Dan Mihalovich, Principal
415-434-2820
dan@TheSpacePlace.net
Dan Mihalovich was born and raised in San Francisco. He graduated from Lowell High School in 1973; attended University of California, Berkeley (1973-1975, including two years on the Cal Tennis Team); devoted 1976 to world travel; and received his B.S. in Agricultural Economics and Business Management from University of California, Davis, in 1978. In 1978, Mr. Mihalovich became a grain merchandiser for one of the top-three grain exporters in the world, Louis Dreyfus Corporation. He excelled in this capacity during his four years there, eventually promoted to oversee all corn, wheat and soybean exports from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan—a 12 million bushel per month, Atlantic export program. The grain industry's demand for superior analytical skills; negotiating expertise (over $1 billion in trades); and consensus-building, shaping the entire company's trading positions—all built the foundation for his commercial leasing and negotiations skills.
In 1982, Mr. Mihalovich began his first of sixteen years as an office leasing specialist at Cushman & Wakefield in San Francisco. He created a tenant representation practice within the firm, unlike any of the brokers in the company or in the San Francisco industry at the time. Mr. Mihalovich was consistently one of the top producers in the office and Company, but more importantly developed an extremely focused practice of law firm representation and intimate familiarity with office leasing issues facing law firms. Early in his career he had the pleasure of representing the law firm of our former Mayor, Honorable Joseph L. Alioto. Some thirty-five law firms since then, Mr. Mihalovich has represented Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, (70,000 square feet in two transactions at One Market Plaza); O'Melveny & Myers (their first two transactions in San Francisco); and Graham & James (now Squire, Sanders & Dempsey) in eight years of expansion and renovation negotiations at One Maritime Plaza. He became known in the community as a "law firm broker", even though his practice extended to representing companies such as Bear, Stearns (45,000 square feet, top three floors of Citicorp Center); Prudential Securities (40,000 square feet, highrise of Four Embarcadero); and Northwestern Mutual Life (23,000 square feet, Citicorp Center).
Indeed, Mr. Mihalovich's commitment to serving the legal community was substantial. During his tenure at Cushman & Wakefield he was a featured speaker/instructor at various Association of Legal Administrator functions, and similar educational conferences, including:
- 1997: "The Location Game". MCLE credit (Law Practice Management), sponsored by The Daily Journal. Keynote Speaker at Citywide Conference.
- 1993: "Lease Negotiations". Lecturer, International Facility Management Association Conference.
- 1990: "Introduction to Law Office Administration: Facilities Management". Course Instructor. ALA Conference.
- 1989: "Managing the Office Lease". Featured Speaker. ALA Conference.
Mr. Mihalovich was promoted to Director of Office Leasing and received numerous management and production awards, including leading Broker of the entire Western Region in 1991 (of 327 brokers). In 1991, Mr. Mihalovich was also honored in his personal life, achieving the rank of 1st degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo, from the American TaeKwonDo Association; and a 2nd place award for sparring at the 1991 World TaeKwonDo Championships in Little Rock, Arkansas.
In 1996, in a company of 700 brokers, he was the first to create a commercial real estate website to serve his tenant-clients and the tenant community, called www.Mihalovich.com, which later evolved into www.TheSpacePlace.net.
Mr. Mihalovich left Cushman & Wakefield in 1998 to form MIHALOVICH PARTNERS. He created the tenant representation firm to be conflict-free, since the firm never represents landlords and never puts themselves in a position of time-conflict, where they are not able to devote a 110% effort to a client. While many of his competitors work on 30-50 transactions per year, including a lot of listing work, Mr. Mihalovich's practice is committed to representing four to five tenants each year—sometimes fewer, as in the case where he represented the City's largest non-profit organization, the California Academy of Sciences (including the Steinhart Aquarium), in 2003's largest lease in San Francisco (204,000 square feet at 875 Howard Street).
Mr. Mihalovich takes great pride in the thirty-plus letters of recommendation from his clients which speak to the quality of his representation services, particularly emphasizing the quality of the results of the negotiations and the manner in which he organized the process through move-in. "I am extremely aggressive at the negotiating table with landlords, and typically extract substantially more concessions (both economic and contractual) than my competitors", he states. "My role, as tenant representative, extends through lease documentation, tenant improvement construction and move-in. Working alongside real estate counsel, I have assisted in all lease documentation negotiations to create tenant-driven provisions, wherever possible".
Mr. Mihalovich continues to publish an Editorial on the firm's website, The Space Place® (www.TheSpacePlace.net), describing San Francisco Bay Area market conditions; where he sees the market heading and why. He has made appearances on CBS News and National Public Radio to address local commercial real estate conditions. A number of statewide periodicals have published his articles, including Daily Journal; California Law Business; California Real Estate Journal; The Recorder; and San Francisco Business Times. He was a Speaker (for MCLE credit) at "Quarterly/Managing Partner Program", an ALA hosted event, in conjunction with Altman Weil, Inc.
Mr. Mihalovich resides in Tiburon with his wife and two children. He currently serves on the Board of Camp Tawonga. He is a former Board member of the Tiburon Peninsula Little League. He is an avid supporter of the California Academy of Sciences. Tennis (4.5), surfing, mountain biking and song-writing remain his passions.
