Shaws Early Building Blocks Pay Off Even in Tough Market

For a 15-year-old covered head to toe in grease while toiling in a truck shop, working on a construction site looked pretty glamorous.

Brian Shaw was that 15-year-old, spending a summer working at Willis Shaw Express, the trucking firm founded by his grandfather and later run by his father, Bob. His buddies the Edwards brothers, meanwhile, were working for their dad, Joe, a developer who ultimately built “about a million SF” of industrial buildings in Springdale.

Shaw, 42, admits one of the reasons he envied the Edwards brothers was because a perk of their jobs was a suntan. Working on the sites just looked like more fun, too, so Shaw joined them the next several summers.

Working on those sites was where the real estate bug first bit. Part of the allure was working on a project he could point to with pride once it was completed.

Shaw, a member of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s 2000 Forty Under 40 class, still enjoys that thrill today as managing partner at commercial real estate firm Sage Partners.

“It’s a tangible industry to be involved in, because you can drive by and see something you had a hand in,” Shaw said.

Like all of those involved  in the area’s commercial market over the last 10-plus years, Shaw has seen plenty. He was working at Irwin & Saviers Co. in Springdale in 2000.

Shaw said that year was “at the cusp” of the start of the construction and development boom that lasted nearly a decade. Deals that resulted in Fayetteville’s Steele Crossing and the Scottsdale Center in Rogers were being cemented, and many more followed.

“There were other factors, too, but when all the [Wal-Mart Stores Inc.] vendors came in, things really got rolling,” Shaw said. “When you think about 1,200 companies coming into an area in a five-year span, just the amount of houses and office space and services to support that is amazing.

“I think that was hard for anyone to predict, and hard for a lot of people to know when it was going to end.”

Sage Partners, formed in 2005, did not go unscathed when the bubble popped. The combined experiences of Shaw and fellow partners Tommy Van Zandt and Mark Saviers in places like Dallas and Denver, however, helped Sage Partners avoid calamities that befell others.

“While we knew things were going well, we could just sense that it’s not going to go forever,” Shaw said. “Even though things were going good here, there’s a topping point.”

By 2009, there was plenty of pain to go around in Northwest Arkansas, and Shaw calls it “probably our most challenging year.”

Compounding the firm’s challenges was an accident that left Van Zandt paralyzed. Still, as Van Zandt battled through a hard and ongoing recovery, Shaw said Sage Partners relied on its greatest strength to get through the tough times.

“Looking back on it now, I think what has made us successful is what Tommy and Mark and I made the philosophy from Day 1,” Shaw said. “We put our clients first.

“We did that when it was booming and we did that when things got tough, too. I think people realize that, so when things got slower and they needed somebody to really help them out with a situation, they came to us.”

Shaw believes that’s why Sage Partners was able to recover quicker than many, and “ramp back up and have two really good years, starting in late ‘09.”

Shaw still loves putting together the pieces of a deal as much as ever, but his top priorities never have wavered. He professes a strong faith in God and smiles nonstop when talking about his family.

Shaw has four children, ages 15, 12, 11 and 7. He said he’s probably coached more than 500 youth sports games.

“I do that for a couple of reasons,” he said. “I do it to spend time with my kids and meet their friends, but also to hopefully have a positive influence on the other kids I meet.”

Shaw tells his players the same thing he tells his employees and any young professional who might be looking for advice.

“Work hard and pay attention to details, but respect your opponent. If you do that, things will go well.

“Looking back on it now, I think those were things that were instilled in me by my father and grandfather at a young age, when I didn’t even realize it.”