Ron Barness

Real Estate Power Player, Ron Barness, Talks About the Dismissed Investor Lawsuits

The real estate market crash has devastated many around the U.S., especially in Phoenix, where prices had been drastically inflated until the real estate bubble exploded a few years ago. For Ron Barness, one of the biggest players in the Phoenix commercial real estate market, the crash meant losing everything.

In 2008 & 2009, a number of civil lawsuits were filed against Ron Barness, principal and CEO of Barness Papas Investments (the parent company of Retail Brokers, Inc.) and his business partner at the time, Alex Papakyriakou.  Those judgments were filed by a handful of investors who alleged that Ron and his partner did not accurately report earnings and the sales of property. At the time of this report, all but one of the investor lawsuits has been successfully dismissed by the Maricopa County Superior Court. The single outstanding investor lawsuit is working its way through the legal system and will likely be dismissed soon.

Any other outstanding lawsuits against Ron Barness are from lenders related to the personal guarantees that he made on his real estate investments. Barness says he is working diligently to clear his name of the suits, which came about after those few investors lost money in other real estate transactions and were hoping to take advantage of the legal system in a down market.

Barness’ 27-year real estate career includes acquisition, development and disposition of more than 300 shopping center investment properties, almost all of which included the involvement of nearly 1,000 individual investors or partners. Until the collapse of the Phoenix real estate market in 2007, not a single investor had ever lost a dollar with Barness. In fact, for nearly 15 years, investors enjoyed returns ranging from 15% – 30% every year.

When the market did begin to take a turn for the worse, all of Barness’ projects were negatively affected; each property suffered extreme vacancies that impacted cash flow. In an effort to protect each investor’s monies and to salvage his huge investment portfolio, Barness began to inject his family’s personal savings into the suffering projects.

“The sheer magnitude of the market collapse and the size of the portfolio I controlled ultimately led to the demise of my business and the loss of the projects,” said Barness.

Each of Barness’ projects were financed through a total of 27 different lenders, and most of the transactions were personally guaranteed by Barness and his wife, a testament to how deeply he believed in each deal. No investor ever had personal liability for any of Barness’ real estate loans.

“It has been a devastating ride that has taken everything I have made for myself out from under me and my family, but more than 99% of the investors I have worked with over the years have stood by my side, believing that I have done the best I could do,” said Barness. “Although I have been forced to start over, I am fortunate that I have a wonderful family who believes in me and gives me strength. And, I know that whatever any individual investor lost through investing with me pales in comparison with what I have lost trying to protect their investment.”

Barness is now working hard to re-establish his career by turning the hard truths of what happened in the real estate market into valuable lessons that make him a much more cautious operator.

Barness Donation Furthers Progress of Kids Museum

Published: June 16, 2006 – Jewish News Online

One day, months from now, children across the Valley will be able to visit a museum in Phoenix devoted solely to them.

Construction is under way for the Children’s Museum of Phoenix, which will be located at Seventh and Van Buren streets and is scheduled to open in late 2007.

In April, the Daron and Ron Barness Family Foundation announced their own contribution to the project: a $1 million donation.

The gift “enables us to focus on what we need to do, which is make the best possible museum,” says Deborah Gilpin, the museum’s president and CEO. “When we get a gift of this magnitude, it just makes a huge difference in how we can move forward.

The idea for the museum was born in 1998; the founding board of directors formed a nonprofit organization in 1999. In 2001, Phoenix voters approved Proposition 6, which gave $10.5 million to the museum to purchase and renovate the historic Monroe School building. The next few years were spent raising funds, doing research on museums around the country, brainstorming and holding events for children in the community.

In 2005, the museum came to the attention of the Barness foundation.

For the Barnesses, the impetus to get involved was twofold.

“Daron and I are very concerned about children and our community’s ability to provide opportunities to young people in order for them to be able to fulfill their potential,” Ron Barness says. “So when we find projects that speak to creating better opportunities for children, we always look at those very closely.”

Also, “we believe as members of this community that Phoenix has an opportunity to become on of the great American cities in the 21^st century.”

“Along those lines, we see that our city, as great as it can become, is the only major city in the United States without a children’s museum.”

Gilpin says the exhibit team, which includes an early childhood educator, an elementary school art teacher and a museum education director, visited about 50 children’s museums around the country to gather ideas.

