Hentschel Wins Prestigious Felt Award for Work on Serbian Surplus Military Property
CHICAGO, IL – June 15, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — John J. Hentschel, CRE®, president, Hentschel Real Estate Services, an Abingdon, Maryland-based real estate advisory and consulting firm, has been honored with the 2011 James Felt Creative Counseling Award for his work as a special advisor to the Urban Institute as part of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Municipal Economic Growth Activity, a program designed to promote economic development in the Republic of Serbia through commercialization of strategically located surplus military properties. The award was presented May 3 by The Counselors of Real Estate® at the organization’s Midyear Meetings in San Diego.
The Felt Award recognizes credentialed members of The Counselors of Real Estate whose work exemplifies excellence and ingenuity in real estate counseling that yields far-reaching and long-term benefits to a community and its citizens.
Hentschel’s work spanned a 22-month period from January 2009 through October 2010, during which he sought to resolve complicated issues involving the valuation and transfer of surplus properties from the Serbian Ministry of Defense to local governments to foster economic development. Discerning that the existing property disposal process was inefficient, ineffective, and merely transferred sparse resources between levels of government without yielding the benefits desired, Hentschel crafted a new model that realigned the roles and responsibilities and coupled the interests of the Military and Municipalities as allies in pursuit of a common objective—the creation of wealth for Serbia. The new “Win-Win” Paradigm advocated mutual cooperation to leverage resources and attract private investment, while encouraging the adoption of internationally recognized valuation principles based on a property’s productive capacity in place of existing government prescribed procedures to instill confidence in a process that would measure value uniformly and accurately.
Hentschel also was responsible for developing and delivering training to guide the implementation of the new cooperative principles and valuation techniques, as well as organizing and leading a U.S. study tour for senior Serbian officials to provide tangible examples of inter-jurisdictional cooperation when reusing surplus government property.
In presenting the award, fellow CRE Marilee Utter said “John’s results at the end of this two-year engagement are nothing short of transformational. He used almost every tool in a Counselor’s bag, persisted, and even brought his family into the mix to establish the more trusting, personal relationships that are key to the continuing success of this effort.”
About the James Felt Creative Counseling Award
The James Felt Creative Counseling Award honors outstanding achievement and ingenuity in real estate counseling by the members The Counselors of Real Estate, a professional organization for leading property advisors. A peer-review committee selects the award recipient. Established in 1992, the award honors the memory of James “Jack” Felt, CRE, a prominent real estate pioneer and founding member of The Counselors of Real Estate. The award reflects Felt’s personal and professional standards, ethics, integrity and creativity demonstrated throughout his real estate career.
About Hentschel Real Estate Services
Since 1973, leaders in business, government, finance, and law in the U.S. and abroad have relied on Hentschel Real Estate Services for real estate advisory, consulting, valuation and transaction expertise to make difficult decisions, solve intractable problems, and seize strategic opportunities. For more information about Hentschel Real Estate Services and John J. Hentschel CRE, MAI, FRICS, its founder and CEO, please contact 410-515-0040; or http://www.hentco.com.
The Counselors of Real Estate, established in 1953, is an international group of high profile professionals including members of prominent real estate, financial, legal and accounting firms as well as leaders of government and academia who provide expert, objective advice on complex real property situations and land-related matters. Membership is selective, extended by invitation only. The organization’s CRE (Counselor of Real Estate) credential is awarded to all members in recognition of superior problem solving ability in various areas of real estate counseling. For more information, contact The Counselors of Real Estate, 430 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611; 312/329.8427; http://www.cre.org
Contact:
Carol Scherf: 312-329-8429 
