PARTNERS

Garth R. D. Tait, Principal

Garth Tait has been active in Colorado real estate brokerage, development, acquisition, property management, leasing and investment for thirty-three years.

In 2006 Garth became a founding principal of Crestone Partners. Early in 2007 Garth identified the off-market opportunity, the 300,000 square foot 1400 project in Denver’s Lower Downtown neighborhood. Over a period of several months, Garth handled all the sensitive and complicated tri-party negotiations among the seller/developer, the buyer (GEAM/Crestone), and our Lender (Principal Financial Group). During construction of 1400, Garth oversaw the completion of the building’s core and shell and tenant improvements pursuant to the purchase and sale agreement and construction loan agreement. Garth is currently responsible for negotiating the lease terms for all prospective 1400 tenants and handled all of GEAM’s lease negotiations on the Janus Headquarters Building, as he is now doing on behalf of the Lionstone Group. He is also the principal responsible for oversight of all of Crestone’s tenant improvement construction.

From 1985 through 2007, Garth handled all the office leasing, retail leasing, tenant improvement construction and common area remodeling for the above-described Denver Place project. He became a principal in Denver Place in 1997.

During Garth’s long tenure at Denver Place, in addition to directing the highly successful leasing effort there, he was a valuable participant in the repositioning of the hotel and office assets, which were major factors in the highly profitable asset sales that took place in 2005 and 2007.

From 1997 through July 2007, Garth also acted as the local deal partner on 480,000 square feet of Colorado office space with Angelo Gordon and Company, a New York based investment advisory firm. Four separate office projects were successfully repositioned, leased and sold over a period of several years.

From 1983 to 1985, Garth was a Vice President and deal partner with Bankers Mortgage & Investment, Inc. He participated in three Reg D offerings and the development of three commercial strip centers totaling 750,000 square feet and a midrise downtown office building.

Garth began his real estate career in 1979 as a shareholder and Vice President of Torode Ltd., a Western Canadian brokerage firm. In 1980 he opened the Denver office for Torode, specializing in investment sales and land acquisition.

Garth is an active member of the Denver community. He has served as a member of the Ritter for Governor Finance Committee and is a past board member of Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Colorado Ballet, Opera Colorado and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Garth is a graduate of the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Commerce, with an emphasis in finance and marketing. He is a licensed Colorado Real Estate Broker.

David G. Meares, Principal

Dave is a founding principal of Crestone Partners, LLC. He is directly responsible for all of Crestone’s risk management, financial statement preparation, financial projections, cash flow modeling, financial underwriting for acquisitions, and administration of the related loans.

Dave worked with Bob Flynn and Garth Tait at Amerimar Realty Management Company-Colorado for eleven years as its Vice President of Finance. During his long tenure at Amerimar, Dave’s responsibilities included a broad range of asset management functions. He was responsible for all finance and accounting and risk management functions for 2.5 million square foot of commercial and residential real estate in downtown Denver. His extensive experience and activities at Amerimar included monitoring construction activity, directing legal affairs, negotiating and executing loan refinancings, and identifying and underwriting prospective real estate acquisitions.

Dave was instrumental in the successful sale of the Denver Place assets in 2005 and 2007. He spearheaded the drafting of complicated condominium declaration documents to enable the several real estate and business units to be sold separately. He also oversaw preparation of the offering memoranda prepared for each asset. Additionally, he was directly responsible for the preparation and successful execution of the highly complicated and simultaneous closings.

From 1990 to 1996 Dave worked for the international accounting firm, Coopers & Lybrand, LLP in their Denver office. In his position as Assurance Service Manager, Dave was responsible for supervising and developing audit teams of from three to ten professionals. He was also responsible for preparing financial statements and advising clients on accounting and business matters. During his tenure with Coopers & Lybrand, Dave managed audits of companies in diverse industries, including publicly traded corporations and small private investment trusts.

In 2012 Dave “retired” after ten years of coaching for the Colorado Rush Girls’ Soccer Club in Littleton, Colorado.

Dave graduated from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science degree – Business Administration, with an emphasis in Accounting. Dave is proficient with Yardi, MRI and Skyline property management and general ledger systems and with the Argus real estate investment modeling software.

Robert T. Flynn, Principal

Bob Flynn’s 34-year career in real estate has included extensive responsibilities in accounting and finance, asset management, property and condominium association management, acquisitions, dispositions and loan workouts.

In 2006, with two long-time partners, Garth Tait and Dave Meares, Bob founded Crestone Partners, LLC, a real estate investment and management company located in downtown Denver, Colorado.

