After 40 years in commercial real estate and development, Eva Stevens is calling it a day. Stevens, president of Minneapolis’ United Properties Investment (UPI) and chief operating officer, will retire at the end of 2018.
She is one of two top executives at the company, one of the biggest real estate investment and development companies in the Twin Cities. She and Bill Katter, president and chief investment officer, have led United Properties in tandem since 2015, when they were promoted to take over for Frank Dutke, who retired as president and chief executive in June 2016.
Stevens came up at a time when commercial real estate was largely a man’s world. Described by her company as a “trailblazer” in the announcement of her retirement, Stevens said she was often the only woman in the room in her early years. That reality that persisted well into the mid-1980s, according to Julie Kimble, a peer and founder of the Twin Cities real estate consulting company, KimbleCo.
“Eva is going to be missed. She’s a really exceptional leader,” Kimble said.
Stevens is a lifelong Minnesotan. She grew up in Minnetonka, where her father operated a service station.
Stevens has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Minnesota State University Mankato and a Masters of Business Administration from Cardinal Stritch University.
She embarked on her career in 1978. As her undergraduate education would suggest, she began a career in accounting and finance, as an entry level auditor at the Minneapolis office of Coopers & Lybrand (now Pricewaterhouse Coopers).
In what would prove to be a fateful turn of events, Stevens was assigned to the company’s real estate team, which gave her a taste for the business and showed her the inner workings of large-scale development. One of her key assignments was creating a financial model for the construction of the now-defunct Metrodome stadium, the longtime home of the Minnesota Vikings football team and the city’s professional baseball franchise, the Twins.
Stevens was fascinated to see how the math tied into the creation of a real world structure, she said.
“That was my sweet spot,” She said. “The numbers told me a story.”
From there, she went to the architectural firm Ellerbe (now a part of Los Angeles-based AECOM), where she served as a financial manager for the company’s real estate subgroup. In 1988 she became a financial analyst at Northco, which later became Colonnade Properties, and discovered she had a knack for asset management.
In 2001, United Properties recruited Stevens to be its vice president of asset management. She was named to the company’s executive team in 2005. It was there that she worked closely one of her key mentors, the late Boyd Stofer, who led the company until his sudden death in 2011.
In turn, Stevens has mentored many up-and-coming commercial real estate professionals herself. Currently, she has three mentees, and an open door policy when it comes to meeting with young people, whether they are a part of United Properties or not.
“If they call me personally, I will have a coffee with them,” Stevens said. “They can ask me about my career or even what a CAP rate is. I’ve tried to make myself safe for people with questions.”
One of those mentees is Kelsey Gregory, director of asset management at another development firm, Minneapolis’ Schafer Richardson. The two were connected through a NAIOP program two years ago. Gregory was well aware of Stevens at the time.
“She may not know this, but our pairing wasn’t by chance. I specifically scoped out and requested her as a mentor,” Gregory said in a lengthy and glowing email. “[She is] one of the most well-respected leaders in our industry, and a female at that, which can be rare in commercial real estate.”
Gregory and Stevens still see each other once a month.
“She always has an excellent way of asking questions that challenge me to think from new angles and problem solve until I find solutions. Then at the end she’ll make me feel like I came up with the answer all on my own, even though I’m not quite sure if I’d have gotten there without her guidance,” Gregory said. “Every meeting I had with Eva left me inspired.”
United Properties will soon begin a search for her replacement.
Outside of work, Stevens has been active in philanthropy. Stevens, herself a breast cancer survivor, helped found the Twin Cities chapter of Gilda’s Club, which offers social and emotional support to those dealing with cancer. She currently sits on the organization’s board of directors and also recently joined the board of St. Paul’s CommonBond Communities, a non-profit that provides affordable housing.
After her retirement, she plans to continue working with non-profits. In her leisure time, she hopes to go on fishing trips with her father, and ride her horse, Doogin, a 14-year-old quarter horse who stands 15 hands high.
She also wants to spend more time with her husband, Dick. The couple are currently in the value engineering phase (her words) of building a new home in Ely, a town of a little less than 4,000 tucked into the woods of Northern Minnesota.
