City Lakes + Parkwest = City West?

Yesterday was a red letter day unlike any other in my nine-plus years at Edina Realty.

Any one of the following announcements at yesterday’s City Lakes office meeting — delivered personally by Edina Realty President and CEO Bob Peltier — would have qualified as blockbuster news; cumulatively, the news has many veteran agents — myself included — feeling a bit shell-shocked.

The highlights:

–City Lakes manager Josh Kaplan is the new downtown Edina Realty office manager; his new responsibilities will include managing Edina Realty’s (Minneapolis) Parkway office, at 53rd and Lyndale, as well.

–The Edina Realty City Lakes office and the Edina Realty Parkwest office will be combined in a new, as yet unnamed office, on the site of the former Fischman’s restaurant at Minnetonka Blvd. and Huntington Ave.  The building will be expanded and retrofitted for real estate; the expected occupancy date is August.

–The manager of the new City Lakes/Parkwest office is Matt Loskota, formerly manager of the downtown office.

–Long-time Park West manager Paul Olson and long-time Parkway manager Ed DonFrancesco are both out.

–The Edina Title office currently in the Parkwest office will follow that office to the combined City Lakes/Parkwest office.

Ramifications & Reactions

To its credit, management clearly appreciates the significance of the foregoing, and was out in force at the various affected offices yesterday to both explain the changes, and reassure agents that the multiple transition(s) will be smooth.

That included a sensitive, upbeat talk by new Manager Matt Loskota, who I personally know well and respect a great deal.  

However, I’m not sure how much City Lakes agents were actually able to take in.

For non-Realtors, the relationship between an agent and their manager — especially one as talented and special as Josh Kaplan — is unique; the manager is variously a mentor, coach, cheerleader, (constructive) critic, confidante, close friend, and (not infrequently) unpaid shrink (one of my favorites Josh lines, a former social worker, is his response when people ask him why he left social work for real estate:  ‘what makes you think I got out of social work?”).

The fact that Josh will still be with the company, heading two other offices, offers some solace.

However, on a purely personal level, this is a tough one — for me, and I’m sure, many other City Lakers.

Ditto for agents I know at the Parkwest and Parkway offices.

About the author

Ross Kaplan has 19+ years experience selling real estate all over the Twin Cities. He is also a 12-time consecutive "Super Real Estate Agent," as determined by Mpls. - St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Ross was an attorney (corporate law), CPA, and entrepreneur. He holds an economics degree from Stanford.
1 Response
  1. I started at Edina Realty but switched to a local (and now quite large) RE/MAX franchise a few years ago. I have never looked back. Hearing about this right after it happened, I’m glad I made the change. We’re growing, not consolidating… come on over!

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