Tom Pajolek
Executive vice president, CBRE
Age: 63
Industry experience: 30 years
Before entering commercial real estate, Tom Pajolek worked in the corporate world as a brand manager for Georgia Pacific. When the company’s Darien business unit relocated to Atlanta, Pajolek was looking for opportunities to remain in his native Fairfield County and have his compensation be tied directly to his production. A colleague suggested commercial real estate brokerage, where Pajolek has completed more than 10 million square feet of commercial transactions, and was named to CBRE’s Colbert Coldwell Circle which recognizes the company’s top producers.
Q: What was your “welcome to commercial real estate” moment?
A: One of the things that was emphasized was you should know something really, really well. Don’t try to be a generalist. I took pictures of buildings and tenants and put together catalogues. Most of it’s available electronically today. I remember taking a picture of a building on a Sunday and a security guard came and tried to take my camera away. I had to show him my business card. The company was going through some controversy. But understanding who was in the spaces enabled me to grow my market, which was Norwalk to begin with. After a while people would migrate to Trumbull and Shelton, or Stamford, and before long I was working throughout the county.
Q: What’s an example of a deal that had an unexpected outcome?
A: I had a client who, two years after I met them, asked me to get involved with a particular assignment. I declined because I was conflicted and they remembered that and appreciated my honesty and said they’d like to work with me (in the future). I continued to work with them for 600,000 square feet over eight or nine years.
Q: Do you specialize in landlord or tenant representation?
A: In our market, I do both. This is not a big enough market to specialize one way or the other. My largest listing is Merritt 7, which is 1.4 million square feet, and I’ve also represented a lot of household names with tenants looking for space. Having an appreciation for both sides of the negotiation empowers me and allows me to share the information with clients.
Q: During lease negotiations, how important is it for a broker to understand the landlord’s investment and exit strategy?
A: It’s extremely important. The more information you can enter into a negotiation about the other side, the better position you’re going to be. That can be the debt structure of the property, the most recent deals and lease comparisons, rates and concessions that have been on deals which is not public knowledge. That comes from experience and networking with people who are involved in these businesses. It’s not guessing.
Q: What advice would you give people considering entry-level jobs in commercial brokerage?
A: Times have changed. And the business has changed from when I started, but having a mentor who is committed to your personal and professional growth is very important. My initial perception of this business was the wild, wild west. The first rule is, there are no rules. But working with people who are disciplined and structured gave me a road map how to succeed.
While everybody wants to spread their wings right away, it’s more important to affiliate with a proven players in the market from a company standpoint and an individual standpoint. We have a 25-year-old we hired a year ago and I refer to him as my Millennial mentor. He’s learning the business but brings a fresh perspective to what we do. I’m trying desperately to stay current. We report like we’ve never reported to our clients before. (CBRE) just acquired New York-based Floored Inc., a platform that envisions potential layouts for space on the fly. It shows CAD drawings of the floor and you can view it on an iPad as open space with 3D ability to create (finished) space. We’re just starting to use it but it seems to be a nice tool.
Pajolek’s Favorite Road Bike Rides
- RAGBRAI (across Iowa)
- Vermont Challenge
- Bloomin Metric
- Five Boro Bike tour
- Jersey Shore Ride
