James “Jamie” M. Brown (B)

Jamie grew up in Connecticut, went to a prep school named Hotchkiss, and then Yale University where he earned a BS in mechanical engineering. At Yale he was the captain of the Yale Sailing Team and twice finished 2nd in the national collegiate sailing championships and was named to the Collegiate All American Sailing Team.

After Yale, Jamie moved to Boston and worked for 5 years at General Electric’s Jet Engine division and at night earned a Masters of Science degree in Industrial Engineering at Northeastern University. He describes his job at GE as one of the coolest jobs ever.

Jamie won multiple national and north American sailing titles and twice represented the US in world championships, finishing 2nd in Australia. Then he discovered windsurfing, and his world changed.

Jamie moved to Honolulu in 1987 to pursue his obsession with windsurfing, despite not having a job or knowing anyone in Hawaii. After starting a computer consulting business and then selling cellular telephones in the late 1980s, Jamie started in 1991 as a commercial real estate agent at what is now known as Colliers International.

Jamie rose to be a senior executive and broker at Colliers and left in 2002 to start his own company, Hawaii Commercial Real Estate (HCRE). Since then, HCRE has grown to 11 agents plus support staff and is consistently ranked in the top 4 to 6 firms statewide. Jamie has sold several billion dollars’ worth of commercial properties including most of the downtown Honolulu office buildings, many hotels such as the Waikiki Beach Marriott and the Four Seasons Wailea, shopping centers such as Kings Shops in Waikoloa, industrial properties, apartment buildings and land including 112,000 acres on the Big
Island.

In 2020, Jamie merged his firm with Elite Pacific LLC, the parent company of Corcoran Pacific Properties. Corcoran Pacific Properties is among the top residential brokerage firms in Hawaii with 200+ agents, all of whom have residential clients who might be commercial real estate investors, owners or users. No other commercial real estate firm in Hawaii has such relationship with a residential firm.

Jamie is married with two adult children. His daughter is an agent at HCRE and research director at Fertility Institute of Hawaii. His son is an analyst Bentall Green Oak, an $80 billion real estate private equity firm.

Jamie is a lifelong waterman. He’s a former board member at Hui Nalu Canoe Club where he runs their sailing canoe program that includes races across all the channels in Hawaii. He’s won state paddling titles and is now obsessed
with foil surfing.

 

Company Experience

■ Hawaii Commercial Real Estate, 2002─Present, Founder and President

■ Colliers International, 1992─2002, Senior Vice President, Vice President and Office Leasing Specialist

■ Verizon Hawaii, 1989─1991, Sales Representative

■ Corporate Vision Hawaii, 1989, Founder, Business Automation Consulting

■ General Electric Company, 1982─1987, Mechanical and Software Engineer

■ Yale University, 1977─1981, Assistant to Engineering Business Office

Education

■ Yale University, BS, Mechanical Engineering, New Haven, CT, 1981

■ Northeastern University, MS, Industrial Engineering, Boston, MA, 1987

■ CCIM Institute, CCIM, Honolulu and Chicago, IL, 2000

 

Designations + Awards

■ CCIM – The PhD of Commercial Real Estate

■ SIOR – Specialist, Industrial and Office Real Estate

■ NAIOP – Office Sales Transaction of the Year, 2001

■ Colliers International – Top Producer, Office Group, 1995─2002

■ Verizon Hawaii – Top Producer, Mobile Communications, 1990─1991

■ 4 Time Hawaii State Champion OCI Paddler

■ Collegiate All-American – 1981 Sailing Team

■ 2 Time Runner-Up Collegiate National Sailing Championships

■ 3 Time North American and US Sailing Championships – 420 Class Racing Sailboat

■ 2 Time US Representative at Sailing World Championship – 420 Class Sailboat

Investment Sales

Jamie’s investment sales experience includes dozens of properties both large and small.

