Laura Collins named director of asset management and Deborah Hill, senior property manager FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PRURGENT
Westmount Realty Capital, a Dallas-based commercial real estate company, is strengthening their regional office in Chicago by filling two key roles. Seasoned commercial real estate executive, Laura S. Collins was hired as director of asset management and Deborah A. Hill, who has more than two decades of property management experience, will fill the role of senior property manager. Both Collins and Hill will work out of Westmount’s newly formed regional office in Chicago.
“We are pleased to strengthen our Chicago office with the addition of Laura and Deborah, who both have extensive backgrounds in commercial real estate and a deep understanding of the Chicago market,” said Clifford A. Booth, President of Westmount. “We’re confident that Laura and Deborah will play key roles in our firm’s continued success in the Midwest region.”
Before taking the role of director of asset management at Westmount, Collins was a commercial real estate consultant and broker at Collins Commercial Partners where she provided consulting and brokerage services to privately held firms in Chicago. She was also the vice president of leasing and asset management at GE Capital Real Estate in Oak Brook, where she was responsible for the firm’s 4.2 million- square-foot Midwest portfolio. While at GE, Collins streamlined the firm’s leasing and transaction processes resulting in an 11 percent increase in portfolio occupancy.
Collins also worked as senior director of commercial brokerage at Cushman & Wakefield in Rosemont and director of leasing at Millbrook Real Estate in Buffalo Grove. She began her real estate career at Jones Lang LaSalle in Chicago. Collins holds a bachelor’s degree in Business from the University of Illinois and MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago. She is also a licensed managing real estate broker in Illinois and a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM). Laura currently serves on the board of Fellowship Housing Corporation, a non-profit organization that serves the needs of single moms and their children who are homeless or one small crisis away from homelessness in the Chicago area.
Prior to her role as senior property manager at Westmount, Hill was the general manager of the Schaumburg Corporate Center, a 1 million-square-foot Class A office campus consisting of six buildings on 43 acres of grounds. Prior to managing the Schaumburg Corporate Center for John Hancock Real Estate, she managed John Hancock’s Midwest Industrial Portfolio, consisting of 27 properties, totaling 3.8 million square feet. Hill began her property management career with Jones Lang LaSalle in 1995 at the Chancellory in Itasca, later managing Class A/B/C office and mixed use warehouse properties for The Hearn Company and Stahelin Properties.
Hill earned an associate’s degree in business management from the College of DuPage. She also has the Real Property Administrator (RPA) and Facilities Management Administrator (FMA) designations obtained through the Building Owners and Managers Institute (BOMI). Hill is a member of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) and Building Owners and Management Association (BOMA).
“Westmount has significantly grown its footprint in the Chicago and Midwest region over the past several years and having a strong team on the ground in the region has been a top priority for the firm,” said Clifford Booth, president and CEO of Westmount. “We’re confident that adding both Laura and Deborah to the team will allow us to continue our growth in the region and better serve our tenants and our investors.”
Westmount has nearly 8 million square feet of industrial real estate in the Midwest region of the U.S. In the Chicago marketplace, the company holds nearly 5 million square feet of multi-tenant warehouse and light industrial space. In addition to their Chicago-area properties, they have three additional portfolios in Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Columbus, Ohio.
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About Westmount Realty Capital
Westmount Realty Capital, LLC is a time-tested, privately held, Dallas-based commercial real estate company that has achieved exceptional performance, with a core team in place, for more than 30 years. Westmount is seen as an innovator and leading edge company in the industry and is a trusted operating partner of numerous U.S. and foreign institutional and private capital sources. The company is active nationally, specializing in value add and opportunistic investments, and has navigated successfully through multiple market cycles. For additional information, contact www.westmountrc.com. | 
