NICAR Quarterly Luncheon: Preserving the 1031 Exchange and Broker Lien Rights

Presenters:

Senior Vice President of Government Relations
The Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc.

Daniel Wagner is senior vice president of government relations for The Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc.  In this capacity, Mr. Wagner serves on numerous real estate industry, and governmental boards and committees.  He is the Chair of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, and he serves as Vice-Chair of the Greater Oak Brook Chamber of Commerce Board, for which he also served as Chair for over 6 years.  He is a board member for the Civic Federation of Chicago and is active in the United States Chamber of Commerce, and Illinois Manufacturers Association.  He serves on the Chicago Farmer Association Board and is a member of the Illinois and DuPage Farm Bureau.  He was a member of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and International Council of Shopping Centers and where he was a significant advocate for the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013 which the Supreme Court ruled into law in 2018.

Mr. Wagner’s prior board work includes having served as President of the Chicago Association of REALTORS and as Commercial Liaison for the National Association of REALTORS in 2016.  In 2017, he was named REALTOR of the Year by the Chicago Association of REALTORS and received the 2017 Commercial Award from the National Association of REALTORS.  In 2019, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame for the Illinois REALTORS as well as the National Association of REALTORS.  He served as a board member for the Institute for Portfolio Alternatives (IPA) and in 2018 received the IPA Outstanding Service Award for his role as Co-Chair of the Policy and Government Affairs Committee.  He was part of the Real Estate Roundtable’s 1031 Like-Kind Exchange Coalition, whose ultimate outcome was the preservation of the 1031 Like-Kind Exchange in Federal Tax Law.  He also served as Treasurer and President Elect of the Illinois REALTORS and is a member of the REALTORS Land Institute.  From 2014 to 2023, he served as a commissioner on the DuPage Airport Authority and was Secretary from 2022 to 2023.

Mr. Wagner is also involved on numerous civic and philanthropic boards.  Currently, he serves as the Co-Chair of the newly established DuPage County Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Advisory Committee, a trustee for The Conservation Foundation, Vice President of Development for the Three Fires Council Boy Scouts of America and is a board member for the DuPage County Historical Museum Foundation.  In 2014, he received the Advocacy Award from the Illinois Park and Recreation Association for his work on behalf of special needs children in his community.  He is a longtime volunteer for the Hinsdale Wellness House which helps people with cancer.  In 2015, the Illinois State University Political Science Department honored him with their alumni award.  In 2018, he received the Illinois State University’s College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame Award and the Illinois State University Division of Student Affairs Steve and Sandi Adams Legacy Hall of Fame Award.  In February of 2020, Illinois State University honored him with the Alumni Achievement Award.  He was nominated and selected to be in the 2019 Class for the Governor Jim Edgar Fellowship Program.  Rainbow Push Coalition honored him with their Business Leadership Award for 2023 for his work with the Dr. King Advisory Committee.   In 2024, The Three Fires Council Boy Scouts of America presented him with their highest honor The Silver Beaver Award for his distinguished service to youth and the community.  He and his MLK Co-Chair received the 2024 West Suburban Philanthropic Network Humanitarian of the Year Award.  Wagner also received the 2024 Greater Oak Brook Chamber of Commerce Dennis Hiffman Inspiring Leader Award for his role as MLK Co-Chair.

Mr. Wagner obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degree from Illinois State University.  He is a licensed real estate broker since 2004 and holds Series 7 and 63 security licenses.  He is married and has four children, three of whom are triplets.

James A. Hochman heads our Real Estate Brokerage Law practice group and also practices in our Real Estate practice group.

Jim represents many commercial real estate brokerage firms, landlords, tenants, and commercial real estate investors, assisting in all phases of commercial and residential real estate. He is also a licensed real estate managing broker.

Before joining Schain Banks, Jim was a Partner at two other law firms from 2005 to 2016. Prior to that, he operated a private law practice in Wheaton, Illinois concentrating in real estate and real estate related litigation. Additionally, before his return to private practice, Jim served as Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel to CBRE (formerly known as CB Richard Ellis and Coldwell Banker Commercial) for 22 years, where he represented CBRE in all aspects of its real estate services lines of business in 20 states in the Central United States. He has also served as general counsel to a real estate development firm specializing in condominium conversions, and, preceding that assignment, as branch counsel for a national title insurer.

Jim has handled hundreds perhaps thousands of commercial and residential transactions, many of which were the purchase or sale of condominium units. He represented a condominium developer in the late 1970’s handling “mass closings,” meaning the simultaneous sale of hundreds of units. Jim recently represented 15 sellers of office condo units to a developer, while also negotiating the unit sellers’ lease back of their offices from the multi-unit investor, all as a prelude to the deconversion of that building.

Beyond Jim’s transactional and real estate litigation experience, he also actively supports license portability legislation for commercial real estate brokers, and he is the architect and drafter of statutes in several states on this issue.

Further, he sponsored (and co-authored) the Illinois Commercial Real Estate Broker Lien Act.  Several other states have adopted similar statutes through his drafting and lobbying efforts including Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Texas.  Jim’s detailed and extensive experience in broker lien statutes and litigation has enabled Jim to successfully represent many commercial real estate brokers in collection of their commissions, not only in Illinois, but in other states as well.

Jim serves as a faculty member for the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) teaching a course in commercial real estate leases and lease negotiation. Jim taught at John Marshall Law School (now known as University of Illinois Chicago School of Law) in the LLM for Real Estate Law Program in Real Estate Documents and Negotiation. After 22 years of service, Jim retired as a Commander in the United States Naval Reserve with his final assignments as special assistant counsel to the U.S. Commander in Chief, Pacific Forces. He serves as President of the Blue Spring Lake Management District, a 212 home government entity in Jefferson County, Palmyra, Wisconsin, since 2010.