written by
Natalie Baylon

Celebrating 10 Years of Intersection: A Journey of Growth, Partnership, and Vision

1596-190 S. Rancho Santa Fe Road, San Marcos, CA 92078

As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Intersection, we reflect on an incredible journey. It all started decades ago with two individuals, a shared vision, and a commitment to excellence. From their early days at Coldwell Banker Commercial in downtown Los Angeles, our founders—Rocco Cortese and Mark Hoekstra—laid the groundwork for a thriving real estate company. Their story highlights the power of collaboration, innovation, and strong partnerships in commercial real estate.

Humble Beginnings: A Partnership Forms

In 1987, Rocco and Mark met at Coldwell Banker Commercial in downtown Los Angeles. Their careers soon took different paths, but the bond they formed set the stage for something bigger.

Rocco left Coldwell Banker to build a successful brokerage career with JLL in San Francisco. During this time, he excelled professionally while also starting a family, marking a period of personal and career growth.

Meanwhile, Mark joined IDS Real Estate and launched the company’s San Diego office. After years of success, he founded Heritage Real Estate Advisors, solidifying his leadership in the industry.

A New Chapter: The Birth of The Heritage Group

On November 14, 2014, Rocco and Mark reunited. They combined their experience and vision in a small office on State Street in Little Italy, San Diego. That day, they founded The Heritage Group, a company built on trust, partnership, and exceptional service.

Their complementary skills created a strong foundation. Rocco brought expertise in capital markets and investment management. Mark contributed deep knowledge of real estate operations and services. Together, they set the stage for future success.

The Evolution to Intersection

In 2018, the company rebranded from The Heritage Group to Intersection. The new name reflected the company’s core value: partnership. Just like an intersection, where paths meet, the company brought together diverse expertise to create something greater.

This rebranding was more than a name change. It marked a broader vision. The company expanded beyond property management to include real estate investments, brokerage, and facilities services. Clients now had access to a full suite of integrated real estate solutions.

Expansion and Growth

The momentum continued in 2019. Intersection expanded into Lindon, UT, marking its first office outside California. Acquiring a major property management account in Utah added seven team members and strengthened the company’s national presence.

Today, Intersection has grown to more than 45 team members. The company operates across four service areas: Brokerage, Equities, Real Estate Services, and Facility Services. This diversification allows the firm to offer a fully integrated approach to commercial real estate.

Looking Ahead: A Promising Future

As we celebrate 10 years, we look ahead with excitement. The past decade has been extraordinary, but the best is yet to come. Intersection remains dedicated to strong relationships, trusted partnerships, and delivering exceptional value across all sectors of commercial real estate.

Our growth over the years is just the beginning. As we expand and refine our services, we stay true to our core values: wisdom, equality, determination, ingenuity, stewardship and collaboration. The future holds exciting opportunities as we continue shaping the industry.

Here’s to 10 years of success—and many more to come!

Thank you to everyone who has been part of this incredible journey. Whether you’ve been with us from the beginning or joined us along the way, we couldn’t have done it without you. Here’s to the future of Intersection, where the next intersection of growth and opportunity awaits!

written by
Natalie Baylon

Grocery Outlet Signs Long-Term Lease at Prominent Pacific Beach Retail Site

RSR Holdings, LLC, represented by Dan McCarthy and Alec Spencer of Intersection, has secured a significant lease agreement with Grocery Outlet, a leading publicly traded retailer in the grocery industry. The lease encompasses 12,365 square feet of prime retail space at 1211 Garnet Avenue for a term of 132 months, with a total lease consideration of $3,708,797.00.

Known for its strategic location and substantial visibility on a major arterial, 1211 Garnet Avenue offers 12,365 square feet of retail space accompanied by ample dedicated parking—a rare find in the Pacific Beach submarket. Following extensive marketing efforts, RSR Holdings identified Grocery Outlet as an ideal long-term partner based on its robust business model and brand presence with over 480 locations nationwide.

