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An Investment in Knowledge Always Pays The Best Interest

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October 14, 2010

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The principals of CenterMark were groomed for professional life in corporate America — Money Center Banks and, what were then known as, Big 5 accounting firms. Rather than mirror the type of organizational structures we grew up in, CenterMark elected to stay small. We believe it allows us to react [...]

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Jablonski, Prominent Cleveland Developers Offer Views on the State of the Industry

As featured in Crain’s Cleveland Businesshttp://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20100510/FREE/305109958

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Jablonski Featured in Crain’s Cleveland Business

Commercial loan delinquency issue lingersLenders write down more of portfolios, file foreclosures to preserve asset valuesBy STAN BULLARDApril 12, 2010 Mark Jablonski is prospecting for bargains.A former commercial loan officer at a bank and real estate analyst for an accounting firm, Mr. Jablonski now is a developer who hopes to [...]

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Spring’s Green Shoots

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April 7, 2010

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Spring’s Green Shoots

In the 1979 movie, Being There, Peter Sellers plays a simple-minded gardener named Chance who has spent all his life in the Washington D.C. house of an old man. When the man dies, Chance is put out on the street with no knowledge of the world except what he has [...]

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Advice From Bob Lutz

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March 22, 2010

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Several years ago, my father, a longtime auto industry executive, passed along an autobiography about Bob Lutz, also a longtime auto industry executive. Recently, Lutz announced he will retire on May 1 from General Motors. Hearing this news caused me to revisit the book Guts: The Seven Laws of Business [...]

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Regaining Perspective

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March 1, 2010

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Regaining Perspective

Did You Know? Since 1837, there has never been a property peak without a new skyscraper claiming to be ‘the world’s tallest’. · In July of 2007, London’s The Register ran following headline: “Dubai Claims World’s Tallest Building Title”. From 1873 until today, there has never been a property peak [...]

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Those Who Fail to Study History are Doomed to Repeat It – Winston Churchill

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February 5, 2010

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As a young commercial real estate lender in the early 1990s searching for new business, I would call on existing clients and prospects and ask what their plans were for the upcoming year. The overwhelming response was “stay alive until ‘95” – a sign that choppy waters were ahead and [...]

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Prophetic Words

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January 6, 2010

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The October 31st, 2005 edition of Fortune magazine featured a cover story on Colony Capital’s chairman, Tom Barrack. In the article, Barrack, who is an avid polo player, offered the following parable: “I feel totally safe playing polo on a field full of pros,” says the bronzed 58-year-old. “But when [...]

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A Look Ahead to 2010

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December 11, 2009

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To forecast the real estate market for 2010, it is important to revisit where we have been in the last few years. From 2000 to 2007, the ability to borrow money at a low cost, without limits, resulted in a dramatic increase of the value of real estate. The bubble [...]

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2001 to Today: A Perspective on Cleveland’s Inner-Ring Development

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November 11, 2009

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The following is an excerpt of an interview of Mark Jablonski for IBMag.com regarding a 10-year retrospective of urban redevelopment in Northeast Ohio. The Topic: Cleveland’s Ring Bearers: The Inner-Ring Suburbs Battle to Rebuild the Urban Core What We Said Then: With no room left to expand, inner-ring suburbs such [...]

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