IRVINE — For nearly 40 years, Gerald “Jerry” Yahr has focused on protecting something he believes is more important than any building in The Koll Company’s portfolio: its culture.
Yahr joined the Irvine-based commercial real estate developer in the 1980s as a young employee eager to learn the business.
Now, four decades later, Yahr, serving as the managing principal, leads Koll, with a clear goal of upholding the values that founder Don Koll established and is preparing the next generation to do the same.
“It’s really about the people,” Yahr told the Business Journal. “We’ve always tried to hire really good people.”
This approach has guided The Koll Co. for more than 60 years and recently helped the company earn the top spot among small businesses on the Business Journal’s Best Places to Work list (see page 38).
The company became known for forging the skyline around John Wayne Airport, including the 1.5 million square-foot Koll Center Newport office complex. Along with Irvine Company’s Donald Bren and South Coast Plaza’s Henry Segerstrom, Koll is considered to be part of a core group of formative developers who’ve shaped modern OC.
Sticking to its Roots
Yahr says the company has lasted so long because it has stayed true to its roots.
Don Koll founded the company in Orange County in 1962.
What started as a regional construction company has, over the years, grown into a full-service real estate company, acquiring and developing over 150 million square feet of industrial, office, retail and other properties throughout the U.S., Mexico and the Pacific Rim.
Yahr said the company has lasted this long because while other developers chased new trends and moved into unfamiliar areas, Koll stuck to developing industrial and some office and retail properties.
“We haven’t been enamored by the next shiny object,” he said.
Investing in People
Throughout the years, the company has chosen to invest in its employees. Today, the company offers a retirement match, fitness programs, meal benefits and education tuition reimbursement.
Working under Don Koll, Yahr remembers how he encouraged managers to hire talented people, trust them with responsibility and let them learn through experience.
“The worst thing you can do is not make a decision,” Yahr recalled Koll saying. “Just make it, live with it and move on.”
The company also gives younger professionals the opportunity to participate in projects from acquisition to leasing and management.
“We don’t micromanage,” Yahr said. “We let people really get in, touch the real estate and make decisions.”
The company’s commitment to mentorship has helped develop a new generation of industry leaders.
Yahr said former employees now lead some of Southern California’s top commercial real estate firms, such as LBA Realty, CT Realty and Watt Companies.
CT Realty is the company developing the 5 million square foot Anduril facility in Ohio.
Maintaining a Family Atmosphere
Today, Koll operates as a boutique real estate firm with about 25 employees in Orange County.
“We wanted to get back to each of us touching real estate instead of spending all of our time managing people,” Yahr said.
Ultimately, what makes the company special is its “family atmosphere,” he says.
It’s what defines Koll.
Yahr and his partners keep their office doors open so anyone can approach them for guidance and advice.
Employees are encouraged to work together in different roles.
And often, many employees stay with the company for decades.
Yahr recently marked his 40th year, while Koll’s controller has been with the firm for 35 years.
Yahr sees his partners, principals Scott Meserve and Scott Lanni, as the company’s future leaders.
For Yahr, preserving and passing on the company’s culture is especially meaningful—as it is something his mentor and father-in-law, Don Koll, would have wanted.
After Koll had a stroke in 2005, Yahr slowly took on more leadership with his partners.
Koll passed away in 2011, leaving behind both a successful real estate company and a philosophy that Yahr still follows.
“I learned a lot from him,” Yahr said. “My role has been to carry out that vision, put my own stamp on it and build something that we can continue for the family.”
