CRE Future Leaders: Joi Harrell of Urban Innovations

Urban Innovations General Manager Joi Harrell oversees the daily operations of the portfolio of commercial properties and supervises a tight-knit team of building maintenance engineers, property managers and administrative support team members. In total, her team manages in excess of one million square feet of commercial and retail properties with modernized improvements in Chicago’s neighborhoods and Milwaukee’s ever-developing Westown.

Illinois Real Estate Journal: Tell us about your background. Where did you grow up? Where did you go to school?
Joi Harrell: I grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. After graduating from Bloom Trail High School and feeding my creative side at Columbia College Chicago, I attended Roosevelt University’s Heller College of Business for my graduate degree.

Illinois Real Estate Journal: What did you aspire to be when you were young?
Harrell: I was lucky to have parents who helped me identify my gifts and talents at an early age. I developed a love for music education and people, so I wanted to become a music teacher, which led to an internship at a local music school. I was hired on with them full-time to teach theory, voice and piano lessons to children through adults. It was humbling to help enrich my students’ lives with music education and see them pursue their goals—a few are still doing quite well for themselves. After three years of teaching, I pursued another career path.

Illinois Real Estate Journal: How did you get your start in the industry?
Harrell: I like to think that becoming a property manager found me rather than me actively seeking it out. I knew I belonged in a high-energy, team atmosphere where I could help people. A great opportunity presented itself and I was fortunate to join Urban Innovations’ property management team. Supporting our department and leading our daily operational practices ignited a strong desire to gain deeper knowledge and skills in the real estate industry. As a result, I felt called to pursue this path that allows me to interact with so many different people, helping solve issues and improve tenant satisfaction in a meaningful way. I fell in love with the industry, its opportunities, and its challenges, and made a concerted choice to learn everything I could to forge my own career path and become a future leader at Urban.

Illinois Real Estate Journal: Did you have a mentor who helped you get on your feet, or is there someone you turn to now for support?
Harrell: In addition to my parents, I had two mentors who guided and taught me all about commercial real estate. Both these individuals inspired me in different ways and I soon developed a keen interest in understanding the industry better. Alfrieda Green was the head of my department and she inspired me every day through all she accomplished while at the company. She’s extremely knowledgeable about everything and encouraged me to think outside of the box, welcoming my ideas and the ability to autonomously make decisions when needed. She remains an instrumental person in my professional life and is a great sounding board when I need her. I thank her for all the high-level experiences that she exposed me to during the early parts of my career. Regina Eiland is another who showed me all the ropes when I joined Urban. She helped give me a fully immersible and fun experience. I still depend on a strong senior leadership team here for support and often defer to my network of other property managers that specialize in managing unique spaces in the downtown area.

Illinois Real Estate Journal: What does a day in your life look like?
Harrell: My planning for the day usually starts the night before, prioritizing what I’d like to get done in order of importance so that I don’t waste any time. Then, in the morning, I always try to start my day with focus time. I incorporate some meditation or will listen to a CRE podcast during my commute downtown.

There are a lot of moving parts involved with overseeing all aspects of one million-plus square feet of commercial office space, with an ever-growing portfolio of assignments, so no day can be described as “typical.” The variety of the day-to-day is what makes this career more engaging for me. On any given day you’ll find me working on an improvement or furnishing project, developing better streamlining or efficiency strategies, building client relationships and helping team members solve issues. Each day it’s important to me that I define and lead my team as we focus on our key purposes: being fully accessible to our valued tenant community, improving our daily operations and bringing value to ownership, coordinating preventative and repair maintenance of building equipment, and ultimately providing an ideal environment for tenants to thrive creatively and collaboratively in their workplaces. I love to host regular team meetings to hear everyone’s ideas and inspire new ways to excel in our property management services. Collaboration is key. My daily inspiration comes from interacting with my team, market research and checking in with others operating in the same or similar spaces that we do.

Illinois Real Estate Journal: What do you like most about your job?
Harrell: I enjoy the people I work with—from my colleagues at Urban Innovations to our tenants, and meeting new people in this industry. There is excitement in creating new partnerships according to what goals I want to achieve. I also enjoy bridging the gap between problems and solutions.

Illinois Real Estate Journal: Looking to the future, what do you hope to achieve/work on that you haven’t already?
Harrell: I hope to lead in sustainability performance, energy efficiency programming and ESG goals for our growing portfolio. I am currently partnering to achieve Green Globes building certification for our new 15-story office building currently under development which I’ve not done in my career yet, and it is quite exciting.

Illinois Real Estate Journal: How do you spend your time away from the office?
Harrell: Most evenings, you can find me at a workout class—I am most passionate about pilates, spin and HIIT. I enjoy spending time with family and friends. On weekends, I can be found playing golf at various courses throughout the city and suburbs with my women’s league and mentoring youth within my league’s junior golf program. I hope to start traveling to other states to play. When I want to get away, I love a vacation where a beach and warm, tropical weather are involved.

Illinois Real Estate Journal: What is your favorite place that you have traveled to? Where do you hope to go next?
Harrell: One of my most memorable trips was spending 11 days traveling around Europe with my cousin and friends to experience the culture and varied landscapes of some of its best cities and attractions. I enjoyed Switzerland, England and France. I hope to visit somewhere I’ve not yet been; Jamaica and South Africa are up next on my travel wish list.