A charter school is among projects honored by Pinnacle Awards

A former Kroger turned into a Memphis Merit Academy campus won the 2024 Community Impact award, Thursday, April 10, at the 24th annual Pinnacle Awards.

Lakenna Booker, founder and head of the charter school, tearfully accepted the award in front of nearly 100 commercial real estate professionals at the Memphis Country Club.

Cushman & Wakefield | Commercial Advisors Project Manager Jeremy Turner presented her with the award.

“I would not be standing here today if it were not for Jeremy and people like Jeremy and Cushman & Wakefield Commercial Advisors,” Booker said while choking up. “So many people just believed in the vision of Memphis Merit Academy Charter Schools.”

Hosted by the Memphis Area Association of Realtors Commercial Council, the Pinnacle Awards honor the top commercial real estate professionals and projects each year.

Memphis Merit Academy’s new campus is inside the former Parkway Village Kroger at 4089 American Way. Booker founded the first campus in 2019 at 4775 American Way.

Memphis Merit Academy bought the 11-acre shopping center for $922,000 in March 2023, according to Shelby County Assessor of Property records.

Booker said she had a dream and about $345,000 in the bank to ensure literacy in children in the Parkway Village neighborhood. She went to Cushman & Wakefield for help and formed the plans for the new campus together.

“She’s the kind of client you want to help,” Turner, who worked on the project, said. “She’s probably one of the best school administrators in the city.”

The $14 million project hosts about 600 students in grades K-8. Turner said phase two of the building will begin over the summer.

The Wyatt B. Aiken Broker of the Year Award, which recognizes a Memphis real estate agent’s success made in the previous year, went to CBRE industrial broker Patrick Walton.

Walton began his real estate career with CBRE in 2006 and has since executed more than 500 brokerage assignments with more than 50 million square feet and over $1 billion in transaction value. Walton was ranked in the top 20% of CBRE agents nationwide in 2024.

“I was able to learn from clients that competence is the foundation of relationships and in the end, it’s all about competence in this business,” Walton said. “You have to be very good at what we do.”

Developer Billy Orgel received the 2024 Hall of Fame award, the highest achievement given by the commercial council.

Boyle Investment Co. Chief Operating Officer Mark Halperin presented the award to Orgel.

Orgel, president and CEO of Tower Ventures, which builds cellphone towers, spearheaded the $43 million preservation of the historic Tennessee Brewery and is developing the 60-acre mixed-use Snuff District project in Uptown.

The commercial council honored Martin Edwards Jr., the former MAAR president who died Jan. 1, with the Legacy Award, granted posthumously to a Memphis real estate pioneer.

Edwards served as MAAR president in 1985 and also helped found the Realtors Relief Foundation, which provides housing assistance to communities impacted by disaster.

Sidney Seale, an associate at TSCG, won Newcomer of the Year, which honors a realtor who has practiced for under two years full-time and has the highest volume of production among their cohort.

Colliers Principal Tim Mashburn received the Grit and Grind award for the most transactional sales or leasing, regardless of size and category.

The Top 25 Producers, the Pinnacle Producers Club and brokers for the year were recognized for having the highest transaction volume in 2024, which amounted to $2 billion in commercial transactions. The winners were:

• Sales – Industrial: Ben Ricketts
• Sales – Multi-Family: Blake Pera
• Sales – Office: Johnny Lamberson
• Land Sales: Keith Morris
• Industrial Landlord Rep: Patrick Walton
• Industrial Tenant Rep: Patrick Burke
• Office Landlord Rep: Tom Hutton
• Office Tenant Rep: Jeb Fields
• Retail Landlord Rep: Dustin Jones
• Retail Tenant Rep: Jonathan Aur

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