Wow! Today Portland Business Journal recognized the Melvin Mark Companies as the #1 Most Admired Company in Oregon in the commercial real estate and development category. We share this spot with Gerding Edlen Development— where we tied for the top ranking in a category that includes real estate, architecture and construction companies. The list is based on an annual survey of Oregon chief executive officers.*

As always, it is our employees who deserve the credit for this honor. They rise to every challenge we give them and out-perform what they did the year before. Their commitment to serving our tenants, clients and partners is unwavering. We’ve seen a lot of change in the company recently with retirements, new hires, and soon, brand new offices—but our core values remain the same. Nothing fazes this team. Frankly, they just make us better and better every year.

In 2016, we leased up our 2&Taylor development, reached 100 percent occupancy on our Hayden Island Commerce Center, sold the Lovejoy Square retail development, hired a new vice president of operations, delivered another Green Globes award for Crown Plaza, and earned a Global Business Award for Scott Andrews. Not to mention more than 250 leasing and sale transactions. Melvin Mark Capital Group arranged over $230 million in financing for commercial real estate investments and continued its growth trajectory with the addition of new talent. And that’s just a few of the highlights.

This is a terrific start to the new year. We look forward to doing more to live up to this great honor in 2017.

*The Most Admired Companies awards are determined through surveys sent to more than 3,000 CEOs and top-level managers throughout Oregon. These executives are asked to select the companies they most admire in eight different industry classifications, including manufacturing, technology, commercial real estate, financial services, professional services, health care, nonprofits, and agriculture and forest products.