Peter Monroe
Managing Member, National Real Estate Ventures, LLC
Safety Harbor, FL 34695
Phone (727) 643-6303
Specialties
Investment Sales Broker
Property Types
Office, Retail
Markets
Tampa/St Petersburg
Languages
English
Bio
Monroe arrived in Florida via Washington, D.C. in 1973. After graduating from Williams College, Oxford University and Harvard Law School he worked for George Romney, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld in the White House in real estate related positions. At the Cost of Living Council—Monroe focused on the removal of damaging national rent controls. By 1974, Monroe had become a Florida Real Estate Broker, member of the Florida Bar and Florida Class A General Contractor, working closely with Charles Rutenberg, Chairman of U.S. Home Corporation.
In Florida, Monroe has developed and/or sold $3/4 billion of retail and office real estate. His developments include Northwood Plaza, comprising 200,000 SF of retail and 100,000 SF of office space. Monroe personally attracted a 50,000 SF Jacobson’s department store. He added 100,000 SF of retail/office space nearby. Thereafter, he sold both projects plus several others developed with Charles Rutenberg without use of an outside broker.
Monroe recommenced public service in 1989 as the Chief Operating officer of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) under Jack Kemp. At the FHA, Monroe unilaterally terminated the Co-insurance multifamily mortgage program which ultimately cost the government $6 billion dollars on only $16 billion of originated mortgages.
Monroe was next appointed by President Bush to serve as CEO of the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) oversight Board. The RTC had sold much of its real estate at rock bottom prices. Working closely with his Board members, notably Secretaries Kemp and Nicholas Brady, and Chairman Greenspan of the Federal Reserve, Monroe was determined to effectively sell the RTC's largest asset pool-- ill-conceived commercial loans originated by Savings and Loan Institutions-- These mortgages dwarfed the RTC real estate assets-amounting to nearly $400 billion. Such mortgages were being sold at 80 cents on the dollar, and RTC was expected to lose over $160 billion. According to William Seidman, Monroe acted to "jump start" the commercial mortgage-backed security market-- saving over $60 billion for the U.S. taxpayer. This enabled the RTC to declare success, and close its doors-one of the few times a federal agency has done this in U.S. history.
Subsequently, Monroe returned to Florida, and focused on the sale of commercial real estate. He also purchased and sold over 450 residential properties in 11 states.
Between 2012 and 2014, as a court-appointed receiver, Monroe renovated and leased much of Northwood Commons, a retail and office project which he developed with Charles Rutenberg. Returning the project’s retail space to 100% occupancy and then leasing a majority of the project’s office space, Monroe received the City of Safety Harbor's prestigious 2014 Award of Excellence.
In 2017, Northwood Commons was sold at a price well above its estimated value in 2012. In 2016, Monroe’s Northwood Plaza had been sold for more than any other shopping center in Pinellas County--$51.5 million. Monroe has had recent success with Klein and Heuchan Realtors in assembling and selling a variety of product types, including self-storage and medical marijuana. shopping centers and other retail properties.
However, the success of his retail brokerage activities has prompted him to refocus on sale of retail projects of every stripe—from large centers to much smaller net leased properties.
Monroe has close connections with serious retail brokers and buyers nationwide. His sales techniques range from maximum property exposure, to quiet off market sales-- often attracting the most serious buyers who try to avoid “bidding wars”. His keys to success are 1) stabilization of strong existing tenants; 2) attraction of new high traffic tenants; 3) personal trust relationships with hundreds of developers, retailers and retail investors; 4) maximum use of co brokerage; 5) tactical use of legal and government expertise, and 6) providing accurate financial and property information to prospective buyers.
Monroe’s Additional Experience:
• Executive Director of the Urban Land Institute Foundation;
• Director of Republic Bank in Clearwater;
• The International Council of Shopping Centers;
• The National, Florida and Florida Gulf Coast Florida Board of Realtors;
• Vice chairman of a Florida Bar committee;
• 2006 primary challenge to U.S. Senate Candidate Kathryn Harris;
• Managing Member and qualifying broker of National Real Estate Ventures (NREV).
While Monroe continues a heavy workload, and still enjoys competitive tennis singles, his goals include:
• Making another significant contribution to our country --drawing from his past experience in finding creative solutions to America's most major financial issues; and
• Continuing to use his experience creatively in repositioning and selling major shopping centers in densely populated areas such as Tampa
Education
Affiliations
Awards
