In the C-Suite: Tripp Way

WILMINGTON — When Tripp Way started his career fresh out of the University of Delaware, he got right into the commercial real estate business as an appraiser and he had never been more bored.

“It was a great learning tool for what I do today. But I realized that sitting behind a desk for 10 to 12 hours a day was not exactly what I was cut out to do,” Way said. “I felt like I’d be happier if I was in front of people.”

He now relies on the same skills he honed as an appraiser in 1995 in his role as one of the managing partners of DSM Commercial. Those skills include financial underwriting for development as well as meeting with clients to get a sense of the investment in a prospect.

“They wanted to know what the return would be versus the cost and because of my background, I can run that analysis quickly,” Way said. “I sat down with them and changed some scenarios around to give them a pretty good idea of what they were looking for.”

Established in 2012, DSM Commercial has grown to become a firm with an all-inclusive suite of commercial real estate services such as brokerage, construction, property management and maintenance and real estate development. The firm’s clients range from retail to industrial to everything in between. With the 50-person team the company manages a portfolio of 3 million square feet of real estate across 200 properties in Delaware.

While Way never directly fell in love with the leasing business, he said that, over time, he started to see it as a way to shape a corner of the state he grew up in.

“Some of the projects we’re working on now involve a lot of redevelopment. Look at the Grove on Old College Square,” he said, noting that DSM is the leasing agent and construction manager for the project. “When I was in college, there used to be a Blockbuster there. Now it’s new restaurants and apartments. It’s best to jump in and do what you can to see the change you want.”

It’s almost astounding to see how far the firm has come with the help of business partners Rober Wittig and Michael Loessner. The early days had five employees in a small office on South Chapel Street in Newark before Loessner joined to launch the construction business.

“We all thought it’d be a weird, boutique firm and now years later we have three companies and we own and manage some of our assets,” he said. “I just came out of a meeting with 15 team members, and some of them have worked with us for 13 years. If there’s credit to success, I may be the leader, but we have an incredible culture here.”

Part of that culture at DSM is the hope to cultivate talent, just like he was mentored at that first job as well as by Carmen Facciolo at NAI Emory Hill. Way worked there for 11 years after learning more of the brokerage side of the business under the tutelage of Facciolo. Today, he still points to him as one of the mentors that has shaped his career today, outside of Wittig, who taught him all facets of the commercial real estate industry.

Wittig, who’s been in commercial real estate for 40 years, was a client of Way’s at Emory Hill, but the two really clicked over golf and other matters. In fact, Wittig is the man he turned to when he was struggling with alcohol.

Both have been sober now for years; Way for 15, Wittig for 34.

In many ways, his fight with alcoholism shaped how he does business. When asked his philosophy on work, he said: “My door is always open for anything and everything you need.”

“I preach to these guys that it’s not about what you get, but it’s what you give. And I’m a very firm believer in that. It takes me back to my days of struggle. There were certainly people there, hundreds of people, who were there to help me get better,” he said. “I got to give that back.”

That giving back can be reflected in DSM’s continued sponsorship of the SL 24 Foundation, as well as service with the Limen House and continuing to shape the real estate professionals of the future.

A few years ago, he experienced something that he can share with Facciolo: an employee leaving to start their own company. Former DSM team member Jim Tancredi, resigned to start his own firm LMT Commercial. It was an emotional moment, and Way understood this was Tancredi’s chance to start something better for himself.

“I saw myself in Jim in that moment. Because that conversation with Carmen was so tough. I can still picture his office and me sitting at his desk and telling him I was going to resign. And that was one of the hardest days of my life, because Carmen was very good to me,” he said.

“Honestly, the most rewarding thing to me is to watch my crew develop, grow and progress, both professionally and personally,” Way continued. “I’ve watched a couple of them buy houses over the years, get engaged. One of the guys who started with us when he was 21, within the last two years, got married and his wife had a baby. It’s an amazing experience.”

Go to Source:https://delawarebusinesstimes.com/news/in-the-c-suite-tripp-way/

Author: Katie Tabeling