Vestian Establishes Higher Education & Public Institutions Practice
February 17, 2022; Chicago, IL Vestian, a global commercial real estate firm, announces the formation of its Higher Education & Public Institutions (PI) practice group. Headquartered in Chicago, and with offices throughout the U.S., Europe, India and China, the establishment of the Higher Education practice further expands Vestian’s global offerings.
Kevin Slesh
Leading the practice in Cleveland is industry veteran Kevin Slesh. Slesh has 25 years’ experience creating and implementing strategic initiatives for a wide range of real estate portfolios bringing a collaborative approach to solving complicated real estate transactions. Prior to joining Vestian, Slesh spent 15 years leading strategic real estate efforts at Case Western Reserve University, focusing on economic and community development. While serving at the university, he established and executed the real estate strategy across asset, project, and property management of the university’s vast portfolio.
“We are thrilled to have Kevin lead our new Higher Education and Public Institutions practice group,” said Michael Silver, Chairman of Vestian. “His deep expertise in consulting on diverse educational, mixed use, retail and multifamily developments is ideally suited to meet our higher education clients’ evolving objectives.”
As the methods of delivering higher education solutions evolve, attracting and retaining students, faculty and visitors to campus continues to be a top priority to achieve long-term success. Slesh’s expertise, paired with Vestian’s robust platform, deliver best-in-class solutions to these important higher education initiatives.
Slesh has implemented various creative real estate strategies including commercial development adjacent to campus, alternative housing arrangements, and joint ventures with community partners. These initiatives improve the campus experience for students, faculty, and staff, while simultaneously strengthening the neighboring communities. In addition to these targeted redevelopment efforts, Vestian’s practice group develops plans for the entire real estate portfolio to address the recent changes of the traditional classroom and office space.
“Joining Vestian gives me the opportunity to serve our clients’ needs, helping them simplify complex real estate decisions in an ever-changing and dynamic real estate landscape,” stated Slesh. “Our diverse team is able to accomplish these important initiatives by delivering a true business partner model to our clients, enabling them to take control of their real estate issues.”
“Vestian has seen a growing need for strategic and transparent real estate services among higher education institutions; and we strive to ensure they’re making informed real estate decisions,” added Silver. “With the creation of our new practice group and bringing Kevin on board, Vestian clients can be assured that their real estate needs will be met with a seasoned business advocate that will help them find their voice.”
“The Vestian team has a well-documented track record in delivering the best real estate outcomes which is why innovative and dynamic companies turn to us for consistently high-quality service,” added Slesh. “We develop long-term relationships and become the trusted real estate advisor to higher education and public institutions that need commercial real estate assistance, but do not have the expertise nor access to important market data to make informed decisions.”
About Vestian
Founded in 2009, Vestian is a full-service real estate firm focusing exclusively on occupiers. With offices in the U.S., India, Europe and China, Vestian helps clients transform their real estate holdings into distinct competitive advantages.
Vestian offers cohesive portfolio strategy and management, transaction advisory, corporate finance, project services, workplace integration, data management, facilities management and audit and recovery.
Vestian serves leading organizations in a range of market sectors catering to IT, retail, hospitality and biotech companies including Bayer Corp., Bosch, Cargill, Chrysler, 3M, Puma, Mercedes-Benz, CSL Plasma, Texas Instruments, Union Pacific, Nike, Ericsson, Caterpillar and many others. More information can be found at www.vestian.com