Name: Tim Stephens
Company: Hamilton Partners Inc.
Position: Partner
What does your company do? Hamilton has been active in the development, acquisition and management of multifamily, industrial and office properties in Salt Lake City for over 20 years. We focus on high quality sites and buildings such as 222 S Main Street, the Ken Garff Tower and our new Lake Park Commerce Center industrial park.
What do you do for your company? I started with Hamilton in 2018, coming from a private equity role in New York City. As Utah has grown there has been more interest from institutional capital, so my primary role is securing high quality equity and debt investments across our existing portfolio and development pipeline. But, I am also a Structural Engineer by trade and started my career in development and project management, so I’m also out sourcing deals, running developments and generally trying to grow Hamilton’s portfolio in Utah and Arizona.
What are you working on right now? Too much! We are actively developing over 1.5 million square feet of industrial and 700 apartment units, with a few hundred more in the pipeline between Salt Lake and the Phoenix metro. I’m also actively working on a large capital improvement plan for The 324, our office building on the corner of State and Broadway. It is an exciting time to be in Utah!
Best career advice you’ve received? Focus on completely understanding the problem before working on the solution. Early in my career I was lucky enough to work with a pioneer in the design of large retail developments. I was working on the design of the parking garage and loading dock area when I presented a pretty lackluster solution. He basically stopped the meeting cold and lectured me in front of the room for 30 minutes on how to really breakdown a problem, look at it from all angles and only then come up with a solution. I was torn up about the mistake, but the lesson has stuck with me.
Best career advice you’ve given? It’s a variation on the advice I received and one that I come back to a lot in my work with architects and designers – start with the most optimal solution to a problem regardless of the constraints. Unless you first know what the best solution is you won’t know if you are making unnecessary compromises.
What is the top lesson you’ve learned navigating the pandemic (personally and/or professionally)? Edit your correspondence for clarity and completeness. Too often I’ve sent and received emails that required follow up that could have been avoided if there wasn’t a rush to respond.
What is one thing people don’t know about you? I love playing sport. I snowboard, golf, ride, skate, sail, everything! I was a national champion sailor in high school. But my favorite is cricket. I started very young and ended up playing at a pretty high level up until I moved to New York in 2009. I still miss it and as side effect, think that baseball is played way too fast!
