Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame to Induct Sandy Dodge

Commercial real estate hall of fame will induct six Friday
BY CHRISTINE LAUE
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Six men will be inducted into the Commercial Real Estate Workshop's Hall of Fame at a luncheon Friday during the 20th annual event.

The workshop starts at 8:10 a.m. at the Qwest Center Omaha, 455 N. 10th St.

Preregistration for the daylong workshop showed that about 360 people were scheduled to attend, an organizer said. Last year, the event drew 435 people with an additional 100 attending the luncheon.

CREW is an annual daylong gathering of real estate professionals, planners, attorneys, government officials and others in commercial real estate.

This year's event is titled "Righting the Ship: Charting the Course in Difficult Waters." Panel and round-table discussions will include financing difficulties and foreclosures, as well as Omaha's success in attracting international companies such as Novozymes and retaining local companies such as TD Ameritrade.

The hall of fame luncheon, in addition to introducing the new inductees, will feature keynote speaker James M. Murphy of Q10 New England Realty Resources LLC and former chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.

For more information, visit www.crewmidwest.com.

This year's inductees:

N.P. "Sandy" Dodge Jr.: Dodge is the fourth generation to serve as president of the real estate firm founded by his great-grandfather in 1855. He joined the family firm in 1962 and established the apartment development and management business. He became president in 1978 and has played an active role in the establishment and growth of the corporate relocation, property management and commercial sales divisions. During his tenure as president, the residential sales division has grown to include 500 agents with more than $950 million in sales.

Steve Jensen: As Omaha's planning director since June 2005, Jensen oversees a staff of 116 people and an annual budget of $12 million. Among his accomplishments: guiding the most comprehensive update of the city's master plan in Omaha's history; administration of the city's highly rated growth management program; and the plan for annexation of the City of Elkhorn. He helped guide the development of the city's urban design master plan and the related urban design code. He now heads the update of the city's downtown master plan and a related streetcar feasibility study for the downtown area.

Frank R. Krejci: Krejci serves as president and CEO of Century Development. He bought his first parcel of real estate in 1950 and since then has been involved in real estate transactions totaling more than 40,000 acres. His current land holdings total about 30,000 acres. He has been involved in numerous notable real estate developments, such as those involving Oriental Trading Co., First Data Resources, Google and the Catholic Archdiocese. Office and commercial developments include Nicholas Plaza and Old Mill office centers. Retail developments include Oak View Mall and Brentwood Square Shopping Center. He also has been involved in numerous residential developments, and his real estate holdings span six states.

Jay R. Lerner: Lerner's career in shopping centers has spanned more than 35 years and involved the development of more than 70 shopping centers in six states. In 1985, he founded the Lerner Co., a full-service real estate development, management and brokerage firm specializing in shopping centers and retail real estate.

The company holds management contracts totaling 2.5 million square feet, has a leasing portfolio of 6.2 million square feet and acts as a tenant representative for many national retailers. Its latest developments include Omaha's West Village Pointe, a 145-acre, mixed-use project, and Shadow Lake Towne Center, an 875,000-square-foot regional shopping center.

Salvadore Carta: Carta is a principal and vice president of the Lerner Co. Before that, Carta was a partner in the law firm of Gaines Otis Mullen & Cart