CounselEvery Asset Has
a Next Move.
Marcus Holloway · Real Estate Strategy
Marcus Holloway
Founder & Principal Strategist
"The developer came in with 140 entitled acres and no path to equity. We restructured the phasing, brought in a JV partner on Phase I, and closed the construction loan in eleven weeks."
— Denver mixed-use land disposition, 2024
Marcus has spent eighteen years inside the deal — not adjacent to it. He started as an acquisitions associate at a regional REIT, moved to a family office managing a $600M mixed-use portfolio, and spent four years as a principal at a mid-market development firm before founding Counsel in 2019.
His practice is built around three recurring moments of strategic uncertainty: when entitled land can't find equity, when Class B assets are hemorrhaging tenants, and when new capital is entering real estate without a coherent thesis. He has advised on over $2.1B in assets across twenty-two markets.
He does not manage assets. He does not raise capital. He sits across the table and tells you what the numbers are actually saying.
140 entitled acres, no equity partner, construction lender requiring 30% pre-leasing on a market with 18-month absorption. Developer had been shopping the deal for nine months without a close.
Restructured into a phased JV with a regional multifamily operator taking Phase I. Reduced pre-leasing requirement through JV equity substitution. Construction loan closed in eleven weeks.
Diane Okafor
Senior Advisor, Asset Repositioning
"The office portfolio had 34% vacancy and a lease roll problem nobody wanted to name. We converted two floors to life science shell and stabilized NOI inside fourteen months."
— Class B office repositioning, Boston, 2023
Diane spent a decade at a national REIT managing a $1.4B office and mixed-use portfolio before moving into advisory work. She specializes in assets that have exhausted their original thesis — Class B office buildings losing ground to newer stock, retail centers with anchor vacancies, and multifamily properties where the operating model no longer matches the submarket.
Her work begins with the rent roll and ends with a repositioning playbook — conversion feasibility, capital stack restructuring, new tenant mix, and the disposition timeline if the numbers don't close. She has led repositioning engagements across fourteen markets totaling $890M in assets under analysis.
She does not do turnarounds. She does the analysis that tells you whether a turnaround is worth attempting.
34% vacancy on a 220,000 SF office building with a lease roll concentrated in 2025. Traditional office tenants were not absorbing. Ownership was weighing a $14M capex commitment against a sale at a 40% discount to peak value.
Conversion feasibility study identified two floors viable for life science shell conversion at $6.2M. Repositioning plan stabilized NOI within fourteen months. Asset retained; sale at distressed pricing avoided.
The Hold-Sell
Decision Matrix
A one-page framework distilled from eighteen years of hold-sell analysis across multifamily, office, retail, and land. It maps the seven variables that actually determine whether you hold, sell, recapitalize, or reposition — and the sequence in which they should be evaluated.
Most asset managers run this analysis backwards. The matrix corrects the sequencing.
Counsel Advisory
Hold-Sell Decision Matrix
Full framework with scoring rubric and sequencing guide available for download.
Request a Strategy
Conversation.
An initial conversation is thirty minutes. We review your situation, tell you whether we can add value, and — if not — point you toward someone who can. There is no pitch.
We work with a small number of clients at any given time. Engagements typically run eight to fourteen weeks.
$2.1B
Assets advised
22
Markets covered
18
Years of practice
94%
Client return rate