Jeff Nickell

Vice President

Spieker Properties

Age: 40

Specialty: Office/Industrial Investments

Recent deal: Pasadena Financial Center

Jeff Nickell isn’t wasting any time in his new position as vice president of Spieker Properties. In less than three months on the job, Nickell has already pieced together $80 million worth of deals.

They include 500,000 feet of office space in Pasadena including Century Square, Pasadena Financial Center and the McKesson Building.

“We’re only getting started we plan on doing a lot more than that,” Nickell said of Orange County-based Spieker’s plans here. “They are just really entering into the L.A. County market, and this was an opportunity to be part of a well-regarded company that is growing rapidly.”

Spieker, based in Orange County, specializes in building real estate investment trust portfolios. After graduating from Harvard Business School in 1983, Nickell was interviewed by companies in a variety of industries, but he said he clicked best with those in the real estate industry.

Upon taking a first job with Trammell Crow Co., his career has skyrocketed ever since.

“Going to Harvard Business School was a great opportunity, and it got me a lot of interviews,” said Nickell, who is vice president at Spieker Properties’ Pasadena office. “But the real estate people were the ones I really got along with. We saw life in the same way.”

In the early stage of his career with Trammell Crow, Nickell specialized in industrial and office leasing. He became a partner in 1988, taking over as manager of the City of Industry office.

Among his biggest deals there was construction of the Concourse in Pomona, a 660,000-square-foot office-retail development.

Joe Bel Bruno