New leaders are stepping up at Chicago-based real estate firms.
Oak Brook-based mega-investor, Inland Real Estate Group, named Michael Collins as its new head of global wealth for its affiliate, Inland Securities Corporation or ISC, according to a press release. ISC manages and brokers Inland’s real estate investment programs.
Collins joins Inland with 25 years of experience in both sales and operations. He most recently served as managing director of the capital formation team of New York-based investment firm, Hunter Point Capital, the press release noted.
Collins will report to Inland Group CEO Tony Chereso. The Inland family of companies is one of the country’s largest real estate investment firms with $125 billion in transactions since its founding in 1968, according to its website. It currently employs over 1,200 people and operates in 49 states. Subsidiaries include tax-deferred investments, real estate investment trusts and private equity.
Chicago-based residential real estate brokerage, Cross Street, also made key leadership changes, according to a press release. Oren Pollack was promoted to managing partner, Erin Higgins was named vice president of leasing and Taylor Maggi was promoted to vice president of marketing and systems. Laura Ballou also joined the firm as senior market analyst, the company said.
Pollack has worked with Cross Street for the past eight years, focusing on its Chicago, Denver and Cleveland markets. In his new role, he will work on expanding the brokerage’s work with multifamily developers, the release shows.
Higgins joined Cross Street as a national leasing director in 2024 after stints as vice president of leasing and marketing with CA Ventures, as a portfolio manager for Luxury Living Chicago, and as a leasing manager for Golub & Company, according to her LinkedIn profile. In her new role, Higgins will oversee Cross Street’s leasing operations across the U.S., according to the release.
Maggi has been with Cross Street since 2025 and came to the firm with over 15 years of experience. She began her career in leasing and worked on notable projects including Crescent Heights’ NEMA Chicago, the release shows.
Ballou joins the firm as a senior market analyst after working for Global Ventures Group, Cushman & Wakefield, KIG CRE and HA Langer & Associates, according to her LinkedIn profile.
At ML Realty Partners, Grace Crossin was promoted to transaction coordinator, the company said in a press release. In her new role, she will work on building and land acquisitions in the company’s Chicago and Fort Worth markets. ML Realty is a real estate investment firm based in Itasca, Illinois that focuses on acquiring and developing industrial properties across the Midwest.
Amid the AI boom, Chicago-based law firm Morgan Lewis, which practices complex litigation and has a team dedicated to data center litigation, added a new two-partner team to boost its reach, according to a press release.
Nathan Fahrer will be based in Seattle, while Valerie Johnston will be based in Chicago. In her new role, Johnston will focus on real estate deals across the U.S. She comes to Morgan Lewis with significant experience in the data center sector, the release stated.
A Rosemont, Illinois-based construction company, McShane Construction, named a new head of business development, according to a press release.
Daniel Sprague joined McShane after previously serving as senior business development manager at the Wieland Group, a manufacturer of semi-finished copper and copper alloy products.
As McShane’s new director of business development, Sprague will be responsible for attracting build-to-suit opportunities in the manufacturing, distribution, cold storage and food and beverage sectors, the release said.