
Shannon Blackwell: Knowing When to Sell What You Built
Welcome to this episode of The Tori Nook Talk Show! In this episode, Tori sits down with Shannon Blackwell, president of Zeisler Morgan Properties, the private family-owned commercial real estate company founded in 1976 and based in Beachwood, Ohio. Shannon joined in 2000 and spent 26 years leading its shopping center portfolio through multiple cycles before selling roughly a million square feet across Northeast Ohio and Raleigh. He is Tori’s first developer guest, and one she has leased and closed deals with for most of her career. Shannon grew up in Shaker Heights, earned a finance degree at the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from Case Western’s Weatherhead School, and spent ten years at Anderson Consulting building e-commerce products for large banks. When his father-in-law’s business partner died suddenly, Ken Zeisler had no succession plan and no interest in hiring family, until he decided the next best thing to a blood relative was an in-law. They discuss underwriting to the worst case, redevelopment, debt structure, telling his staff the truth, and knowing when to sell. 🎯 Topics covered: Ten years of consulting before real estate The sudden loss that created the opportunity Why Ken didn’t want family in the business Running a family business with no family in it How they survived every real estate cycle Underwriting to the worst case and walking away Starting as a Kmart developer Talking AMC out of closing two theaters Building French Creek Square without an anchor Relationship lending with Bank One Why they never bought an operating center Staying at ten employees on purpose Self-amortizing debt and no refinance pressure Selling each asset as its own business Running out of depreciation and interest ⸻ 👤 Connect with Shannon Blackwell Email: spblackwell00@gmail.com ⸻ 👤 Connect with Tori Nook Website: https://torinook.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/torirendanonook/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tori_nook/ X: https://x.com/ToriNook Email: hello@torinook.com ⸻ 🎧 The Tori Nook Talk Show is where real conversations meet real success. Subscribe for episodes exploring how leaders build personal and professional fulfillment on their own terms.
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