate, closed a lease on a 27,430 square foot retail facility for a high-profile six-month museum program entitled 'BODIES: The Exhibition.'
"The exhibit, with special lighting and space requirements, has been seen by more than four million people around the world. This is its first appearance in Ohio. Greer identified retail space in a high traffic, 'high-energy' area within 10 days of being notified of the exhibit's need because an exhibit venue in another city had been unexpectedly rescheduled to a later date. Greer began working immediately and found a former CompUSA store in Easton Market retail center that hadn't come on the market yet.
"Negotiations took place with the retail center owners in Cleveland and with Greer and Premier getting approvals and identifying potential restrictions on other tenant leases regarding an exhibitor, as well as CompUSA. Ultimately the center owners agreed that the exhibit would be a huge draw for the Easton Market, otentially drawing 400,000+ visitors.
"Greer recommended a local architect and in two weeks the interior space of the site was converted to have the look and feel of the Smithsonian Institution. The BODIES exhibition has been a subject of some controversy but draws huge crowds wherever it is seen. The promoters spent $500,000+ in the Columbus are to market the high-profile exhibit.
"In addition to BODIES, Premier Exhibitions, based in Atlanta, Ga., also operates touring RMS TITANIC exhibitions, featuring artifacts raised from the sunken luxury liner, Titanic. Premier owns the salvage rights to the vessel."
The rest of the story goes on and on about my professional credentials and areas of specialty. Nevertheless, it was a nice surprise to find myself featured in the parent organization's national newsletter. It was an interesting project, and one that was intense in a very short period of time. Most interesting was the controversy leading up to getting the deal done for my clients, Premier Exhibitions. Specifically, I was receiving telephone calls from the head of the big science museum in town, COSI, begging me not to work with them because my work could have "devastating financial consequences" for our local museum. Seems they have a similar exhibit coming in later this year and felt Premier would upstage them.
That entire discussion is best left to the residents of Ohio, who can choose themselves which is the better exhibit. All I know is that I had never seen anything like BODIES before, and it was presented in an incredibly ethical, and educational manner. I enjoyed working with the team from Atlanta and hope to work with them again on another project elsewhere.
As for the national Prudential commercial newsletter editors choosing the details of my transaction to run as a story, when I know there are many to choose from, it's actually pretty cool.
To the editors -- thanks for the exposure!
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