Commercial Real Estate Broker

Honesty·Integrity·Experience·Success

 

Testimonials

“Chris’ experience, knowledge and work ethic are second to none.” – John Bishard, Bishard Development

“Chris Zarpas has been immensely helpful to us in leasing our property and guiding us through a complex 1031 Exchange. We had to coordinate the sale of two properties with the purchase of two replacement properties. Chris reviewed hundreds of properties with us over a period of months until we had the right ones selected. You will never have a better or more tireless advocate for your real estate interests. Chris spent hundreds of hours to make sure we received the best price for our sales and the best price for our purchases.” – Anne G. Kellam

“As a real estate attorney, I have had the pleasure of working with Chris Zarpas on a wide variety of commercial transactions over the years. Chris really has his finger on the pulse of the real estate market, and he has achieved great results for my clients as a skilled broker and negotiator. I highly recommend him for all of your real estate brokerage needs.” – Scott Alperin, Alperin Law

“Chris is the hardest working broker I have ever worked with. His interpersonal skills teamed with his 24/7 service mentality is more than I could ask for. He’s there before, during and after the sale as a resource and friend.” – Butch Walz

“As the owner of several hotels, two truck stops and an additional management firm, my time is quite valuable. Chris is more than willing to work around my chaotic schedule for meetings, conference calls, client introductions or whatever I need. He has a very professional appearance and demeanor, and I feel fortunate to have met him. Thanks Chris!” – Shinda Bharij

“Chris Zarpas is a knowledgeable professional with experience and expertise in finding the right property for the buyer that meets their investment objectives. I trust Chris Zarpas implicitly. His integrity and service levels have always exceeded my expectations.” – Chris Beale, Southern Bank and Trust

“Chris Zarpas expertly facilitated the sale of Timbaland’s Thomas Crown Studio for our business, Virginia Beach Recording Arts. Without his efforts, we would not be where we are today, serving the local music community. We greatly appreciate everything Chris did to make this happen! Even post sale, he has helped refer great projects our way. We highly recommend Chris Zarpas!!” – Josh Haddad, Virginia Beach Recording Arts

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I began my commercial real estate training at the age of 12, during long car rides visiting properties with my father, a successful commercial real estate broker and developer in Washington DC. By the age of eighteen, I was well versed in concepts such as “cash on cash return” “net operating income” and “percentage rent”. A graduate of George Washington University and Brooklyn Law School, I have a diverse foundation of corporate and entrepreneurial business experience, including four years as the Vice President of Production and Acquisitions for Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.

I bring an analytical and highly creative approach to the acquisition, development, sale and leasing of commercial real estate in all categories. Among my areas of special concentration are investment property, mobile home parks, healthcare, office and retail real estate. I have a sophisticated and strategic vision of sales and marketing that allows me to obtain the highest prices for my seller clients and the best possible terms when representing buyers, landlords and tenants.

Notable Recent Transactions

• 5000 Bennetts Pasture Road – 57 Acres – $5.6MM – Suffolk, VA
• CVP Medical Office Building – 46,254 SF – $21.2MM – Norfolk, VA
• Greengate Medical Office Building – 45,000 SF – $17.9MM – Richmond, VA
• Trane Industrial Facility – 83,025 SF/9 acres – $14.15MM – Midlothian, VA
• Medical Office Building – $21MM – Virginia Beach, VA
• Retail Shopping Center – $4.3MM – Powhatan, VA
• Magnolia Lakes Mobile Home Park – $10.3MM – Suffolk, VA
• Boot Barn Retail Store – $2.1MM – Colonial Heights, VA
• Multifamily Land – 17 AC – $6.2MM – Virginia Beach, VA
• Land for RV Resort Development – 350 AC – $4MM – Coinjock, NC
• Two Mobile Home Parks – 48 AC – $3.7MM – Mineral & Bowling Green, VA
• Medical Office Land – $2.9MM – Chesapeake, VA
• Galumbeck Surgical Center – 10,036 SF/1.084 acres – $2.65MM – Virginia Beach, VA
• Blair’s Creek Mobile Home Park – $2.6MM – Smithfield, VA
• Medical Office Building – $1.3MM – Virginia Beach, VA
• Medical Office Building – $3.3MM – Virginia Beach, VA

About S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co.

