Real-Estate Leader Steps Down to Start Business

By Andrew Johnson
The Arizona Republic
Dec 19, 2007

During his 30-plus-year career in real estate, manufacturing and other industries, Pete Bolton has made an effort to mentor those around him.

Last weekend, Bolton informed his colleagues in CB Richard Ellis' Phoenix office that he was leaving the corporate confines of the commercial-real-estate brokerage firm to start a consulting business, so he can have more time to pursue that passion.

There are no current plans to replace him.

Bolton, who has been one of the leaders of CBRE's Phoenix office since 1999, said he made the decision after evaluating his schedule for the coming year and deciding that he wanted to spend more time with his family.

In an e-mail he sent to the office on Saturday, Bolton thanked his colleagues for "the finest experience I have had in my 30 years of learning, in corporate America."

At the start of this year, Bolton became a co-director of the Leadership Center, a training program at CB Richard Ellis University in Chicago.

But part of that job required him to travel around the country for several weeks out of the year, teaching and mentoring brokers.

"When I saw the requirements for this year, it really helped me to say, 'It's time for me to do this on my own terms, in my own time frame,' and that's really what was behind it," Bolton said Tuesday.

Bolton, 59, has been the public face of CBRE's operations for several years and has been a supporter of boosting density in Phoenix's urban core.

Local industry professionals say Bolton has helped encourage others to take a more active role in the political process.

"Pete has been a phenomenal advocate for our industry for well over a decade," said Tim Lawless, president of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties' Arizona chapter. "He's probably the most recognizable face of our industry."

Bolton served as a national board member of NAIOP from 1998 to 2004 and as president of the group's Arizona chapter in 2000.

In 2004, he also served as president of Valley Partnership, a development group focused on policy issues. He is also a member of Lambda Alpha International, an honor society for land professionals, and other groups.

Prior to joining CBRE, Bolton worked as a senior vice president in what is now Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial LLC's Phoenix office for three years.

And while he has three decades of experience in commercial real estate, Bolton's early professional life took him in other directions.

He served as president and CEO of Sun Orchard Inc., a processor of citrus juices in Tempe, and in the late 1980s, he owned and operated an aerial-photography company that was purchased by Landiscor Aerial Photography in 1990.

As he embarks on this new chapter, Bolton said he is really looking forward to having more time to spend with his wife, Shellye; daughter, Shay, 18; and son, Alex, 14.

"For me to be home is really a treat," he said.