“We are gratified to have completed this agreement with Grocery Outlet, whose tenancy will undoubtedly enhance both the asset and the Pacific Beach community,” stated Alec Spencer, Senior Associate at Intersection.

With a legacy of serving Pacific Beach through notable retailers such as Thrifty Drug Store and Trader Joe’s, 1211 Garnet Avenue continues a reputation for attracting premium tenants and achieving strong lease rates under the stewardship of RSR Holdings and Intersection.

Grocery Outlet is renowned for offering name-brand groceries at discounted prices, making it a valuable addition to the retail landscape of Pacific Beach.  They were represented in this transaction by Dave Hagglund of CBRE.

This partnership marks a significant milestone for RSR Holdings, reinforcing its commitment to maintaining enduring relationships with tenants and delivering exceptional value to the community.

To learn more about this project or the deal, please reach out to Alec Spencer at [email protected]

Natalie Baylon is the Marketing Manager at Intersection, providing strategic marketing expertise to support business objectives across company divisions. For general and marketing inquiries, please get in touch with Natalie at [email protected] 

written by
Natalie Baylon

Intersection Equities and Equity Resource Investments Acquire Henderson Industrial Park for $16.95M

Intersection Equities is pleased to announce the acquisition of Desert Canyon Industrial Park, a 95,364 square foot, small bay industrial business park in Henderson, Nevada. The asset was purchased for $16.95 million. Colliers represented the Seller, Nicola 249 Elliott LP, and Erik Sexton and Camila Rosales of NAI Vegas represented the Buyer, a joint venture between an affiliate of Intersection Equities, LLC and a fund managed by Equity Resource Investments, LLC.

Desert Canyon Industrial Park (the “Property”) spans 95,364 square feet across five buildings, constructed between 2001 and 2007. The Property is comprised of 36 total suites ranging in size from 2,400 to 3,200 square feet, featuring 16 to 18 ft clear heights and a total of 63 grade-level doors. The Property is located within the Henderson submarket which currently maintains a 2.4% vacancy rate, with no known competing small bay industrial developments planned in Henderson. We believe the Property is appealing to tenants given its proximity to Interstate 11 & SR 585, and what we believe to be a strong pipeline of residential and mixed-use developments in the area.

“We acquired this transaction with debt and equity partners who appreciated the fundamentals of the Property,” said CEO and Co-founder at Intersection, Rocco Cortese. “It is well located, and we believe offers us an attractive going-in cap rate as well as upside potential, something that is difficult to find in this market.”

“This is our 6th industrial acquisition and our 3rd in the Las Vegas area. We know this market well and believe in the demand characteristics for small bay industrial,” added Anton Myskiw, Senior Associate at Intersection.

Intersection plans to complete a light renovation at the project and engage in a proactive management program focused on increasing tenant satisfaction, enhancing curb appeal, and marking rents to market.

To learn more about this project or the deal, please reach out to Anton Myskiw @[email protected]

Natalie Baylon is the Marketing Manager at Intersection, providing strategic marketing expertise to support business objectives across company divisions. For general and marketing inquiries, please get in touch with Natalie at [email protected] 

written by
Steve Gildred

Helpful Tips to Become a Skilled Networking Professional

When it comes to networking, commercial real estate is no different than any other industry; the better you take care of your network, the better your network takes care of you. While the brokerage side of the business may seem like an individual operation, you’re only as strong as your network and networking is a craft that requires patience and dedication to fully master. The following are just a few helpful tips and suggestions to help you become a premier networker in commercial real estate:

Play Your Cards Right

As a broker, you find yourself on the go often. Since you never know when you might stumble across your next client, it’s an absolute must to have your business card handy at all times. Just as important as handing out business cards, however, is taking them. A card given puts you on someone’s radar but a card taken gives you the power to initiate a relationship. To properly maximize your business card collection, it’s important to log every new entry into a database of contacts that can be tracked and monitored. Next, you must create a plan for when and how you intend to initiate contact. Last but not least, be mindful of timing; each new contact carries with it a limited window of opportunity, and business cards have a propensity to stack up on your desk if you’re not proactive with them.  

