The week before he spoke to Forum in
connection with this article, Parker showed
Kaufman around the latest phase of the
massive, multi-year Summit project Parker
Properties is developing in Aliso Viejo. He
tells Forum that he found Kaufman’s com-
ments and questions “very helpful to me,
because some of the new things we’re try-
ing to do with office space resonate better
with younger people. When I run some of
those ideas past some of my peers, they roll
their eyes a little bit.”
For his part, Kaufman says that having
recently launched Blue Sky Basin Realty, a
CRE advisory firm headquartered in
Manhattan Beach, CA, “It was a perfect
time to form a one-on-one relationship
with an experienced, senior commercial
real estate executive. I couldn’t have found
or asked for a better mentor than Russ.” He
adds that Parker “does what leaders need to
do, which is to stay current and evolve.”
Although the structure is “casual, as
opposed to buttoned-down,” Kaufman says
he gleans a great deal from the interplay
between Parker and himself. He recently
brought his mentor to a project which Blue
Sky Basin Realty recently acquired, still in
the conceptual stage in terms of how it will
be revitalized. Since the NAIOP program
mandates that discussions between mentor
and mentee are strictly off the record, “I
have no concern about sharing financial
numbers or details that people normally
wouldn’t share because of confidentiality
concerns,” says Kaufman. “It’s fun to not
only ask for advice, but also collaborate and
potentially give him an idea or two.”
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RS_PHX_2015_HalfAd.indd 1 10/1/15 3:00PM
Parker Properties’ Russ Parker (at left) and Blue Sky Basin Partners’ Kurt Kaufman have what
Kaufman refers to as a “casual, as opposed to buttoned-down” mentor/mentee relationship.
