Broker Spotlight: Ryan Fisher

For Ryan Fisher, building relationships is one of the most rewarding parts of being a retail broker. That’s a key reason why he joined Cushman & Wakefield | CRESCO as senior vice president, overseeing the retail group, in January of 2022.

“I’m looking forward to growing the group with these existing relationships and expanding on them,” he said. “CRESCO has an incredibly successful brokerage that has been around for a long time, but there was never a group that was dedicated to retail. I see a unique opportunity here to build on all these great relationships that CRESCO has locally with these owners.”

As a retail broker, Fisher focuses on tenant and landlord representation, from retail chains and franchises to Class A mixed-use buildings in downtown areas, shopping centers and suburban strip malls. He also handles land acquisition and disposition for retail clients.

Fisher, who had been a retail broker for about 13 years prior to joining CRESCO, said the group works with clients state-wide, but has a primary focus on northern Ohio.

“Real estate and brokerage is a local endeavor, and even in a market like Cleveland that isn’t as big and robust as Miami or Phoenix, there are still a lot of intricacies,” he said. “It takes a specific skill set to be effective here; it takes a lot of time to get to know the players, the owners, the brokers, the municipalities, how zoning goes — all the moving parts.”

Because clients seek out a broker for that local knowledge, Fisher estimated that 90 percent of CRESCO’s retail group activity is in the Cleveland-Akron metro area.

Retail Brokerage Experience

Prior to joining CRESCO, Fisher worked for a handful of other commercial real estate companies, starting with Regency Centers, a large footprint grocery anchor, developer, and owner based in Jacksonville, Fla. While with the company, he transferred to Regency Centers’ Midwest office in Cincinnati, where he oversaw redevelopment projects in Columbus, as well as managing shopping center portfolios in the suburbs of Columbus, Detroit, and Chicago.

After more than two years at Regency Centers, Fisher moved to Cleveland to begin working at Developers Diversified Realty, which then became DDR, and now operates as Site Centers. For six years, he handled peripheral land sales and land disposition in roughly 20 states.

After losing his job in 2009 as a result of the economic downturn, Fisher served for three years as a broker in Cleveland with the former boutique group Kowit and Passov. Next, he went to Colliers International, handling land, tenant, and landlord representation for more than nine years.

Fisher made the move to CRESCO with his partner, Alex Smith, for the opportunity to start its retail group.

“I’m really re-energized for the next phase of my career,” he said. “I see new opportunities. There are great resources, great relationships, and a lot of untapped business here. I look forward to using my past experiences and meshing them together with the Cushman & Wakefield | CRESCO Real Estate platform.”