Larry Pobuda

Senior vice president and general manager, Opus Development Co.

Minnetonka-based Opus Group is opening an office in Phoenix and has tapped Larry Pobuda – a 26-year veteran of the Twin Cities commercial real estate industry — to run it. Pobuda, 53, will serve as senior vice president and general manager of Opus Development Co. in Phoenix.

Pobuda will pursue development opportunities in the Phoenix market in the office, industrial and residential sectors. He most recently was senior vice president of capital markets at Trans­western in Minneapolis. He also was co-founder and partner of the Stewart Lawrence Group and had stints at United Properties and Trammell Crow Co. Pobuda's development experience includes the Class A 8000 Tower at Normandale Lake Office Park in Bloomington and the redevelopment of the Doctor's Professional Building in downtown St. Paul.

Q: What opportunities do you see in joining Opus and heading up its new office?

A: It's an opportunity to build a business and build buildings. I've always loved the deal side of our business, but I also love building businesses, so this is really a blend of both.

Q: What's the staffing plan for the Phoenix office?

A: We'll hire a couple of people, but the plan is really predicated on our deal flow and business development efforts and the development opportunities we identify. We'll be out in the market pursuing opportunities, and as we win business we'll continue to grow our staff. The ­beautiful thing about the Opus Group is that we have resources in nine different markets around the country, which are available for me to tap.

Q: What opportunities do you see in Phoenix?

A: When you take a look at the continued in-migration that's occurring here and the properties that are expanding and [add that] to its strategic location of being next door to California and just north of Mexico, there's a lot of commerce and a lot of growth that's continuing to occur here. And Arizona is an extremely business-friendly state.

Q: How's the Minneapolis market different from Phoenix?

A: The most significant difference is the level of maturity. While I think of Minneapolis as a well-established, more mature economy, I think of Phoenix as a younger, developing economy.

Q: What do you bring to the table in your new role?

A: This is clearly an opportunity that requires great relationship-building and networking, and I've pretty much done that over my career, so I'll be leveraging those relationships.

Liz Wolf is an Eagan-based freelance writer. She can be reached at wolfliz99@aol.com.