GARY GODSEY
Jones Lang LaSalle
Gary Godsey knows a
little more about performing under pressure than most commercial real
estate professionals his age.
The senior associate with Jones
Lang LaSalle’s Tampa office played football at the University of
Notre Dame from 1999 to 2002—first as quarterback, later as
tight end—before joining the Staubach Co., which merged with
JLL earlier this year. Local office lease negotiations hardly compare with the national media attention and the scrutiny of millions of sports fans who either love or hate the Fighting Irish.
Yet Godsey says he took a lot of what he learned, both on the
field and in class, into his current career and talked about it in
the following interview with Real Estate Florida:
How did you wind up in this line of work after college?
I knew I wanted to be in commercial real estate in some capacity but I didn’t really know which niche. Chad Rupp, who
has been a family friend for a long time, had just opened the
Staubach office so I called on him for some guidance. It was a
perfect fit because Chad is an ex-athlete (minor-league baseball). I hit a home run joining a great company, but I also enjoy
tenant representation. It was just what I was looking for.
The quarterback is the focal point of any football
team and involves so much pressure, whether from
linebackers or sportswriters. How did dealing with
that at Notre Dame help you in your job now?
Being 27 and looking back on it, it’s tough to reason how a 17-
year-old can deal with all of that, and it’s even worse with the
Internet and the media. You wonder how it affects a kid now,
versus ten years later. Going to a big school like Notre Dame,
there’s pressure to perform on the field and off, and keep your
name clean.
That kind of background really helped mold me. The competitiveness, the drive and the time you put into football and
school carries over and relates to what I’m doing now. Not a
day goes by when I don’t think about the path through high
school and college, and the opportunities I was given. I’m very
grateful for that and it has helped me.
Just about everyone in commercial real estate recog-
nizes Roger Staubach from his years with the Dallas
Cowboys and as a Super Bowl champion quarter-
back. What does it mean for you to work for him,
one former QB to another?
He’s such a great all-around guy on and off the football field,
having also been extremely successful in commercial real estate. He’s somewhat of a role model with a clean past, a good
Christian and a good family guy, and he represents all the values that you want, the integrity. He’s still involved with our
company, as executive chairman of the Americas for JLL. It
shows his commitment to the company, which in turn makes
you want to work really hard.
Our company is filled with driven people who have these
unbelievable athletic pasts. It shows that there is a comparison
between athletics and commercial real estate, and that it’s kind
of an easy transition.
Besides having a bachelor’s degree in business, you
also have a master’s in psychology. How does that
help you in lease negotiations?
A background in psychology is kind of unique to somebody
who’s in this industry—being able to read a client, create cer-
tain circumstances so you can get the best deal for your client
and sense things with landlords and how your clients feel on
things and representing their best interests. It’s certainly an
added bonus to be able to apply those tools in a real estate
transaction.
What is the climate for tenant reps these days? Are
clients apprehensive about committing to long-term
leases in an economic downturn?
This market is forcing tenant rep brokers to be more creative in
the structure of a lease transaction to make sure clients are not
above market. Landlords are offering more concessions in lieu of
lower rents in this market.
The purpose of a tenant rep broker is simple, to save their
clients money on real estate costs, and it is up to me as a tenant
rep broker to create a competitive marketplace whether there is
an economic downturn or not.
Any predictions on how Notre Dame’s football team
will do this season?
I will predict that they will do better than last year, which was
a three-win season. They have a lot of kids coming back this
year and their schedule is not as tough. I’m going to predict
eight wins and a bowl game, and maybe they’ll win a bowl
game, which hasn’t happened in a long time. —REFLA
