Gaston Wilkerson merges with NAI Alliance

When Don Wilkerson, president and chief executive officer of Gaston Wilkerson Management Group, decided after 33 years that it was time to step away from the day-to-day duties of running a business, there was only one option he considered for taking over his company’s property management responsibilities.

Gaston Wilkerson and commercial real estate brokerage/property management company NAI Alliance announced their merger effective Oct. 1. The merger adds more than 500,000 square feet to NAI Alliance’s vast property management portfolio, which now totals more than 8.5 million square feet of commercial real estate in Northern Nevada.

Wilkerson and Richard “Dick” Gaston founded Gaston Wilkerson Management Group in 1991. Gaston retired several years ago. Wilkerson said he will now focus on targeted acquisitions and strategic development of regional real estate investment opportunities.

“It’s been a great ride,” Wilkerson told NNBW during a telephone interview last week. “Management has been a great support business, but I will continue to move forward with my properties and other things I’ve been working on.”

Don Wilkerson

Wilkerson said that his decision to step away in 2024 actually began half a decade ago. In 2018 and 2019, Wilkerson served as the international president of the Institute of Real Estate Management. His duties with IREM took him around the globe, which led to some management restructuring within Gaston Wilkerson.

“It was a great opportunity to be involved with a global organization, and it made me realign my company,” he said. “Different people had to step up and take over, and that kind of led to a little more autonomy on my part.”

That taste of freedom from daily management duties stuck, and in the subsequent years Wilkerson began to realize that it was time to focus more on real estate investment and development opportunities.

Handing off to NAI Alliance, meanwhile, fit like Michael Jackson’s glitter glove. Wilkerson had a longstanding relationship with NAI Alliance office and industrial specialist Dan Oster, who had sent many real estate investment deals across Wilkerson’s desk.

“Reno is a small town, and you get people over time,” Wilkerson said. “Those deals turned out to be pretty profitable, and when it came time for me to look at other opportunities and back away from the management company, I knew it was the right fit.”

Wilkerson said one of his primary concerns in the merger was the fate of his longtime employees — Commercial Property Manager Brandy Zirkle had been with Gaston Wilkerson for more than 25 years. Property Manager Roland Montoya, meanwhile, had been with the team for about four years.

NAI Alliance assimilated Zirkle, Montoya and a maintenance technician into its large property management group, said Brian Armon, senior vice president and principal of the industrial group at NAI Alliance.

“We have done a lot of work with Don over the years,” Armon told NNBW. “He was very concerned about his employees and wanted to make sure they were taken care of. We were honored to accept them.

Brian Armon

“We have a very robust business on the management side,” Armon added. “We have four property managers, six accountants, four maintenance technicians and two admins on that side – it’s a pretty big operation.”

NAI Alliance plans on continued growth of the management side of its business because it’s a critical component of the full life cycle of commercial real estate investments, Armon noted. Third-party management is a much-needed service for novice property owners or those who don’t live in the Truckee Meadows and don’t directly oversee their assets, he said. It’s also important to institutional investors who often mix and match management services, especially those who already have accounting and financial experts in place.

Although property management isn’t a high-margin industry, he added, it builds bridges with property owners and institutional investors who often turn to NAI Alliance when they want to divest their assets or increase their regional holdings through additional acquisitions.

“That’s the life cycle of real estate,” Armon said. “We are already in place, and it’s an easy transition for owners. Management is a tough business on its own, but with the brokerage, it brings everything together. We look at management as an insurance policy. When we are working with a group, and we are doing a good job, then we are going to get all of their business.

“It is a great service to owners and investors, and it provides full service to real estate investors because we can provide asset management, receivership, and facilities management, and on the brokerage side we have specialties in all the sectors of commercial real estate. We are a full-service shop,” he added.

Wilkerson, meanwhile, took a moment to reflect fondly on a real estate career that spans more than four decades.

“The Reno market is a unique investment market,” he said. “I have enjoyed for years and years the opportunity to both live and work here. I have met some phenomenal people throughout my career and consider many of them good friends. The strength of the Northern Nevada market and the camaraderie of the professionals involved with it has really made my career a true joy.”

Dan Oster