Who We Are

Ellis Partners is a privately-owned commercial real estate investment and development company founded in San Francisco in 1993. Working with a small group of long-standing private and institutional partners, the firm has successfully acquired and developed assets valued at over $2.5 billion.  Ellis Partners has a long track record of success in the acquisition, entitlement, development, renovation and repositioning of office, industrial, retail, residential and mixed use properties in Northern California.  Drawing upon the decades of experience of its principals, partners and the skill sets of the Ellis Partners team, the company has been able to identify unique real estate investment opportunities, produce exceptional investment performance and provide lasting impacts on the tenants and communities it serves.

An Enduring Legacy

Harold "Hal" A. Ellis, Jr.
(1931 - 2009)

Hal began his career as the co-founder and CEO of Grubb & Ellis Company in 1958.  After its start as a West Coast based firm offering both residential and commercial brokerage and development capabilities, the company went public in the early 1980’s (NYSE: GBE) and grew to become one of the largest diversified full service commercial real estate firms in the country through the rapid acquisition of market-leading brokerage and service firms in major markets throughout the U.S. Under Hal’s leadership, the firm introduced such innovations as broker specialty disciplines (office, industrial, retail, investment) and high-quality, standardized quarterly “local” market research updates and forecasts which have now become standards in the industry.

After departing Grubb & Ellis, Hal co-founded Ellis Partners in 1993 along with Jim Ellis and Melinda Ellis Evers.  As a well-known and highly respected industry leader with a deep background in all facets of commercial real estate, Hal’s breadth of knowledge and national reputation together with his entrepreneurial gifts and mentorship skills established a strong and lasting framework for the Ellis Partners team from its earliest days. After a ferocious multi-year battle with metastatic melanoma, Hal passed away in early 2009. However, his legacy lives on through the core foundational principles that govern the firm today.