DERRICK D. JOHNSON
General Manager 401 N. Michigan
As General Manager of 401 North Michigan Avenue, Derrick Johnson is responsible for the physical operation, financial performance and tenant retention efforts at the 737,000 square foot office building.
Upon joining Zeller Realty Group®, Johnson assumed the role of General Manager. During his time thus far at 401 North Michigan Avenue, he has revitalized plaza usage by marketing the space for lease by temporary users, maintained current tenants and played a role in luring new tenants to the property, controlled financials to monitor performance, aggressively pursued other income opportunities by reviewing storage, riser and other ancillary income rental structures to identify opportunities to increase returns, and continued to educate the tenants on services available and promoted amenities within the building. Since 2002, Johnson has managed to reduce operating expenses by reviewing procedures, processes, contracts and anticipated expenditures to maintain the most competitive pricing. Johnson has implemented a new procedure for both Work Orders as well as Lease Abstracts. These processes will increase efficiency and provide better real time data for management personnel. Johnson has also been working toward marketing our concourse level as a premier site to lease for events.
Prior to joining ZRG, Johnson, a graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Finance, was an Assistant Vice President (AVP)/General Manager at MB Beitler LLC (formerly Miglin-Beitler). Johnson was initially hired as one of two Assistant Managers at Madison Plaza, a one million square foot office building located in Chicago. From Madison Plaza, he moved to 200 North LaSalle Street, a 625,000 square foot office building, where he became the Assistant General Manager of the building as well as the General Manager of Boulevard 40, a 100,000 square foot suburban office building. Subsequently, Johnson was promoted to General Manager of Orleans Plaza, a 200,000 square foot multi-use loft development, where he was the sole management staff for the property. At Orleans Plaza he was individually responsible for the leasing, financial reporting, and long-term capital planning for a 100-year-old asset. In addition, Johnson oversaw the sale of this asset for its institutional owner. Following the sale of Orleans Plaza, Johnson returned to 200 North LaSalle Street as the AVP/General Manager where he oversaw the leasing, day-to-day operations and long-term planning for the building and Boulevard 40.
Johnson, a designated Real Property Administrator (RPA), currently belongs to the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association (GNMAA) and BOMA (Chicago) where he has held numerous committee positions.