Invest in Your Network

The greatest gift you can give someone is your time and nobody is more keenly aware of this concept than a premier networker. Relationships are not born from the mere initiation of contact but by logging meaningful time and establishing a genuine connection. This may sound simple enough but it becomes infinitely more complex the larger your network grows. As a result, prioritizing relationships is critical as one only has so much time to offer and must be cautious about which relationships to allocate your time towards. The balance of maintaining old relationships while developing new ones is a careful song and dance that requires a strong sense of priorities and self-awareness. 

Establish Yourself in the Local Community

A great way to expand your professional network is by attending local networking organizations such as the Commercial Real Estate Alliance (CRA), Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), and National Association for Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP). These organizations typically meet monthly and will provide you with exposure to other local professionals and business owners. In order to maximize your affiliations and create a consistent presence within these organizations, it’s important to attend as many networking events as possible. This is especially true of your initial years as a new member of the organization.

Have Fun

Whether you’re exchanging business cards, cultivating close relationships, or mingling at networking events, remember to always have fun with it. At its core, networking is designed to be a uniquely rewarding experience and should be taken as such. The more people you can plug into your network that you genuinely enjoy, the more satisfying your experience will become. At some point, networking will stop feeling like work altogether as it eventually becomes second nature. And that’s when the real fun begins because, in the famous words of Mark Twain, if you can “find a job you enjoy doing, you will never have to work a day in your life”

To discuss networking strategy in more detail or if you would like more information about Intersection, please reach out to Steve Gildred at [email protected]

Autumn Valencia is the Marketing Coordinator at Intersection, providing strategic marketing expertise to support business objectives across company divisions. For general and marketing inquiries, please contact Autumn at [email protected] 

written by
Natalie Baylon

A Detailed look into general partner investing and navigating a deal through a pandemic

Throughout my years raising capital for our real estate investments, I have encountered a few investors who ask how they can be the General Partner instead of the Limited Partner in a deal. The first thing that would come to mind when I heard those questions is: Invest thousands of hours in learning a complex industry, and hundreds of thousands of dollars into people and technology, and you will be just getting started. Putting together a successful commercial real estate deal is not for the faint at heart or the inexperienced. It takes years of hard-work, talented people and you have to actually find the right deal in a very competitive market. That said, Ingenuity, Collaboration, and Stewardship are core values of our firm so we always tried to find a way to give our investors a taste of the General Partner “like” returns by targeting value add properties with higher return scenarios.

 

During the Pandemic, we were raising our second Fund and in March of this year (2020) we purchased an office property. Bad timing? Not really. We still love the deal and our basis, and in fact, feel very bullish about the long-term opportunity to generate a strong return for our investors. The structure in that deal, however, was a little different. We had a joint venture partner in that property, and our Fund was acting as the General Partner. All of the returns from the Joint Venture, including carried interests that we would be able to earn in excess of the property level returns, were set up to inure to the Fund. This structure effectively put all of the Fund investors in the role of General Partner. Normally, this scenario is structured a little differently with investors only earning a percentage of the carried interest. However, because we were using Fund equity as the General Partner capital, we felt that sending 100% of the carried interest to investors was the right thing to do. Considering the risk that the Pandemic has thrown into the market, we’re happy to have that structure in place and are optimistic that the returns will ultimately play out in a significantly positive way for our Fund.

As we approached the structure of our last deal, we started to consider the concept in a more meaningful way for future deals. Our research returned that the GP Co-Investment structure seemed very appealing for us as we continued to build our investment practice. We had just built out a new strategy for acquiring logistics based industrial in markets west of Denver and realized that we could lever our personal capital more effectively if we brought in GP-Co Investors in multiple deals. They would have the opportunity to earn a 10% piece of our carried interest effectively allowing the individual investor to earn greater returns than our institutional limited partners when measured against project-level returns.