His seller and buyer clients have ranged from large institutions to local families. A select-
ed sampling is:

 

Office Properties

■ Bishop Place Street — 450,000 sf class A office building

■ Davies Pacific Center — 350,000 sf class A office building

■ Pan Am Building — 205,000 sf class B office building

■ Waterfront Plaza — 515,250 sf class A office building

■ No.1 Capital District Building — 15,000 sf class B office building

■ 1100 Alakea Office Condominium — 6,053 sf class A office building

■ Eaton Square Office Condominium

■ Royal Capital Plaza Office/Retail Condominium Investment Sales

Retail Properties

■  King’s Shop — 73,571 sf resort retail center

■  116 S. Hotel Street — 18,478 retail and office property

■ 204 Hotel Street — 13,483 retail and office property

■ Shops at Kalakaua — 12,000 sf of Kalakaua Ave retail space

■ 1102 Bishop Street — 9,720 sf retail property

■ 1850 Ala Moana Blvd — 7,000 sf restaurant condominium

■ 3631 Campbell Ave — 4,414 sf retail property

 

Industrial Properties

■  2621 Waiwai Loop — 22,000 sf industrial property 

  

Hotels

■ Four Seasons Maui — 380 room hotel

■ Waikiki Beach Marriott — 1,310 room hotel

■ Hilton Kauai Resort (fka Radisson Kauai) — 350 room hotel

■ King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel — 460 room hotel

■ Aloha Beach Hotel — 216 room hotel

 

Golf Courses, Land, Other

■  Luana Hills Country Club — 18 hole golf course with 43,278 sf clubhouse and 894 acres of land with various entitlements and zoning

■  Waikoloa Land Portfolio — 13,797 acres of land of with various entitlements and zoning

■ King’s Land — 112.4 acres of land for Hilton timeshare development

■ Hilton Waikoloa — Leased fee land under 1,240 room hotel

■ 47-357 Ahuimanu Road — 2.68 acres agricultural land

Landlord Representation 

Jamie’s landlord representation has included office, retail and industrial properties both large and small. Notable assignments have included: 

■ Pacific Guardian Center — 628,000 sf Class A office building

■ 1132 Bishop Street — 450,000 sf Class A office building

■ Davies Pacific Center — 379,336 sf Class A office building

■ Waterfront Plaza — 515,250 sf Class A office building

■ Pan Am Building — 203,910 sf Class B office building

■ Kapiolani Business Plaza — 79,848 sf Class B office building

■ Waikiki Trade Center — 205,390 sf Class B office building

■ Bank of Hawaii Waikiki Center (fka ANA Kalakaua) — 184,647 sf Class B office building

■ Galleria Office Building (fka 2222 Kalakaua) — 275,720 sf Class B office building

■ Milltown Center Business and Industrial Park — 16,000 sf industrial building

 

Tenant Representation 

Jamie’s tenant advisory assignments have included international, national and prominent local firms such as: 

■ First Insurance Company of Hawaii, Ltd.

■ Smith Barney/Citigroup

■ Crawford and Company

■ Starwood Hotels and Resorts

■ American Cities Business Journals (PBN)

■ American Savings Bank

■ Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays

■ Honolulu Star Advertiser

■ Hawaiian Insurance and Guaranty

■ HMAA (Hawaii Medical Assurance Association)

■ Insurance Factors

■ Net Enterprise

■ Prudential Advantage Realty

■ Hawaii State Ethics Commission

 

Commercial Property Financing

 Jamie arranged financing for the following projects: 

■ Waikiki Beachwalk Resort Retail Center — $50 million construction loan plus $40.8 million equity raise

■ Naniloa Hotel and Golf Course — $6.1 million acquisition loan

■ 1100 Alakea Office Condominium — $2.7 million acquisition loan

  

Community Involvement 

■ Hui Nalu Canoe Club – Board Member

■ Yale Alumni Association of Hawaii — President Emeritus

■ Plaza Club — Former Board Member

■ Waialae Iki V Homeowners Association — Former Board Member

■ Sales and Marketing Executives of Honolulu — Former Board Member

■ Hawaii Technology Trade Association — Former Chair, Action Team

■ Rotary Club of Metropolitan Honolulu — Former Member

■ Kalihi Elementary School — Former Reading enrichment program and Junior Achievement instructor

■ Chamber of Commerce — Former Project JOBS volunteer