Marc Menick
Marc Menick
President and CEO at KNLB
Marc Menick spent nearly 20 years at one of the Washington, D.C., region’s most prominent development firms, Peterson Companies, before being snatched up by KLNB in 2017 to become the only outside candidate and nonbroker in the firm’s 54-year history to be named its president. During his time, KLNB has added two new business lines — a government services division and a health care division — as well as a new property management venture and value-added consulting services for clients.
Over the past 12 months, KLNB focused more of its efforts on industrial and data centers, though it continues to broker large retail deals in the District. In December, it facilitated Douglas Development’s acquisition of three retail buildings at the intersection of King and Washington streets. “It was a crazy year, and we didn’t know what to expect,” Menick said. “In hindsight, thanks to the foundation that we built for so many years, it wasn’t as bad as we anticipated.”
Menick’s experience and personable nature make him one of the most well-liked and respected people in the industry. That’s helped KLNB make the D.C. region’s commercial real estate industry stronger overall.
“The company has always had a great culture and entrepreneurial spirit, and, even though we do the lion’s share of our business in the D.C./Baltimore area, we’re extremely diverse,” Menick said. “We don’t do a tremendous amount of the traditional, Class A, downtown institutional high-rise office, and don’t focus downtown, and that’s the area that has been hurt the most. We are most known for retail and are strong in the industrial sector, which has been on fire, and we’ve reaped the benefits from that.”
In fact, in 2021, under his leadership, KLNB recorded its best year ever, both in total number of transactions and transaction value, despite the pandemic’s challenges. The strong business has continued in 2022, with the first five months putting the year on track to exceed 2021’s numbers.
“There’s more similarity between the retail and industrial sectors than ever before,” Menick said. “That has helped bolster things for us. All things considered, it’s been a relatively good time for us, and I think the future will be bright for KLNB as well.
