Seth Koschak, Executive Managing Director & Partner – Industrial Capital Markets, Stream Realty Partners

Seth Koschak, executive managing director and partner, Industrial Capital Markets at Stream Realty Partners, spoke with Invest: about Stream’s growth and the vital role of hiring and maintaining talent. He described how Stream leans into its strengths and takes advantage of the different opportunities in the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

What have been Stream Realty Partners’ most significant projects or milestones in the North Texas region over the past 12 months?

We do a lot of different projects. Ideally, we like to see growth within our company, and growth comes in many different ways. We focus on people, growing our existing talent, and bringing in new talent. When we bring people on board we don’t want to be a stepping stone; we want them to build a career. Another way we look at growth is in our various service lines, including industrial, office, data centers, and our investment management business. A few specific areas of recent growth have been within our office tenant rep division with the addition of Jeff and John Ellerman and our Industrial Capital Markets business we launched in 2022 which has experienced a 230% growth in 2024 compared to 2023. We’re seeing large impacts being realized by adding these type of business lines to our existing platform. We are intentional about what we are creating for the greater good of the company and for us, growing or expanding a business starts with talent. 

Can you elaborate on the changes in company culture at Stream Realty Partners and how these changes have impacted employee engagement and productivity? 

From the beginning, our culture has been a priority in recruitment and employee engagement, and we have been unwilling to sacrifice our culture. We’re seeing more red tape and more challenges being put on the brokerage community, and at Stream we want to empower our people and give them the autonomy and ability to do the job they are skilled at doing. Two years ago, we were calling others recruits. Today, our phones are the ones ringing. That’s a product of Stream being nimble, entrepreneurial, and an environment that people want to come to work at. The tenure amongst our leadership is impressive. We seek to hire the right people, folks who will maintain our culture and take advantage of our platform. We’re trying to foster that with our new people and give them an opportunity to take advantage of the empowerment and autonomy we offer because at the end of the day while Stream is a real estate company, we’re really in the people business. 

Are there specific industries or sectors in the area driving demand for your services in North Texas?

As it relates to Stream, we don’t want to do everything, we just want to be the best at what we do. We don’t have a retail business, for example. We primarily focus on office, data centers, and industrial, and we wanted to be the best at everything that touched those product types — tenant representation, agency leasing, development, property management, construction management, etc. As we’ve grown as a company, we look at where’s the missing piece. For example, we were doing everything that touched the industrial sector except for capital markets, so what did we do?  We launched an Industrial Capital Markets division. It all boils down to the opportunities that the individuals within the company are given. As it relates to North Texas, I firmly believe Dallas-Fort Worth is the highest sought-after market in the country. Whether it’s industrial, retail, or multifamily, we’re seeing capital flows come into DFW because of the growth and business-friendly nature of the market. It’s a place where people want to invest because of the performance North Texas has witnessed over the past decade. We’re fortunate to live and work here in North Texas.

How is Stream Realty Partners positioning itself to capitalize on the growth momentum in the region? 

We believe that if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. For Stream in North Texas, I go back to the talent conversation. We’re adding the right people and putting them in the right seats to drive our business. We are bullish on talent acquisition and being able to recruit the right people. We’ve seen our competitors pull back and shed resources for our employees while we are bulking up. We have a robust investment management business that allows us to invest with discretionary capital and lock arms with our most valued customers. We’ve got the ability to take advantage of market dislocation and opportunities within the market while others might be sitting on the sidelines.

What are some of the unique opportunities in the market that Stream Realty Partners will be able to capitalize on in 2025?

Over the last couple of years, we’ve taken advantage of the dislocation in the capital markets. With our investment management business, we were able to secure land, put it under contract, and either close on it or keep it under contract while we wait out the market. We will be able to take advantage of a supply and demand issue we believe is coming in the next 18 to 24 months because of the lack of supply being planned or breaking ground. We have a robust industrial platform that understands supply and demand fundamentals, linked with our investment management business to our capital partners outside of Stream, we plan to go on offense and capitalize on these opportunities. 

What strategies is Stream Realty Partners employing to meet the demand for residential and commercial properties? 

We like to use the analogy of a 737 that lands at DFW airport every day, and the people that get off the plane never go home, creating significant population growth year after year. We used to say for every one person living in DFW, they needed 105 square feet of industrial space to simply provide the basics, but today it’s closer to 130-140 square feet. It’s a significant amount of square footage just to service the people in DFW.  Tenants are going to need space, and our ability to secure land and be prepared to start construction immediately will help us benefit from the demand that’s coming in 2025 and beyond. 

With the significant influx of business activity in DFW, how is Stream Realty Partners navigating these challenges to maintain growth and profitability?  

Capital markets play a big role in our space, and for most that means interest rates. When the Federal Reserve raised rates in 2022, the markets froze and everything locked up. It’s not necessarily the rise in interest rates that is overly challenging, it’s the fluctuation and instability. We can deal with higher rates, we always have but at the end of the day, we need stability. Investors and Capital want visibility and want to feel confident in their underwriting. They want to see a more stable, predictable capital markets environment because otherwise, they lack confidence. If we get that, then I think things will get better. Until we have a few months of that stability, we’re likely in for a sluggish start to the year.