The Beginning
The original company, Demmon-Hunter, was founded in 1960 by Derk Hunter, a real estate broker with Cornish & Carey, and Roy Demmon. The company evolved to Hunter Properties, Inc. and is well-known throughout the region as one of the firms that helped define and improve Silicon Valley and made a significant contribution in the history of commercial real estate development in Santa Clara County. The company initially established its reputation by completing build to suit developments for Control Data, IBM and Digital Equipment. These and other projects within the Stanford Industrial Park were met with the initiation of the first high-rise developments outside of downtown San Francisco. 1625 The Alameda, 675 N. First Street and 2nd & Santa Clara Street are still landmarks on the San Jose skyline.
Setting a new standard.
Hunter Properties developed its first retail shopping center in conjunction with The Villages Community in 1980 and joined forces with Storm Land Company in 1986. Since then, the two principals, Deke Hunter and Edward Storm, developed more than 35 retail centers, including Old Town Los Gatos, McCarthy Ranch, Hamilton Plaza and Powell Street Plaza. The company’s retail experience is a positive influence on other commercial development activities.
Defining the shape of Silicon Valley.
Over the last 15 years, Hunter Properties, through the development arm Hunter Storm, LLC, has leveraged its multiple product-type development experience with its entitlement expertise to successfully complete several major real estate projects. More recently, the firm has focused on transit-oriented development (TOD) and mixed-use development. This came to fruition in both Redwood City and Santa Clara through the development of RWC Technology Station and University Station, respectively. Also, Civic Park Cupertino, a mixed-use project combining office, retail, and 132 homes oriented toward a public park that connects to the new City Library, was completed in 2007. In addition to these community-enhancing TOD projects, Hunter Storm tenant-oriented, build-to-suit developments/acquisitions include buildings for Kaiser Health (2), Old Republic Title Headquarters (2), DPR Construction, Inc., BAE Systems, ABB Ltd, Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
Building Success with vision and integrity.
Due to strong tenant relationships, Hunter Properties is able to work efficiently on leasing new developments and the re-merchandising of existing properties. The active portfolio enjoys unmatched performance, rarely dropping below an average occupancy of 98%. The family orientation of the company coupled with the skill sets necessary to manage large complex transactions allow the firm to consistently participate in some of the most significant developments in the Bay Area.
Derek K. Hunter jr
Derek K. Hunter, Jr. (Deke) is the President of Hunter Properties, Inc. and Managing Member of Hunter/Storm, LLC. Hunter Properties is a 60-year old real estate development and property management company currently with 22 different assets, totaling 5,500,000 square feet. The family-oriented company developed well in excess of 9,500,000 square feet during its history. Mr. Hunter is involved with all new project developments, property management, leasing, and oversight of Bay Area Self Storage. Deke joined the company in 1982 after working for CBRE in San Francisco.
Mr. Hunter is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers, Urban Land Institute, the Policy Advisory Committee for Fisher Center of Real Estate & Urban Economics, and Self Storage Association. Deke annually participates as an instructor for the ULI Urban Plan program at San Jose State University and local area high schools.
Current projects include: CityLine (Sunnyvale), Coleman Highline (San Jose), Gateway Crossings (Santa Clara) and iStar (San Jose).
Deke is the President of the Rio Blanco Ranch in Colorado. He is an active fisherman, skier, swimmer, golfer, and beekeeper.
Edward D. Storm
Edward D. Storm formed Storm Land Co. in January, 1986. Prior to that time, he was a principal partner in Retail Commercial Properties; a San Jose based commercial real estate brokerage company which he co-founded in 1976. Storm Land Co.’s business is development, leasing and sales of commercial projects in northern California.
Since 1976, Mr. Storm has participated in approximately 110 development projects ranging from a 500,000 square foot office building, multiple self storage facilities, to shopping centers of up to 600,000 square feet and large multi-purpose land entitlements.
Presently, Storm land Co. is developing R&D, self storage and office projects in The Greater San Francisco Bay Area. These projects are in joint venture with Hunter Properties. This partnership has been the primary development entity since 1992.
Mr. Storm is a graduate of Santa Clara University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business. He completed service in the U.S. Coast Guard.
