Wyatt Aiken

Wyatt Aiken launched his commercial real estate career in 1983, the same year he graduated from Tulane University with an MBA. As the New Orleans native first looked for jobs, he interviewed in a handful of Southeastern U.S. cities, but never considered Memphis.

That changed when he landed a position at the development firm Trammell Crow Co., which had an opening here. Aiken spent five years at Trammell Crow before taking a job with the national commercial real estate brokerage firm, Cushman & Wakefield Inc., where he represented all parties, from tenants to landlords, buyers to sellers.

When Cushman & Wakefield left the market in 1992, Aiken became a founding partner of a company that would evolve into Commercial Advisors LLC, where he now serves as senior vice president.

Aiken, who began his college career at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., before transferring to Tulane to finish his undergraduate degree, said he was drawn to commercial real estate more than a quarter-century ago for two reasons: He had a love of buildings and construction, and he wanted to help company owners with their property needs.

“It fascinated me and still does,” Aiken said of the business. “The idea that you can be a part of creating where people work, which might in some way create more jobs – the whole industry was fascinating to me.”

Excited to lead

Aiken’s fascination with commercial real estate is reaching another milestone as he becomes president of the Memphis Area Association of Realtors Commercial Council for 2010. Aiken said he was honored and excited to lead the commercial council, whose past presidents include industry veterans such as Irvin Skopp of Belz Realty Co. LLC, Steve Guinn of Highwoods Properties and Joe Steffner of Grubb & Ellis Memphis.

“I’m standing on the shoulders of people who came before me,” Aiken said.

Though Aiken admits he came to Memphis simply because he had a “job offer” 26 years ago, he now realizes someone or something was watching over him, guiding him to a city steeped with commercial real estate pioneers.

And one of the chief reasons he is happy he wound up here is the “unique culture and the ethic that exists among commercial real estate brokers.” He said the camaraderie in the real estate field in Memphis doesn’t exist in other similarly sized markets.

“It is a great place to be a commercial real estate professional,” Aiken said. “That’s because the folks who have gone before us created an ethic here of trustworthiness and honesty and a ‘do unto others’ (approach).”

Still, Aiken said he understands the challenges that lie ahead for his role as leader of the commercial council, as well as his day job as a commission-based real estate professional trying to find success in a difficult market – something that all brokers are experiencing.

“You can work really hard in a year and do a great job and have an off year income-wise, and other years, just by the way the chips fall, you may have a great year,” he said. “It’s the uncertainty of the income that makes our business tough.”

More to come

It’s a tough business, but it’s one Aiken loves. He is eager to host the Commercial Property Forecast summit in February, an event that will give real estate professionals critical insights into trends of the business.

“Anyone who cares anything about commercial real estate values or forecasts needs to be there,” Aiken said. “This is the kind of time when you really need good information to make good decisions.”

When Aiken is not working – which is most of the time, he admits – he loves to sail and spend time with family. He and his wife, Tricia, who are celebrating their 29th anniversary this week, have three children, James, Rachel and Philip.

Otherwise, the man whose only profession has been commercial real estate can be found hard at work doing the job he is passionate about, whether it’s analyzing a client’s need for additional square footage or reduced energy usage.

“It’s a great industry because you never stop learning,” Aiken said. “I’ve been doing this 26 years and I learned something new this morning that I had never understood or known about.

“My father always said to retire means to ‘re-tire,’ to put new tires on the old chassis and get going,” Aiken added. “I have no visions of retirement and hope to do this for the next 26 years.”