 Founded in 1906, S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co. offers the full spectrum of real estate services, including mixed-use development, commercial development, multi-family development, property management, leasing, sales & brokerage, and full menu of financial services.

To date, S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co. has developed over 6 million square feet of commercial space and over 8,000 residential units in approximately 50 apartment communities, 18 Walgreens stores and numerous fee development projects with a wide range of product types and financial structures.

Our sales and leasing team represents almost 300 commercial properties across all product lines; our current management portfolio consists of approximately 4.5 million square feet of shopping center space, over 220,000 square feet of office and industrial property and more than 33,000 apartment units throughout the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.

Developed by S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co. and completed in 2010, this $160 million mixed-use development, in which we have our regional headquarters, features the region’s first LEED Gold Certified high-rise office building. This Class A development is comprised of a twenty-three story, 255,000 square foot office tower, 50,000 square feet of retail space, 1,859 parking spaces within2 garages and 121 luxury apartments (Monticello Station) and a branch location for Wells Fargo Bank. Among our tenants numerous are many prestigious national and local business and professional firms.

 

Recent News

FOR COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE INVESTORS, “URBAN DOOM LOOP” IS BOTH CRISIS AND OPPORTUNITY

July 31,2023

WHAT CHARLES DARWIN IS TEACHING REAL-ESTATE INVESTORS

Sept 8, 2022

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE: BUY, SELL OR HOLD?

June 22, 2022

VIRGINIA BEACH MEDICAL BUILDING SELLS FOR $21M

February 17, 2022

TRANE DISTRIBUTION FACILITY IN MIDLOTHIAN SELLS FOR $14.5M

August 26, 2021

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE WILL SURVIVE PANDEMIC

April 27, 2020

LOCAL MAN KNEW “THE SAND LOT” WOULD BE A HOME RUN WHEN HE PRODUCED IT 25 YEARS AGO. HE WAS RIGHT.

July 19, 2018

CURRITUCK COUNTY RV PARK SOLD FOR $4 MILLION

July 3, 2018

Wisdom

“Real estate cannot be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away. Purchased with common sense, paid for in full, and managed with reasonable care, it is about the safest investment in the world.”

– Franklin D. Roosevelt

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“To be successful in real estate, you must always and consistently put your clients’ best interests first. When you do, your personal needs will be realized beyond your greatest expectations.”

– Anthony Hitt

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“Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.”

– Proverbs 12:11

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“Borrow a million bucks, you don’t sleep. Borrow 10 million, the bank doesn’t sleep.”

– Herbert Haft, Real Estate Developer and Founder, Dart Drug Stores

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“Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate. More money has been made in real estate than in all industrial investments combined. The wise young man or wage earner of today invests his money in real estate.”

– Andrew Carnegie, Scottish Businessman and Philanthropist

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“There have been few things in my life which have had a more genial effect on my mind than the possession of a piece of land.”

– Harriet Martineau

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“I’d get down low, turn my plane up on its side, and fly right over a town. Once we had a spot picked out, we’d land, go find out who owned the property, and try to negotiate the deal right then and there. That’s another good reason I don’t like jets. You can’t get down low enough to really tell what’s going on, the way I could in my little planes.”

– Sam Walton

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“There is money to be made in every kind of real estate market. Good, bad or indifferent.”

– Alan Nusbaum

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“Landlords grow rich in their sleep without working, risking or economizing.”

– John Stuart Mill, English Philosopher and Economist

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“Real Estate is the best investment there is, because you can’t steal bricks and mortar.”

– Blackie Auger – Proprietor, Blackie’s House of Beef. Washington DC

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“If you don’t own a home, buy one. If you own a home, buy another one. If you own two homes, buy a third. And, lend your relatives the money to buy a home.”

– John Paulson, Investor and Multi-billionaire

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“PUT. THAT. COFFEE. DOWN. Coffee is for closers only.”

– Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross

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“Real estate investing, even on a very small scale, remains a tried and true means of building an individual’s cash flow and wealth.”

– Robert Kiyosaki

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“Find out where the people are going and buy the land before they get there.”

– William Penn Adair, Cherokee Indian and Confederate State Army Colonel

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“Land monopoly is not only monopoly, but it is by far the greatest of monopolies; it is a perpetual monopoly, and it is the mother of all other forms of monopoly.”

– Winston Churchill

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“A house will never buy you an income property, but an income property will buy you a house. Buy the income property first.”

– Mike Zarpas – Washington DC Commercial Real Estate Broker b. 1919 – d. 2000

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“A man complained that on his way home to dinner he had every day to pass through that long field of his neighbor’s. I advised him to buy it, and it would never seem long again.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

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“One of the greatest investments of our lifetime has been New York City real estate, and investors made the highest returns when they bought stuff during the 1970s and 1980s when people were getting mugged. The lesson is that you make the most money when you buy stuff that’s out of consensus.”

– Mary Meeker, Morgan Stanley Investment Analyst

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“Don’t wait to buy land, buy land and wait.”

– Will Rogers – Humorist

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“Real estate is an imperishable asset, ever increasing in value. It is the most solid security that human ingenuity has devised. It is the basis of all security and about the only indestructible security.”

– Russel Sage, Wall Street Financier and Railroad Executive

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“I started in the supermarket business in the early ’70s. And by ’75, ’76, I realized you don’t have a business unless you own the real estate.”

– John Catsimatidis – CEO of Gristedes Foods, The largest grocery chain in NYC

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“Buy land, they’re not making it anymore.”

– Mark Twain

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“Real estate is at the core of almost every business, and it’s certainly at the core of most people’s wealth. In order to build your wealth and improve your business smarts, you need to know about real estate.”

– Donald Trump

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“The major fortunes in America have been made in land.”

– John D. Rockefeller

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“Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results.”

– Warren Buffett

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“Now, one thing I tell everyone is learn about real estate. Repeat after me: real estate provides the highest returns, the greatest values and the least risk.”

– Armstrong Williams

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“He is not a full man who does not own a piece of land.”

– Hebrew Proverb

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“I made a tremendous amount of money on real estate. I’ll take real estate rather than go to Wall Street and get 2.8 percent. Forget about it.”

– Ivana Trump

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“I would give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground.”

– Shakespeare

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“Buying real estate is not only the best way, the quickest way, the safest way, but the only way to become wealthy.”

– Marshall Field

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“The best investment on earth is earth.”

– Louis Glickman

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“In the real estate business you learn more about people, and you learn more about community issues, you learn more about life, you learn more about the impact of government, probably than any other profession that I know of.”

– Johnny Isakson

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“The small landholders are the most precious part of state.”

– Thomas Jefferson

 

I deliver full service commercial real estate brokerage solutions for business owners, investors and tenants in the investment, land, healthcare, office, industrial, mobile home park and retail property sectors. My services include:

Real Estate Investment Services

Owning commercial real estate is preferable to some investors since it is a tangible asset that can be seen and physically managed by comparison to the intangible, “digital ownership” of stocks, bonds, or mutual funds. For almost a century, the annualized average return for the S&P 500 was 9.8%. However, it is not uncommon for “buy and hold” commercial real estate investors to see returns of 7% – 10% on a ten-year hold. The potential volatility of the stock market has never been more apparent than today. On a risk adjusted basis, commercial real estate is a very sound investment as part of a diversified portfolio. For more than 114 years, S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co. has completed transactions to sell or acquire several billion dollars of investment property for both the company and its clients. Those clients include institutions, REITs and small private investors seeking to maximize their real estate position with sound strategies for acquisition and disposition of income producing property. We provide our clients with in-depth market knowledge and property analysis across all categories including, single-tenant retail, office and industrial properties, multi-tenant shopping centers, apartment buildings and office buildings.