The museum, when completed, will be geared toward children up to 8 years of age. The exhibits will be hands-on, and many will be arts-based. There will be a room of building blocks, a café where children can make their own meals, art projects to work on and much more.

“We expect to have about 300,000 visitors a year, but that’s probably a low estimate,” Gilpin says. “Children’s museums are the most highly visited of all kinds of museums. It’s probably because kids like to come back. They want to visit the things that they love and do it again, and then they want to try something new, too.”

Both Gilpin and Barness say the museum will be a huge asset to the community.

“We think it’ll have a tremendous impact,” says Barness. “Number one, we think it’ll help young children in their development and their educational process. Number two, we think it’ll help the psyche of the city as it strives to rise up to this level of greatness as we build a museum that will be a crown jewel of our city.”

Gilpin says “People who grow up and go to museums were typically museum-goers as children. But children’s museums are the place where the status-quo has changed; you may be a family who never goes to museums, but you’ll take your child to one of these, and it changes the future of that family.

Arizona Economic Outlook 2007

Featuring Ron Barness, principal of Barness Papas Investments & Retail Brokers, Inc. (RBI)

Elliott Pollack said that the Valley is expected to create 80,000 jobs in 2006, and 60,000 in 2007. As many as 130,000 people will move to metropolitan Phoenix this year.

On housing, the article quotes RL Brown as saying “I thought we would have seen the housing market stabilize by now. Now home builders have a surplus and no lines at their sales offices. Reality set in for them a month ago.”

On commercial, it quotes Pete Bolton of CB Richard Ellis as saying “We need more industrial space. Until we get it, the Valley will lose more jobs as companies go where there’s space.”

More than 8 million square feet of warehouse space is under construction in metro Phoenix. About 3 million square feet of office space will go up in the Valley this year.

On the retail end, Ron Barness of Retail Brokers, Inc. stated that “it wasn’t long ago that high-end East Coast retailers weren’t interested in Phoenix. The opposite is true now.”

The Valley retail vacancy rate is 5 percent, lower than it’s ever been. Currently, 6.6 million square feet of retail space is under construction in the Valley.

Phoenix Economic Outlook 2007:

Featuring Ron Barness, featured presented about the Phoenix commercial market

Growth, commercial real estate prop up economy; Could ease slowdown in housing, employment

By: Catherine Reagor and Chad Graham
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 22, 2006 12:00 AM

How is the Valley’s economy doing?

Jobs and residential real estate growth have roughly returned to normal. Still, it can feel like a slump because last year was so unusually frenzied.

The state’s strong suits continue to be population growth and capital spending, especially in the now-booming commercial real estate market. If those two categories can pick up the slack, there could be less chance of a mild recession next year.

Here are other findings from Thursday’s 2007 Economic Outlook sponsored by the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce:

Economy

“The Valley’s economy is in the seventh-inning stretch. It’s late in the game. There’s a recession in the future, but not now,” said Elliott Pollack of the economic consulting firm Elliott D. Pollack & Co.

• Almost 80,000 new jobs are expected to be created Valley-wide in 2006, and 60,000 in 2007.

• As many as 130,000 people will move to metropolitan Phoenix this year.

• Consumer and construction spending is expected to slow.

• U.S. residential spending compared with the overall gross domestic product is the highest it has been since the 1940s.

Housing

“I thought we would have seen the housing market stabilize by now,” said Valley housing analyst RL Brown. “Now home builders have a surplus and no lines at their sales offices. Reality set in for them a month ago.”

• The typical price of a new Valley home climbed from $225,000 to $300,000 last year.

• Single-family housing permits were down 45 percent in August compared with a year ago.

• For the first eight months of 2006, home permits are down 23 percent from 2005’s record pace.

• There are 47,000 homes for sale Valley-wide, more than double the listings from a year ago.

Commercial real estate

“We need more industrial space. Until we get it, the Valley will lose more jobs as companies go where there’s space,” said Pete Bolton, senior managing director of CB Richard Ellis. “We won’t overbuild. Banks and the commercial market learned their lessons last time.”

• More than 8 million square feet of warehouse space is under construction in metropolitan Phoenix. Half of that is spec space without a signed tenant to move into it.

• About 3 million square feet of office space will go up Valley-wide this year.

Retail

“It wasn’t long ago that high-end East Coast retailers weren’t interested in Phoenix,” said Ron Barness of Retail Brokers Inc. “The opposite is true now.”

• The Valley’s retail vacancy is 5 percent, lower than it’s ever been.

