Next Realty hires industry expert

Next Realty, a Skokie-based real estate investment firm, has hired R. Tyler Hardy as director of acquisitions.

This broader focus of Next Realty's operational strategy is a deliberate, concentrated effort by the firm to anticipate and respond to market forces, across all investment property types, with the ultimate goal of optimizing returns for investors.

"We have seen tremendous changes in the retail landscape and are adapting our approach to include proactive changes, like leasing traditional retail spaces to health care users to become more resistant to the rapid expansion of e-commerce," said Andy Hochberg, CEO of Next Realty.

Hardy comes to Next Realty with a wealth of experience in the industrial sector, having spent the past 16 years focused on acquisitions, dispositions, leasing and tenant-representation in Chicago and on a national level. In his new role, he will spearhead the firm's industrial acquisition strategy.

In keeping with Next Realty's overall acquisition strategy, the industrial focus will include small cap, single and multi-tenant properties at values up to $30 million dollars. Next Realty primarily will seek to acquire properties where value can be created through repositioning and re-tenanting efforts. The markets being targeted include Chicago, Milwaukee, Nashville, Philadelphia and the mid-Atlantic states surrounding Washington, D.C.

Prior to joining Next Realty, Hardy was a managing director at Savills Studley in Chicago, where he focused on the disposition of assets no longer deemed essential to operations of institutional grade industrial real estate portfolios, corporate occupier-owned redundant facilities, and local and Midwest industrial buildings.

Throughout his career, Hardy has completed over 100 transactions valued at over $350 million.