Tenant Representation and Relocation

Whether you are a new business looking for your first location or a growing business needing more space of additional locations, I can help. Representation by experienced commercial real estate broker is essential. When a prospective buyer or tenant call the number on the sign or in the posted listing, he will reach the broker representing the seller or landlord. That broker has a legal, fiduciary duty to his seller or landlord client. He’s not looking out for you. And, that seller or landlord is responsible for paying both brokers, So the broker’s services cost you nothing. I will perform detailed analyses of your desired trade area. I will aggressively negotiate lease terms and create a letter of intent containing those terms, including rent, landlord contributions your improvements in free rent/and or cash, parking, signage, etc. I can also introduce you to qualified vendors that specialize in commercial real estate such as banks, designers, contractors, attorneys, etc., and continue to consult and advise you on your project until you are open for business.

Lease Renewal

My up to the minute knowledge of commercial real estate market trends in all property categories, comparable lease transactions and skillful lease negotiation, help to ensure that you will enjoy the best possible terms.

Acquisition

I am a lawyer and skilled negotiator with significant corporate and entrepreneurial business experience. Born into a family of commercial real estate broker developers, I offer my clients a lifelong perspective on commercial real estate transactions. Whether you are an investor, a business owner, lawyer, doctor accountant or other professional looking to purchase business premises, I’ve got the skills to help you. I can quickly identify all available properties that meet your criteria. When there is nothing on the open market, I have resources and relationships that often allow me to find an “off-market” property that exactly meets your need. I dig into the financials and the physical condition of each property and look for any zoning restrictions that may conflict with your use. This means I’ll bring only those properties that best match your needs. I can also assist you in securing financing using my relationships with local, regional and national banks, credit unions and national commercial mortgage brokers. I will create a detailed 10-year projection of profit and loss, prepare a letter of intent, negotiate all terms of sale and consult you on financing options, overseeing the transaction from contract execution to closing. All of this saves you time and money.

Landlord Representation

By carefully balancing tenant mix, thoroughly qualifying prospective tenants, and employing creative marketing strategies, we fully achieve our landlord clients’ goals, even in the most competitive environments. Our vast knowledge of current tenants and those that are preparing to enter our market enables us to match the right tenant to the right property.

Valuation/Disposition/Sale

Selling properties at top market value requires strong local broker expertise. S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co.’s 114 years of success as developers, owners, brokers and property managers gives helps provide me intimate, up to the minute knowledge of local sub-markets, rental rates, demand, competition and value. I use that vast reservoir of knowledge and experience, hard financial analysis and ongoing relationships with buyers of commercial properties, appraisers, bankers and other professionals to provide you with a very accurate opinion of your property.

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I have extensive experience working with a variety of asset types and have an in depth knowledge of these properties and what it takes to increase profitability. I have the critical skills and insight to achieve whatever goals you may have for your project.

Healthcare Real Estate

After payroll, real estate is the greatest expense for most healthcare practices. A poorly negotiated medical office building lease, purchase or sale could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars. Our company represents Sentara Healthcare, one of the largest healthcare providers and medical office space in the region. We also represent numerous doctors, healthcare real estate developers and investors. Recently. I represented one of the largest medical real estate funds in the US in a $19MM MOB acquisition. I’m now pre-leasing a new, 92,000 square foot medical office park for one of the biggest regional MOB developers. Our extensive healthcare real estate expertise, market knowledge and skilled negotiating allow us to achieve terms and concessions. Terms and concessions far superior to those of other commercial real estate brokers and healthcare providers who are not professionally represented, increasing your profitability.

Retail

SL. Nusbaum Realty Co. owns and/or manages over 50 retail shopping centers comprising almost 6 million square feet of space. Many of these properties were developed by the company. Developing, owning, leasing and managing retail property on this scale for over 114 years allows us to bring a 360 degree perspective to every retail transaction. If you are investor wanting to buy or sell lease retail real estate, a developer seeking land on which to build it, a tenant seeking a great location, or a landlord seeking leasing or management services, we can help.

