Our People

Adam Firsel

Managing Principal

Adam Firsel is the founder and managing principal of Core Acquisitions. Adam started Core with the intention of creating a full service and fully integrated commercial real estate organization. With Adam’s storied career including investment banking, development, property management, and acquisitions, he brings a wide range of roles and diversity of experience to Core business and culture.

Adam graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Bachelors of Business Administration majoring in real estate and urban land economics. After college, Adam was a real estate investment banker with GMAC Commercial Mortgage in Denver, Colorado. In 2003, Adam moved back to his hometown of Chicago to become the Director of Finance & Development for Mid-America Development Partners. Adam then joined Crossroads Development Partners as a Principal and subsequently became the Director of Acquisitions for Next Realty. In 2011, Firsel formed Core Equities, LLC which focused on property management, leasing, receiverships, acquisitions, and development. In 2014, Adam renamed the company to Core Acquisitions, LLC when he partnered with Core’s other Principal, Bradley Joseph, to
focus primarily on value-add acquisitions, property management, and development projects.

Through a career that has allowed Adam to succeed in many roles, he has focused expertise in development & construction management, project analysis, and asset management among other skill sets. Adam has been involved with the complete life cycle of many complicated and successful projects in all property types including retail, office, hotel, mixed-use, apartments, and industrial. The transaction types have been note purchases, auctions, joint ventures, public-private partnerships, and traditional arms-length transactions.
All said, Adam has been the managing principal on over 25 projects in the last 6 years, and in his career has been involved on the principal side in over one hundred projects totaling over two billion dollars of project cost and millions of square feet of real estate.

Brad Joseph

Principal

Brad Joseph is a principal of Core Acquisitions after joining the company in 2013. With his help, the company has acquired and developed over $150MM of commercial real estate properties with several new projects in the pipeline. Brad is involved in all aspects of Core. He oversees the company’s asset management department which handles all leasing, capital improvements, budgeting and dispositions while also leading the acquisitions team who execute deal procurement, underwriting, investor management and due diligence. Core is grounded in its strong foundation of acquiring, developing, owning and managing real estate.

Brad began his real estate career long even before he graduated high school. Prior to his time at Core, Brad worked for several key commercial real estate companies like Sterling Bay, Next Realty and Crossroads Development on their acquisitions and development teams. Past responsibilities include acquisitions, due diligence, asset management, analysis, lease administration and project management. In 2013, Core brought the opportunity for Brad to principal a company with longtime colleague and friend Adam Firsel.

Brad graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Brad is an Illinois Licensed Real Estate Broker and an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Jonathan Spitz

Principal | Executive Vice President of Property Management

Jonathan joined Core Acquisitions in 2017 as Director of Property Management. He has managed over $1 billion in commercial properties during his career. Jonathan has significant experience and a track record of creating and maintaining value for his clients and owners at some of the largest real estate companies. Previous to Core, he was a Senior Property Manager at Inland Commercial Real Estate and Pine Tree Commercial Realty where he managed all property types nationwide. Jonathan received his bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Iowa. His studies included accounting, finance and entrepreneurial management.

Adam Bell

Partner

Adam Bell is Vice President of Development at Core Acquisitions after joining the company in 2018. The company has acquired and developed over $150M of commercial real estate property with several new projects in the pipeline. Adam’s focus at Core Acquisitions is the development of new properties. He focuses on new site acquisitions, tenant procurement, deal execution, underwriting, and due diligence. Core is grounded in its strong foundation of acquiring, developing, owning, and managing real estate.

Prior to his time at Core, Adam has worked for several key real estate companies including Imperial Realty and Equity Office Properties. Past responsibilities include commercial leasing, retail development, financial modeling through Argus, asset disposition underwriting, and lease administration. Adam began his real estate career before graduating college by working in leasing and residential appraisal while focusing on a real estate focused curriculum.