Sometimes unexpected situations create opportunity. Not only did we develop a new and exciting investment strategy, but we were also able to create an investment structure that helped us address the requests of those who wanted to be General Partner in some of our deals. The thousands of hours, and hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in people and technology, along with a little entrepreneurship, helped us put our private investors one step ahead. We’ll still do all of the heavy lifting of course and continue to focus on enriching the lives of those we serve (whether they be GP’s or LP’s)!

Autumn Valencia is the Marketing Coordinator at Intersection, providing strategic marketing expertise to support business objectives across company divisions. For general and marketing inquiries, please contact Autumn at [email protected] 

written by
Kyle Clark

Addressing Common Misconceptions on San Diego Ballot Measure E

Next month, San Diego voters will have the opportunity to weigh in on Measure E which, if approved, will eliminate the 30-foot height limit in the Midway Planning Area surrounding the Sports Arena. Over the past couple of months, we’ve heard loads of discussion about this measure and what effect it will have on our community. Aside from the traditional media sources, local internet discussion boards like NextDoor are alive with commentary and like most propositions, the information being shared ranges from “Interesting” to “You’ve Got to be Kidding?”. As a local specific to the measure’s zipcode, and commercial real estate agent with over 20 years of experience, I want to neutrally shed light on the common misconceptions surrounding measure-E and hopefully offer insight in contrast to local fearmongering

Misconception- ‘This measure will expose all of our coastal areas to unlimited building heights, which will result in a landscape similar to Waikiki Beach offering no views available more than a block inland from the shore.‘

Fact- “This measure pertains Only to the zoned area within the Midway Community Planning District. It will not have any effect on the regulations affecting other properties in the Peninsula, Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach or Bay Heights neighborhoods. The current 30 ft. limits will continue to apply in all these other areas”

Misconception- ‘If this measure passes, developers will have no limit to how much they can build.‘

Fact- “While the 30-foot height limit will be removed, any new development will still need to obtain approval from the Midway Planning Group and the City of San Diego. The City Zoning ordinance incorporates a Floor Area Ratio (FAR) factor, which limits how much density can be placed on a particular property. If you want to build to a 200 foot height, the FAR will prohibit that. For instance, if the FAR is 3.0 and the land parcel is 10,000 square feet, the developer cannot legally build more than 30,000 square feet on the parcel (3.0 x 10,000 ft.). This FAR is the true limiting factor to how much can be constructed on a site, not the building height”

Given the over-cautious and FAR constraints, the developer cannot build any more on the land regardless of the height restriction. The key difference is the mass of what would be constructed. With a three-story limit, the builder would build three stories at 10,000 feet per floor, effectively covering 100% of the land parcel. If the height limit were removed, the builder could build a six-story structure that covered 50% of the land area. This would be preferable since we now have 5,000 feet of open, landscaped space.

The City has already designated Brookfield as the preferred developer for the Sports Arena site. We can assume that they will continue with their efforts to eventually redevelop this massive site. Surely, this will spur additional redevelopment on other properties in the area. So, what are the options? What would you like to see in our community in 10 years, with the assumption that any developer will see to maximize the utility of their land given the development constraints and regulations in-place?

The mantra we keep hearing over and over is our desire for open space and walkable communities with plenty of public-access to the various amenities. With the 30 ft. limitation in-place, the chances of this are slim since the builder will need to maximize the footprint while complying with the FAR regulations. Imagine a 30-foot wall of uninterrupted structures all along Sports Arena Blvd, with an intermittent break where the side streets intersect. You will not be able to see the new sports arena because of the wall’s obstruction. In contrast, imagine a series of taller structures offering the same square footage of space yet with greenbelts and walking/biking paths in between offering view corridors throughout.

The passage of measure-E, will not open the floodgates and allow the developer to construct any more building area than they can under the current in-place regulations for permitted floor area. What it will do is allow for the development of taller buildings, which will then allow for the open space and amenities we all desire.

The pressure to come together for measure-E is heavy as this decision will have a multi-generational impact on Midway and the sports arena area.

If you have any interest in learning more about local market updates reach out to Kyle Clark at [email protected]

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