Chris Schoen, former CEO of Barry Real Estate Companies, is teaming up with De Little and the Greenstone Properties team to leverage their collective expertise to write a new real estate chapter for Greenstone.

Schoen and Little will serve as co-principals of Greenstone. In addition to Schoen, Harvey Rudy, senior vice president of Barry Real Estate, has joined Greenstone’s real estate team.
Schoen and Rudy are two of the most seasoned Atlanta commercial real estate executives in the business. The news for Little, founder of Greenstone in 2005, is both humbling and exciting.

“I met Chris over 25 years ago and always hoped one day we would have the opportunity to work together,” said Little. “We certainly have competed enough against each other over the years. Chris is someone I admire and respect for his integrity and impeccable real estate knowledge and skills. His track record in the commercial real estate business speaks for itself. We are ready for this new chapter and plan on getting after it and will take a deal-by-deal approach on the opportunities we see. We are already off and running.”

Schoen was vice chairman and CEO of Barry Real Estate Companies for 15 years. Prior to Barry, Schoen was an executive at Portman Barry, where he established himself as one of the pre-eminent developers in the Southeast.

“The real estate business is moving in a new direction with a new platform,” said Schoen. “It is much more institutionally driven now. We are going to cater to this sphere of influence, broaden and deepen the right relationships and be full service in terms of what we can offer to our institutional contacts and others. Throughout our work, one belief that will guide us is that there are very few developers left standing, so there is a big opportunity for an entrepreneurial developer’s approach to our business. We want to maximize this opportunity in the marketplace.”

Schoen is a graduate of the architectural program at Auburn University and the Harvard School Executive MBA program. He serves on the boards of the Atlanta History Center and the Lovett School and the advisory board for the Atlanta Youth Academy. Previously, he served on the board of Midtown Bank & Trust Company.

Both Little and Schoen said they decided to keep the Greenstone name because it has become such a solid brand over the years.

“The name has strong brand equity and complements the strong team already on board,” said Schoen. “Outstanding brand ambassadors such as Chris Scott and Les Lewis are exceptional at what they do for Greenstone. To have Harvey Rudy now part of this team is icing on the cake because Harvey is such a high-caliber professional and person. Both Harvey and I will champion the Greenstone mission.”

Greenstone’s mission is to create economic value through the purchase, sale, development, leasing and management of real estate. It is committed to be socially and environmentally responsible and to handle its affairs with integrity. The company’s real estate focus is office development, retail develop and land speculation.

“We are all generalists and entrepreneurs, which allows our company to embrace a wide range of real estate opportunities,” said Little. “We are always looking for opportunities to create value through investing, developing and managing real estate. Chris and I will be working together to find the next deal that makes sense and go wherever that takes us. We will stay diligent and focused. All in all, it is a great new day for the Greenstone team.”

Greenstone was founded by De Little who left Pope & Land in 2005 as a senior vice president to start Greenstone in entrepreneurial fashion. Little is a graduate of Wake Forest University and holds an MBA from the The Babcock School of Management at Wake Forest.