Adam graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Adam is a licensed Illinois Real Estate Broker and an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Gabrielle Bartkeviciute

Director of Accounting

Steven VanHandel

Vice President of Acquisitions

Steve joined Core Acquisitions in May 2018 as an Acquisitions Associate. Stephen’s responsibilities include the evaluation, underwriting and due diligence of acquisitions as well as the asset management responsibilities of Core’s portfolio of assets.

Prior to joining Core, Stephen worked at Altus Group as a Consultant in the Research, Valuation, and Advisory group focusing on valuation and financial due diligence of core investment real estate including retail, office, multifamily, industrial, and hospitality assets. At Altus Group he valued over $10 billion of real estate throughout the US for various investment firms. He also worked on the Performance Analytics committee, an internal group developed in collaboration with NCREIF that compiles and analyzes data from institutional client portfolios for purposes of performance benchmarking, property level return attribution, and appreciation return analysis.

Stephen graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison with a B.B.A. in Finance, Real Estate, and Accounting. He is originally from De Pere, WI and has lived in Chicago since graduating from the University of Wisconsin.

Carey Connolly

Senior Vice President of Construction and Development Operations

Tim Flanagan

Director of Development and Construction

Tim Flanagan has over 25 years as a development director and leasing specialist for companies including Mid-America Development Properties, LLC and Mars Equities, Inc. and has experience in commercial real estate property types including retail, office, industrial and residential throughout the Midwest. Through 2015, Tim was a partner at Mid-America, a commercial real estate development company headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. With Tim’s leadership, Mid-America completed an impressive series of developments primarily involving retail, restaurant, and mixed-use properties. His primary responsibilities included oversight of land acquisition, government approvals and entitlements, construction management and lease negotiations. Over 15 years, Tim completed the construction and leasing of over 55 properties totaling more than 6 million square feet of commercial space.

Prior to joining Mid-America, Tim partnered with his brother Brian to form Mars Equities, Inc. Mars Equities focused on the development of business parks and acquiring environmentally distressed properties nationwide. The business park developments were Class A, ground-up construction that consisted of office and industrial flex space buildings. Its sister company, Mars Environmental Solutions, provided the platform to acquire environmentally distressed real estate and return the buildings to the market once the environmental remediation was completed. Mars Equites built and acquired 25 buildings over 10 years and most remain in their real estate portfolio today.

In addition to his work with Core Acquisitions, Tim is President of KC Realty, Inc., an Illinois real estate brokerage company and is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers. He has consulted with many of the Chicago area suburbs to help attract retailers to their communities and also has experience managing public improvement construction projects on behalf of those communities.

Tim attended Purdue University on a baseball scholarship and lives in Frankfort, Illinois with his wife Diane and has two children. Their daughter Kelly works for a prominent law firm, while their son Conor is graduating college with a degree in cybersecurity.

Ryan Knutson

Senior Acquisitions Associate

Ryan joined Core Acquisitions in 2025 as a Senior Acquisitions Associate. Ryan’s responsibilities include property evaluation, underwriting, asset management and due diligence of acquisitions and dispositions.

Prior to joining Core, Ryan worked at CBRE as a Senior Financial Analyst on their Midwest retail investment sales team focusing on underwriting, valuation, and marketing of Midwest shopping centers. At CBRE he valued over $4B of retail real estate throughout the Midwest. He is also an active member of the Wisconsin Real Estate Alumni Association and ICSC as a member of the board for ICSC’s Next Gen committee in Chicago.

Ryan graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison with a B.B.A in Real Estate and Urban Land Economics. He is originally from Evansville, WI and has lived in Chicago since graduating from the University of Wisconsin.

Chris Overby

Accounting Manager

Sarah Linn

Assistant Property Manager

Ben Barad

Development Associate

Ben joined Core Acquisitions in 2024 as a Development Associate. His role involves preparing marketing materials, lender/investor offerings, zoning approvals, construction administration, and working closely with architects, engineers, and contractors to ensure projects are completed effectively and efficiently.

Ben graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and a minor in Business. Originally from Armonk, NY, he has been living in Chicago since graduating from the University of Illinois.

Christian Holzl

Executive Assistant