Executive Managing Director, President & CEO
Friedman Real Estate Group, Inc.
David B. Friedman started Friedman Real Estate in 1987 with the idea of creating a fully integrated, full-service real estate platform that would serve the needs of clients throughout the entire lifecycle of their complex real estate projects. Today, Friedman Real Estate is one of the nation’s leading full-service estate organizations with offices or operations in 23 states. Mr. Friedman currently oversees the company’s team of over 550 skilled industry professionals who provide a comprehensive array of real estate services including commercial brokerage, commercial and multifamily property management, space planning and design, construction and project management and turnaround management/receivership services to a range of private and institutional real estate clients. His company currently oversees a third-party property management portfolio that includes more than 16 million square feet of commercial space and almost 20,000 multi-family residential units. Friedman’s brokerage team has over 800 current listings with $10 billion in closed transactions. Besides running the day-to-day operations of Friedman Real Estate, Mr. Friedman is also an active investor in troubled properties and underperforming loans. Since 1990, his company has acquired over 15 million square feet of distressed commercial assets valued at more than $750 million. In 2011, Friedman Real Estate was recognized for the successful purchase of the $225 million sub-performing loan secured by the Chrysler World Headquarters building in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The transaction, which was completed in partnership with hedge fund Och-Ziff Management, was heralded as one of the boldest deals completed during the Great Recession. Friedman Real Estate’s other notable acquisitions include North Troy Corporate Park, a 1.2 million-square-foot office park in Troy, Michigan, Galleria Officentre, a 1 million-square-foot office campus in Southfield, Michigan, and Pinnacle Commerce Center, a 1.1 million-square-foot industrial distribution facility in Redford, Michigan. The company has also developed over 1.2 million square feet of build-to-suit flex/tech space in Oakland Technology Park in Auburn Hills for automotive supplies like Fanuc, Faurecia North America, Hirotec America and Atlas Copco, and assisted Quicken Loans with its early Detroit CBD acquisition strategy. A graduate of Michigan State University, Mr. Friedman has received numerous distinctions from Crain’s Detroit Business, Midwest Real Estate News and National Real Estate Forum including awards for “Best of the Best”, “Forty Over 40”, “Detroit Power Broker” and “Midwest Real Estate Hall of Fame”. He holds membership in several professional, civic and charitable organizations including the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors, the International Council of Shopping Centers and JARC.