Hohmann

Longtime commercial real estate broker Abbe Hohmann is striking out on her own after 26 years as an employee of Cassidy Turley and its predecessors.

Hohmann’s last day as a principal and senior vice president at Cassidy Turley was April 27. Her new company is Site Strategies Advisory LLC.

It will focus on what she’s best known for: site selection and disposition for developers, property owners and end users. Green-field sites won’t be the firm’s only focus. Hohmann said she’ll also represent clients in transactions that involve redevelopment of existing buildings.

Hohmann has been involved in numerous high-profile real estate deals over the years, including the transaction that resulted in development of Intech Park and assembling about 60 acres for Clay Terrace in Carmel.

What she hasn’t been involved in is tenant representation, and that’s a big part of Cassidy Turley’s business. Cassidy Turley’s concentration in that area and its growing involvement in multi-state transactions were among the factors that led Hohmann to decide this was the time to make a change.

“What I do is more Indiana-centric,” she said, noting that it’s harder to justify splitting fees with your employer when you’re bringing in a lot of your own business.

For Hohmann, 59, it was also the right time to do some self-evaluation. “I needed to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my career,” she said.  

Hohmann said the split with Cassidy Turley, which was known as F.C. Tucker Co. when she was hired, has been amicable even though she expects to take several of her long-time clients with her.

When you’ve worked with a client for several years and have developed a rapport, you’re more likely to hang on to them, she said. “It doesn’t really lend itself to turning over the business to someone else.”

James E. Thomas, managing partner of multi-family housing developer Hearthview Residential, is among the clients who say they’ll follow Hohmann to Site Strategies.

Thomas said Hohmann was one of the first land brokers he met when he came to Indianapolis in the late 1980s, and she’s been involved in the majority of Hearthview’s local transactions since then.

“She’s unusually aware of all the dynamics that effect land development,” he said. “Either because of her history in the business or her civic involvement, she’s very in tune with the factors that come into play."

Her volunteer duties include serving as board chairwoman of the Indianapolis-Marion County Building Authority and co-chairwoman of the Urban Land Institute Indiana. Hohmann also is a member of the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee’s Criminal Justice Facilities Task Force, the Stanley K. Lacy Advisory Council, the Monument Circle Idea Competition Advisory Council, and on the boards of United Way of Central Indiana and the Indianapolis Children’s Museum.

Hohmann got her start in retail sales. After graduating from Purdue University, she worked in sales for the Kittle’s furniture store in Castleton. She later managed that store and other Kittle’s stores.  

Representatives of Cassidy Turley were not available to comment on Hohmann’s departure.