The Company Behind the Name
…and the Name Behind the Company
Can a name really tell you anything about a company?
We think so. We chose ours carefully. We wanted it to represent exactly what we offer and why companies choose us.
Forte is an interesting word. It’s defined as a person’s expertise or something at which they excel – their unique skill. It’s also the strongest part of a sword or foil blade, like the type used in fencing.
Strength. Expertise. Skill. Our clients tell us that’s what they look for in a real estate expert. They want a reliable partner that’s skilled at reducing risk and removing uncertainty. They want someone who’s an expert on the real estate market and at maximizing their leverage. And they want someone who’s a tough negotiator on their behalf (that’s where the fencing analogy comes in).
Some people call a forte a “core competency.” We just think of it as our job. And we like the way it sounds. It’s much better than “Core Competency Commercial Real Estate.”
The Way We Do Business
We are as much community members as we are service providers.
These days, it’s trendy for companies to talk about their values. We think an organization’s values should show through in the way it does business, not what it says. But in order for you to hold us accountable, we want you to know a little about the principles we strive to uphold:
Be Extraordinary Citizens – We invest our time, talents, and resources into the communities we serve. We understand that sound real estate decisions don’t have to come at the cost of the environment, the community, or aesthetics.
Exceed Expectations, Every Time – We’re known by our colleagues and our clients as highly professional and prepared, transparent in our dealings, and thorough advocates, and we go above and beyond to serve our clients’ missions each and every time.
Engage in Meaningful Growth – We take a thoughtful and intentional approach to learning, innovating, and evolving – both personally and as a company.
Leave Ego at the Door – We treat everyone we meet, serve, and work alongside of with the highest amount of respect, fairness, and curiosity, and we celebrate our collective wins.
We know that what our clients say about us means a lot more than what we say about ourselves. We encourage you to ask them about the way we do business.
Testimonials
We burned through several other Commercial Realtors before we found Dustin. He was a breath of fresh air.
We interviewed two other firms before we made a decision. We selected Dustin, because of his unique and forward thinking approach to lease new space.
Through Dustin’s efforts, we not only stayed in control of negotiations with the various landlords throughout the entire process, we finally had sufficient leverage to prompt our current landlord to negotiate in a way that was in-line with the rest of the market. Prior to that, we felt like the landlord held all the cards. Although it was too late, our former landlord ultimately made an offer that almost matched our deal now.
We couldn’t be happier about the results. First of all, we saved 40% over our previous occupancy costs. By being in control of TI we made huge improvements to our office and manufacturing space and therefore acquired a much more efficient workflow and operating process.
The process that Dustin ran was thorough, rigorous and fully leveraged throughout the process. We would absolutely use him again – I happily recommend Dustin.
One big difference that I have noticed, is Dustin always brings me in early in the process, with a clear strategy and direction. His focus is always understanding the transaction more thoroughly, including detail knowledge of the budgeting, scheduling and construction process which allows the very best negotiations (keeping that expertise on his team) and results in creating more leverage and safety for his clients. By the time he has issued RFPs, he knows what’s possible, the full budget and scope is clear and he can knowledgeably negotiate and control the process for his client.
Dustin’s knowledge of the construction and development aspects of the deal is a huge benefit to his clients. His process allows my team to be even more effective, has resulted in incredible savings for his clients and has created far more predictable outcomes.
He is uniquely thorough in the representation of his clients interests, in his ability to create leverage for his client and in his execution of the transaction. His performance ensures the client is successful and that we are too.
Without hesitation, I recommend Dustin and look forward to the opportunity to work together again
We received excellent advice leading up to the decision to consolidate our headquarters operations under one roof. Dustin’s advice influenced our budgeting and supported alignment in our Executive Leadership team around our course of action and goals for the project.
Dustin is able to communicate clearly and effectively at every level of our organization from operations manager to CFO to CEO and has relevant substantiated advice in every instance. His ability to interface with our internal project team and provide vision and leadership to the structure and members of our external team meant that our planning and negotiations were always very well informed, actionable and in our control.
Dustin is able to bridge the operational needs of our organization and project team with the financial goals of the company and he effectively mediated and translated those goals into action.
He continually maintained leverage among our target buildings. The level of clarity we had of the negotiating terms, EBITDA impact and construction budget meant that we were able to negotiate aggressively and confidently, knowing that we had multiple, mature alternatives to the negotiations. The result was a lease and construction budget that not only met, but exceeded the goals of the project.
It’s clear that Dustin’s focus is squarely on the best interests of the organization and the internal members in charge of the project. The structure, planning and substantiated advice we received gave us options, certainty and clarity throughout the process.
Dustin’s broad knowledge of the financial, construction and market aspects of the deal and his ability to communicate effectively makes it possible for me to whole-heartedly recommend him.
Dustin and I have been doing business together since the late 90’s when I was the CFO of Baxa Corporation. I think all told we have transacted at least 15 deals together and he’s handled countless other exercises for me. Here’s what I know. Whether it’s in Denver, Daytona Beach, Toronto or if it’s a small lease or a big lease, a large purchase and tenant improvement, a sale leaseback or a site sale – office, industrial or land, he and his team deliver. Our leadership and anyone who played point for any deal would say the same thing, we can always count on good leadership and delivery.
At the time we had a significant issue with odor from our neighboring tenant, our office space hadn’t been updated since we moved in, there were quite a number of maintenance problems and it was clear in our conversation that we had been overpaying compared to the market. Through Dustin’s process and the leverage he brought to the table, we saved more than 30% in occupancy costs including tenant improvements, all of the maintenance and odor issues were resolved and our office is improved to an extent that we’re all much happier to go to work every day.
I definitely would recommend Dustin to anyone looking for good advice, leverage and follow through.
Our continued relationship with Dustin is rooted in his ability to provide detailed and substantiated advice, maintain leverage in our negotiations, transact more simple deals getting to the best market economics and his ability to organize a larger team and provide vision and leadership on more complicated transactions. He’s knowledgeable about our firm and what we need.
He substantially improved the economics of a larger renewal we worked together and has showed an ability to provide a strong level of service and leadership at a local level and nationally. We’ve found it helpful working with Dustin around the country because we know the negotiations will go well and we get consistent advocacy wherever we go. And, he substantially reduces our ramp up time and risk in remote offices and new markets.
I confidently recommend him.
Mental Health Colorado enlisted Forte Commercial Real Estate to solve two problems: finding a new home for our organization and finding subtenants to fill our current space. Forte accomplished both goals in short order. The team’s guidance and expertise saved us a great deal of time – a valuable commodity in any line of work.
We met Forte when we were trying to sublease space from one of their other clients. When our deal was upended by the landlord, we knew that Forte would be very effective for our needs and we hired them. The lease of our new office and the sublease of our old office went off without a hitch. We enjoyed working with them, they followed through and we know we can trust them.