• Currently, there’s 6.6 million square feet of retail space under construction in metropolitan Phoenix.

Oct 1, 2007

By Ron Barness, principal of RBI and Barness Papas Investments and Ron Finkel, Senior Managing Director/Designated Broker of RBI

Although the housing market in the metro-Phoenix area seems to be gradually leveling off from its unprecedented recent growth, the retail real estate market continues to thrive as it has for the past few years. For the most part, the commercial real estate market seems to follow the overall performance of the economy, but is always a bit behind. The retail market has not yet (and most likely will not) hit the extreme highs that the Phoenix residential market hit last year, so it seems to be a relatively safe predication that it will not hit any major low points, either.

Phoenix continues to be a hub for retail development, especially with the revitalization of downtown Phoenix, in the Copper Square district, and with the massive expansion efforts and new growth in the West Valley. Copper Square will soon house some of the most high-end retail in the state, combining a wide mixture of entertainment, restaurants, shopping and more. As these new retailers join the established downtown area, most will have to adapt their traditional store layouts for the smaller spaces that are available downtown, which could have an effect on leasing.

Scottsdale’s downtown area is also being revamped with a $1 billion facelift. The area continues to be one of the Valley’s strongest retail markets, with more than 220,000 square feet of new shops at the Scottsdale Waterfront, most of which have already opened for business or will open before the end of 2006.

Additional retail growth has been sustained due to the ongoing and aggressive freeway expansions around the Valley. Retail is popping up everywhere alongside freeways and freeway exists, specifically in the West Valley. This is evidenced through projects such as Westcor’s Prasada and Estrella Falls. Prasada is a 4,200 acre master-planned community with an 800-acre commercial core and more than three million square feet of retail space, located near the intersection of the Loop 303 and US 60, and Estrella Falls is a 300-acre mixed-use development off the Loop 303. These projects join the new Glendale Arena at Westgate City Center in Glendale, which adds a whole new lot of retail development to the West Valley.

Rental rates for retail space will continue to rise, ranging from single-digit lows of $5 per square-foot to highs of $40 per square-foot in select submarkets, as more high-end retailers continue to break into the market. Vacancy rates are currently just below five percent.

Lifestyle, open-air centers, mixed-use and transit-oriented developments still continue to be the focus of developers. Transit-oriented development is playing an integral role in the retail redevelopment of downtown Phoenix as the Central Phoenix/East Valley light rail transit corridor shapes up to open in December 2008.

Smaller-anchored retail centers are thriving as well. Lesser-known groceries, fitness centers and hardware stores have become key players in neighborhood centers. Ace Hardware, for instance, has leased 120,000 square feet of space year-to-date throughout Phoenix, and has plans to expand further in the near future.

The massive increases in the Valley’s population combined with a strong economic forecast in 2007 indicates that retail development will continue to be a driving force throughout the year.

By RON BARNESS, CEO

Principal, Retail Brokers, Inc. (RBI) & Barness Papas Investments

June 2007

We in the commercial real estate industry in the metro-Phoenix area have been fortunate over the last few years to be successful in our business. The state’s residential housing growth and strong economy have enticed businesses and major retailers to the Valley, allowing Phoenix to become a main contender in the national commercial real estate landscape.

In part because of our state’s positive and consistent growth, there are many experienced and aggressive brokers in our industry, and many have found that success is not always easy to come by, particularly when market conditions fluctuate. You’ll notice that the few who are most successful and well-known in the industry are those who are actively involved in our community – serving as industry experts at events, participating in charity functions and other philanthropic endeavors and participating on the boards of state or city organizations. Being well rounded and knowledgeable about the different facets of our community that have an impact, direct or peripheral, on our business is a major part of building present and future success.

I have found that during my 20+ years in the industry, that without taking an active role in your community, you can only go so far and only be so successful. This is especially true in the commercial real estate industry, where the value of leveraging our relationships with local municipalities, community groups and philanthropic organizations can make or break us in the business. To quote a line from a popular movie – “The key to this business is personal relationships.”

Many of us overlook the importance of giving a percentage of our time to involvement outside of the workplace. This is not only crucial to build your business’ name (or your name) in the industry, it is also vital to building relationships, retaining employees and to truly be a subject-matter expert on the social and political issues that may affect your clients and your business.