Bob spent twenty-one years with Amerimar Realty in Denver, and the last thirteen as the principal in charge of Denver Place, one of Colorado’s largest mixed-use developments. Under Amerimar’s ownership, Denver Place won numerous regional and national designations and awards, including Colorado’s first commercial office building Energy Star label, the first two LEED-EB Gold certifications in Denver, and BOMA’s TOBY and Earth Awards.

In 2005 Bob led the successful negotiation and sale of a substantial portion of the Denver Place project, which included a 554,000 square-foot office tower, a 367-room hotel, and 193 high-rise apartments. In 2007 Bob and his partners, Garth Tait and Dave Meares, led the highly profitable $200 million sale of the Denver Place office and retail complex.

In Bob’s early career he was the Corporate Controller and later, the General Manager for the Colorado subsidiary of a large Canadian real estate Developer, Carma Developers. From 1979 to 1982 Bob was employed with the international accounting firm of Deloitte Haskins & Sells (currently, Deloitte & Touche).

From 1999 through 2012, Bob was a popular national instructor of the Building Owners and Managers International’s (“BOMI”) Real Estate Investment and Finance and Budgeting and Accounting courses, which are part of the required curriculum for commercial property managers seeking the Real Property Administrator designation.

Since 2011 Bob has served on the Board of Directors of the Cherry Creek North Business Improvement District (‘the BID”), a special district that provides essential maintenance and marketing services to property owners and merchants in the Cherry Creek North neighborhood. Bob served as the BID’s board chair in 2014 and 2015. Bob is also a co-founder and the past board chair of the Cherry Creek Area Business Alliance (“CCABA”), a business advocacy organization established to represent the interests of real estate owners, business owners and merchants in Cherry Creek North and neighboring communities. In his capacities as a BID Board member and the Board Chair of CCABA, Bob was invited by Denver City Councilwoman Jeanne Robb to participate in a task force to rezone Cherry Creek North. Cherry Creek’s rezoning was successfully concluded and was passed by City Council in October 2014.

Bob is a long time board member and is the past board chair of the Downtown Denver Partnership (“DDP”), an economic development and business advocacy organization representing the interests of hundreds of downtown Denver property and business owners. In 2005 Bob was appointed by then Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper to serve on the steering committee for Denver’s Downtown Area Plan, which was adopted by Denver City Council in 2009.

For many years, Bob has been actively involved in supporting education and children’s causes. Bob was a long-time member of the advisory board of the Challenge Foundation, an organization that provides high-quality private, middle and secondary school educations to talented and motivated inner-city children. He currently serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of St. Mary’s Academy, a private suburban Denver lower, middle and high school. And until 2011, Bob was the long-time chair of a University of Notre Dame endowment fund committee that provides scholarships to Denver area high school graduates attending Notre Dame. Bob was a long-time board member and is a past board chair of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Colorado.

Bob holds a BBA degree from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA degree from the University of Denver. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a licensed Real Estate Broker and a licensed Community Association Manager in Colorado. He was certified as a LEED-AP in 2008.

Heidi McKernan, Vice President of Property and Construction Services

Heidi has worked with the principals of Crestone continuously since 2004. She has sixteen years’ experience in commercial real estate, including property management, project management, construction management, acquisition support and leasing.

Heidi served as the Property Manager for both 1400 Wewatta Street, the Janus Headquarters Building from 2012 to 2014 and is currently the Property Manager for 3333 Walnut Street. Her responsibilities included marketing and leasing office space and providing construction management for tenant improvement work at 1400 and the Janus Headquarters Building. Heidi continues to oversee and supervise all of Crestone’s construction projects.

While working for Northstar Commercial Partners from 2002 to 2004, Heidi served as property manager, project manager and construction manager for eight mixed-use and industrial properties throughout Colorado. She was responsible for building and maintaining tenant relationships, maintaining the building systems, and resolving property maintenance issues. She also managed the environmental remediation process and repositioning of a number of commercial assets.

Prior to working at Northstar Commercial Partners, Heidi worked with the Crestone principals at Denver Place. She oversaw marketing efforts and numerous tenant improvement projects in three office towers totaling in excess of 1.2 million square feet.

Heidi began her commercial real estate career in 2000 in the property management department of Westfield Properties, Inc., an affiliate of Frederick Ross International (currently Newmark Knight Frank Frederick Ross).

Heidi earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. She holds a Colorado Real Estate Broker license. She volunteers as a coach for Girls on the Run and is active in the Lodo, Inc. Association.

www,CrestonePartners.net