About Us.

 The Detroit Office Team consists of Randy Book, Julie Gitary, Patrich Jett, Mark Kowal, Ryan Williams, Lauren Fischetti, John Degroot, and Wendy Price.

RANDY BOOK
Senior Vice President
Tenant Advisory Group

Throughout his career, Mr. Book has concentrated his practice on Tenant Representation for lease evaluation, renewal and new lease negotiations. He has completed transactions that included office space, building sales, and land leasing ranging in size from 5,000 to 500,000 square feet.

Mr. Book is a Senior Vice President at Grubb & Ellis in the office division in the Detroit office and serves as one of the lead strategists for the Tenant Advisory Group, a team of senior advisors within Grubb & Ellis located in all of the major cities that represent multi-market corporate users of office space. Mr. Book is directly responsible for team formation, creating and implementing the overall strategy, and overseeing all negotiations. He manages diverse transactions on behalf of clients ranging from complicated lease renewals to land site selection and negotiation for build-to-suit requirements.


Julie Gitary
Project Coordinator
Tenant Advisory Group

Ms. Gitary joined Grubb & Ellis in 2006 and has assisted the team for over 2 years with day to day functions and client contact. Ms. Gitary's primary responsibility is to assist the team with quality control and client interactions. She is responsible for various account management components including proposals, financial models, disposition and marketing, market research and reporting. Prior to joining Grubb & Ellis, Ms. Gitary worked at Cushman & Wakefield but began her real estate career in 2003 in the residential real estate arena. Ms. Gitary is currently working towards her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from Spring Arbor University and is due to graduate in January 2009.



Patrich Jett
Associate
Tenant Advisory Group

Patrich represents a variety of local and national tenants helping them implement their real estate needs. His responsibilities include performing business development, project support, due diligence, quality control and daily coordination of policies and procedures to finalize transactions. His strict attention to detail translates into significant savings of time and money, reduction of risk and increased flexibility for our clients. He is also responsible for researching market portfolios and strategizing with our Research Analyst on market opportunities. Prior to joining Grubb & Ellis, Mr. Jett had a background and education in finance and management and worked as a Financial Analyst as well as an Executive Banker. This prior experience has provided him a unique edge in understanding his client’s real estate needs.

Recently, Mr. Jett has been certified as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED AP) by the United States Green Building Council (USBGC), becoming one of the first commercial real estate brokerage professionals in Michigan to achieve the LEED accreditation. As a LEED Accredited Professional, Mr. Jett joins a select group of real estate professionals nationwide equipped to counsel clients about the rising importance of ‘green’ building trends as the future of the building and real estate industries.


Mark Kowal
Senior Project Manager
Grubb & Ellis

Mr. Kowal has been in the real estate business for 18 years. His experience includes all phases of commercial design and construction, with a strong emphasis in project management. Mr. Kowal’s expertise includes large scale corporate turn-key projects, tenant improvement, and specialty construction. Mr. Kowal joined Grubb & Ellis in June of 2007 as a Senior Project Manager located in Southfield, Michigan. Mr. Kowal previously worked for Jones Lang LaSalle as a Senior Project Manager managing various projects for national accounts throughout the United States. Prior to his tenure with JLL, Mr. Kowal was the President of Park Design/Build Group, managing design/build commercial projects throughout southeastern Michigan. Prior to Park Design Build Group, Mr. Kowal was a designer for Facility Matrix Group a large Herman Miller dealership in the metropolitan Detroit area. Mr. Kowal began his career at Roycourt Services, Inc. the design/build subsidiary of Etkin Equities where he was involved in all phases of fast-past tenant improvement projects.


Ryan Williams
Project Manager
Grubb & Ellis

Mr. Williams comes from one of the largest General Contractors in the state of Michigan and is the newest addition to the Grubb & Ellis Project Management team. Prior to joining Grubb & Ellis in August 2008, Mr. Williams was a Project Estimator for DeMaria Building Company and managed construction budgets from $50,000 to $50,000,000. Mr. Williams’ clients have included Wayne State University, Henry Ford Hospital, Hewlett Packard, University of Michigan, Alternegy, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Preceding his experience at DeMaria, Mr. Williams interned at Quadrants, Inc. where he received first hand development experience with the planning and construction of Green Oak Village Place in Brighton, MI.



Lauren Fischetti
Consultant








John Degroot
Research Manager
Grubb & Ellis

Mr. DeGroot joined Grubb & Ellis in March 2001 and was quickly promoted to Research Manager. He is responsible for all research functions including producing market statistics, developing forecast information, creating quarterly market trends and gathering an extensive array of lease and sale comparables. Prior to working at Grubb & Ellis, Mr. DeGroot worked as an intern at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington D.C. think-tank. His research responsibilities included statistical analysis on state-mandated public school achievement tests. He also worked for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, in charge of researching economic development policies in surrounding states as well as establishing contacts with various information technologies, biotechnology and venture capital firms throughout Michigan. DeGroot earned his bachelor’s degree from James Madison College, Michigan State University. He is a licensed sales associate in the state of Michigan and a CCIM candidate.


Wendy Price
Marketing Coordinator
Grubb & Ellis

Ms. Price joined Grubb & Ellis in 2006 as our Marketing Coordinator, responsible for marketing functions including design and layout of marketing brochures, digital photo manipulation, illustration of site plans, etc. and overseeing all areas of the annual Michigan Properties Portfolio. Wendy also received the Star Performance Award in 2006.