My membership in ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers) and attendance at regional and national retail conventions ensures I constantly expand my knowledge of industry market trends and technological innovation. As a tenant representative, my past and present clients include national fitness center brand, Planet Fitness and regional restaurant operator Pollard’s Chicken. As a landlord representative, I handle the leasing of a Food Lion anchored shopping center. I have recently represented investors in numerous acquisitions including two shopping centers of 18,000 and 12,000 square feet and a 5000 square foot, free standing building occupied by Mattress Firm, a national mattress retailer.

Land and Development

Buying vacant land is in many ways more complicated that buying an existing building. You can actually see the building, and its many advantages and disadvantages will be immediately apparent. But with raw land, what you can see with your eyes is important, but what you may not see — subsurface soil and water conditions, seasonal effects, easements, deed restrictions, or a murky title — can have a far greater impact on your successful development of the land.

The cities and counties of Hampton Roads have very unique land use policies with urban growth boundaries, zoning ordinances and specific regulations like the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act. Identifying and purchasing land for an investor or developer client requires knowledge of basic brokerage, and local rules and regulations. But it also requires an understanding of retail, office, residential and industrial demographic requirements, and how they will affect the future development of the property. We bring not only superior brokerage skills but 114 years of experience as developers to every land acquisition of disposition assignment.

I have extensive recent experience representing clients buying and selling land and currently have sold over 600 acres of land at prices totaling $30 million. Among my past clients is the Simon Property Group, whom I represented in the acquisition of 50 acres that would become the site of the Norfolk Simon Premium Outlet. I am currently representing HHHunt, one of the biggest residential home builders in the mid-Atlantic, in the acquisition of several hundred acres. I provide my investor and developer clients with the up-to-the-minute market data, zoning and comprehensive plan information. I have the critical skills and insight to fully support you project from acquisition through entitlement and final site plan approval.

Mobile Home Parks and RV Resorts

Mobile Home Parks

I am the leading mobile home park broker in Hampton Roads, having sold mobile home parks from $2 million to over $10 million. Manufactured or “Mobile Homes” are the most affordable form of single family housing. Many families living in well maintained “manufactured housing communities” or mobile home parks see them as a better alternative to low rent apartment living. Low rent apartments can have high crime rates, constant noise on all sides of the building, no private outside space, the inability to have pets and no sense of community

Mobile Home Park investments offer investors some of the most attractive risk-adjusted cash yields available in the commercial real estate market.

Mobile Home Parks have four unique investment advantages that make them highly superior investments:

• Mobile Home Park owners are not responsible for maintaining the mobile home dwellings – The owner most often owns the land and property infrastructure (streets, utility connections and common areas) only and leases the land to homeowners, who must maintain.
• High tenant relocation costs – it costs $5,000-$10,000 for a mobile home owner to move and reinstall their home at another community.
• Limited Supply – New mobile home park development is increasingly difficult. Many municipalities no longer permit manufactured home community development, while the redevelopment of existing mobile home parks is lowering inventory.
• Increasing development around once isolated parks improves property value.

These benefit of these advantages to the mobile home park owner are:

• Lower tenant turnover: 10-15% annual turnover vs >40% for apartment communities.
• Reduced operating expenses: 35% average operating costs vs. 50% for apartment communities.
• Pricing power: Ability to raise rents without realizing vacancy.
• Lower Ongoing Capital Expenditures: The value of roads, playgrounds, picnic areas and other common area improvements can be maintained with relatively low periodic capital expenditures by comparison to apartment communities.
• Very significant upside: Redevelopment opportunities may come to exceed the value of cash flow as surrounding commercial and residential densities increase.

My sales include:

Magnolia Meadows MHP
1161 Nansemond Parkway, Suffolk, VA
239 Lots
Sale Price: $10,296,000.00

Oconee Mobile Home Park
340 Tomahawk Trail, Virginia Beach, VA
68 Lots
Sale Price: $4,800,000.00

Blairs Creek Mobile Home Park
60 Lots
11296 Blairs Creek Drive, Smithfield VA
Sale Price: $2,800,000 60 Lots

As an experienced mobile home park broker I understand all the operating issues and how they impact value. This allows me to help sellers best position their mobile home parks for sale at the highest possible price.