Building relationships has immediate and lasting effects. Being a good community neighbor and actively participating in making your local neighborhood a better place has a ripple effect. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it can also build your brand recognition and can help you recruit and retain employees. By sponsoring a local event, speaking at an industry-specific conference or serving as the chairperson of a local board, potential new employees will recognize that your company is reputable and a good corporate citizen – something highly-valued by many. In doing this, you are also reinforcing to your current employees that your company is a place they can be proud to work.

The same goes for actively pursuing and sustaining relationships with your local municipalities and the groups that impact commercial growth. To be a big player, you need to stay on top of the issues that may affect your clients: landlords, tenants, buyers, sellers, builders – whomever they may be.

There are many avenues to take here. You can be involved with your Chamber of Commerce, a planning committee for your town or city or local professional/industry organizations. Securing a role in one of these groups may give you the opportunity to fight for the issues that are important to you and your clients. It will also give you the insight necessary to make clients immediately aware of the issues that can directly or indirectly affect their businesses.

Success is determined by more than how many signs you have in the dirt. It’s based on the relationships you have built with the most important key stakeholders that influence and affect your business. It’s about effectively and strategically building and managing relationships; it’s about learning what is most valuable to your key publics and contributing to the betterment of your local community.

Retail Brokers, Inc. (RBI) is the largest and most active retail-focused commercial real estate brokerages in Arizona, and one of the largest in the Southwest. RBI opened its doors in Scottsdale, Ariz. in 1994, and has since expanded with regional offices in California, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.

THE SOUTHWEST’S SHOPPING CENTER SPECIALIST EXPANDS WITH THREE NEW OFFICES

Retail Brokers, Inc. (RBI) Opens Brokerage Offices Run by Ron Barness & Alex Papas in California and Colorado; Now Serving the Southwest in Seven Locations

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. –  (May 1, 2007) – Retail Brokers, Inc. (RBI), one of the largest retail-focused commercial real estate brokerages in the Southwest, has recently expanded even more, adding two new offices in California and one in Colorado.

The new offices are located in Palm Desert, Calif., San Diego and Denver. These locations are in addition to RBI’s offices in Riverside, Calif., Las Vegas, Albuquerque, N.M., and its corporate headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz, which is own and run by Ron Barness and Alex Papas.

“The expansion that RBI has seen over the past year is only the beginning,” said Ron Barness, CEO of RBI and parent company Barness Papas Investments. “RBI is growing at an unprecedented pace and this only further illustrates the company’s solid reputation and consistent success in the shopping center industry.”

Since opening its doors in Arizona in 1994, RBI has grown immensely, and is now recognized as the largest retail-focused commercial real estate brokerage in Arizona and one of the largest in the Southwest.

RBI’s Arizona office recently appointed Jim Hayden as president. He will play an integral role in RBI’s continued expansion and branding efforts throughout the Southwest. Previously, he was regional vice president and division general manager for a publicly-traded, $600 million organization based in Scottsdale, Ariz. He spent 19 years with the company.

“There are endless opportunities to build upon the distinguished foundation that has already been in place at RBI for the last 13 years,” said Hayden. “I am thrilled to be a part of RBI’s team.

The Denver office, located in Greenwood Village within the Denver Tech Center, is run by Darren Lazenby, vice president. The San Diego office, led by Andrew Gordon, director and senior retail specialist, is located at 12626 High Bluff Drive, Ste. 330 in San Diego. The Palm Desert office, located at 74-040 Highway 111, Ste. L-226 in Palm Desert is run by Neil Wachsberger, regional director and designated broker.

“This is a big step for RBI; a big step in the right direction,” said Barness. “We’ve got some outstanding people leading each of our regional offices, and we have a highly-skilled, expert in-house team to handle all of the company’s administrative, legal, accounting and marketing needs.”

RBI plans to open even more brokerages throughout the Southwest over the next year. The company is also affiliated with RBI Management Services, a commercial property management company headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., which recently expanded into Riverside, Calif. and Lubbock, Texas.

For more information, please call 480.894.6363.

Retail Brokers, Inc. (RBI)
Retail Brokers, Inc. (RBI) opened its doors in Scottsdale, Ariz. in 1994, and has since expanded with regional offices in California, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, becoming one of the largest and most active real estate brokerage companies in the Southwest that focuses almost exclusively on retail properties. RBI’s dedicated team of professionals provides retail leasing, tenant representation, land acquisition and investment sales services to local, regional and national clients, and each agent is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). For more information please call 480.894.6363.