Sherri Prieb
Prior to joining Hunter Properties as its Controller in 1992, Sherri Prieb worked as a CPA and held controllership positions in the real estate, national franchise, and graphic arts industries. Her role with the company now includes managing loan, purchase and sale closings, legal review, due diligence, asset management, and financial analysis. Ms. Prieb obtained a Business Administration degree from Nebraska Wesleyan University.
Robert McMaster
Prior to joining Hunter Properties in 1998, Bob McMaster was a senior tax manager at KPMG for 8 years specializing in real estate and high net worth individuals. Subsequently, Mr. McMaster went to work for one his clients – Jaeger Management – and worked through the 1990’s real estate recession in Southern California creatively restructuring debt and refocusing the company’s objectives. Since joining Hunter Properties, Mr. McMaster has continued to focus on the company’s strategic use of debt as well as the implementation of tax strategies allowing the company to achieve a number of financial goals. In addition to managing the company’s debt and tax strategies, Mr. McMaster oversees our accounting department. He has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Business Administration as well as a Master’s of Science in Taxation.
Curtis Leigh
Curtis Leigh joined Hunter Properties as a Development Manager in 2004 and is now a Principal & Partner of Hunter/Storm. His major roles include deal structure analysis, financial modeling, pre-construction engineering, due diligence, leasing, and construction management. Prior to working at Hunter Properties, Mr. Leigh worked at Turner Construction for 3 years and worked in investment banking for 2 years. He completed his undergraduate courses with a Bachelor of Engineering in 1997 from Vanderbilt University and received his Masters of Business Administration from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2004.
Melissa R. Cullinan
Ms. Cullinan has over 32 years of property management, construction management, and lease negotiation experience. She has managed a wide range of properties from neighborhood shopping centers, street retail, urban specialty retail centers, power centers, life style centers, strip centers, in addition to; class A office, researching & development projects, and industrial projects. Ms. Cullinan has managed property and reporting requirements for CalSTRS, REIT’s such as Federal Realty Investment Trust and UBS Realty Investment Trust, institutional owners such as Aetna Life Insurance Co., McMorgan & Co., Bixby Land Company, Dana Commercial Credit Company, as well as individual owners. She attended Boise State University-Accounting. She has a California Real Estate License and is an active member in ICSC, NAIOP, BOMA and CREW.
Melissa is a Furry Friends volunteer. In her spare time, she enjoys golfing, tennis, pickleball, hiking, traveling and cooking.
Josh Rupert
Prior to joining Hunter/Storm in 2015, Josh was the Director of Real Estate for Seventy Seven Energy and Chesapeake Oilfield Services. In this position he was responsible for all aspects of the real estate cycle, including acquisition and disposition strategies, property management, leasehold improvements, and investments. As a member of Hunter/Storm his roles include design and construction management, financial analysis, tenant improvement coordination, and entitlements. Josh holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD and a Master of Business Administration from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.
Todd Trekell
Todd Trekell joins Hunter Properties, Inc. with nearly 20 years of commercial real estate development experience focused in Silicon Valley. The majority of his experience has been in land acquisitions/dispositions, financial modeling, entitlements, deal structuring, project management, asset management and community engagement. Mr. Trekell is an active member of the Rotary Club of San Jose and sits on the Board of Directors of the Silicon Valley Monterey Bay Council, Boy Scouts of America. He holds a degree in Business Administration from Oregon State University and is a licensed real estate broker in the State of California. A Bay Area native, Todd enjoys fishing, skiing and traveling when life permits.
Hunter Storm, the development arm of Hunter Properties, is a commercial real estate development firm with an emphasis on ground-up construction, repositioning of assets, and value-add improvements. Hunter Properties was founded in 1960 and the current partners, Deke Hunter and Edward Storm, formed Hunter Storm in 1986. The company enjoys a strong track record by focusing its efforts locally with all major projects located in the San Francisco Bay Area. This allows the principals to leverage their market knowledge and expertise evenly across three product disciplines. The portfolio is nearly an equal mix of retail, office (both medical and professional) and self storage. The balance allows the company to develop a diversified range of commercial/industrial buildings, take advantage of market fluctuations, and maximize investor returns.