RV Campgrounds/Resorts

RV Resorts can yield very high returns from 10% to 20%+ on cash invested. Also known as “RV Parks”, RV Campgrounds and Resorts offer among the highest and most predictable yields of any real estate asset class.

RV Resort ownership is a lifestyle. Owners get to work in the outdoors and enjoy meeting and chatting with customers from all over the country, offering travel and dining suggestions. The RV Resort camper is naturally affable and isn’t too demanding. Most owners live on their property and enjoy wide open spaces and resort style living year-round.

Another advantage offered by RV Campground is owner financing. Many campgrounds are owned by independent owners who have little to no debt and therefore, the ability to finance your purchase. When the seller carries the financing at a low interest rate, it compounds the return on your investment thanks to leverage. And an RV Campground can return 10% or more on your investment, with greater safety and security than stocks, bonds or mutual funds. Unlike financial instruments, real estate won’t drop 30% in a day. And real estate has never been worth zero.

Whether you are an investor seeking an RV Campground to own and operate, or the owner/operator of an RV Campground who wishes to sell or acquire another RV Resort, we can help. Our company is a member of the Virginia Campground Association and has direct relationships with senior executives at some of the largest RV Campground companies in the country such as Carefree, KOA and Equity Lifestyle.

My sales include:

Hampton Lodge Outer Banks RV Resort
1631 Waterlily Rd, Coinjock, NC
255 Sites – 350 acres
Sale Price: $4,000,000

North Landing RV Park & Campground
161 Princess Anne Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23457
Sale Price: $2,100,000.00
186 Sites – 70 Acres – Since expanded to 400 Sites.

1031 Exchange

The 1031 Tax Deferred Exchange is perhaps the most important tool available to investment property owners to preserve capitol and build wealth. The 1031 Exchange provision of the US Internal Revenue Code has been employed by seasoned investors since 1921 to create over time, very large investment portfolios from a single property. This is done by periodically selling income property, then reinvesting the built-up equity that would otherwise be lost to capital gains taxes. By continuing to leverage that built up equity, it is possible an investment of $500,000 could be worth several million dollars over 20 to 30 years.

1031 Exchange Defined

Thanks to Internal Revenue Code Section 1031, a properly structured 1031 Exchange allows an investor to sell a property and reinvest the proceeds in a new property and to defer all capital gain taxes. The government created the 1031 Exchange to incentivize owners to sell older properties that will then be renovated or redeveloped by investors. This creates jobs, prevents urban blight and helps cities maintain a strong property tax base. IRC Section 1031 (a)(1) states:

“No gain or loss shall be recognized on the exchange of property held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment, if such property is exchanged solely for (replacement) property of like-kind which is to be held either for productive use in a trade or business or for investment.”

To understand the powerful protection a 1031 Exchange offers, consider the following example:

An investor has a $500,000 capital gain after a sale of a property for $1 million. He incurs a tax liability of approximately $150,000 in combined taxes (depreciation recapture, federal and state capital gain taxes) when the property is sold. Only $350,000 remains to reinvest in another property.

Assuming a 75% loan, the seller would only be able to purchase a $1.4 million replacement property. If the same investor chose to exchange, however, he or she would be able to reinvest the entire $500,000 equity in the purchase of $2 million in real estate, assuming the same down payment and loan-to-value ratios. Now the owner is enjoying appreciation on a property worth 2 million, double the value of the property he sold.

If you would like sell and acquire real estate in a 1031 Exchange, you must to have an experienced commercial real estate broker with comprehensive knowledge of the 1031 Exchange process and a demonstrable track record of success. I offer both. With tight timelines and strict rules to follow, you need a commercial real estate broker who can provide you with the best investment property options and assure flawless execution. My knowledge and experience will help you smoothly execute your 1031 exchange. For a free professional opinion of value and help finding and evaluating commercial real estate replacement property in Hampton Roads and elsewhere, contact me today.

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To contact me about buying, selling, leasing or managing commercial property, please contact me today.