Investment firm brings in Niendorf to oversee commercial-property portfolio. Real-estate investment company Grubb & Ellis Realty Investors has made former BlackRock Realty Advisors portfolio manager Robert Niendorf as senior v.p. of asset management. He reports to Kent Peters, Grubb & Ellis' executive v.p. of asset management.

"An outstanding fit for the asset management team, Robert is an astute individual with an eye for success and I anticipate great accomplishments with him on board," says Peters.

Overall performance

In general, adds Peters, Grubb & Ellis "strives to hire individuals who demonstrate integrity, leadership, commitment and enthusiasm for the company's goals."

Niendorf comes to Grubb & Ellis with nearly two decades of experience in commercial and corporate real estate asset management, finance, development and transactions.

While at asset manager BlackRock's real-estate investment division, Niendorf was responsible for a portfolio of commercial real-estate assets in southern California, Arizona and Texas. Earlier in his career, he was an asset manager with Fremont Investment and Loan (a Santa Monica, Calif.-based firm that fell off a cliff earlier this year as a result of its sub-prime-mortgage holdings) and a corporate real-estate manager with Federal Way, Wash.-based timberland company Weyerhaeuser.

In his new role, Niendorf is responsible for the overall performance and management of the Grubb & Ellis' assets throughout the U.S.

Earlier this year, Santa Monica, Calif.-based Grubb & Ellis launched a wealth-management program -- with a $15 million minimum -- to help high-net-worth investors build or expand their commercial real-estate portfolios through direct investment in passive, sole-ownership vehicles. The firm oversees a real-estate portfolio worth more than $5.7 billion. -FWR

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