MC Networking Breakfast

This month’s speaker is former Gilmour Trustee and Honorary Life Trustee David Wagner, father of Mike ’06, Nick ’07 and Claire ’11. David’s career began when, during high school, he and his brothers founded Wagner Painting Works, a painting restoration company. The group painted and restored homes and commercial buildings through college. After graduating from St. Vincent College, he transferred ownership to the younger Wagner brothers and went to work for Sherwin-Williams.

After a few years there, David entered the real estate business with the Ostendorf Morris Colliers Company. After several years in business. David founded a new real estate company, the Chartwell Group, with partners Bill Nice and Mac Biggar. Chartwell grew into a firm of 26 agents in four states, handling thousands of complex transactions. The principals of the firm were directly involved with the original land acquisition for the Gateway project where Progressive Field and Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse are today. Other significant development projects included consulting acquisition development for Kinross Lakes, Shaker Town Center, world headquarters for Ferro Corp., Goodrich, Transdigm, Johnsonite/Tarkett, Interstate McBee and more.

The principals also were the acquisition team that assembled the 100 acres in Bratenahl for what Shoreby Club is now, Hanna’s & Haskell’s luxury residential developments, and numerous other developments. The team helped acquire, develop and add into conservancies more than 3,000 acres of land over the past 30 years. These properties spanned from Sandusky Bay to Richfield, and included some of the land that is now part of the National Park and the Canalway Partners Towpath trail leading from Zoar, Ohio to the shores of Lake Erie.

In 2014, David and his partners sold their Chartwell Group into a joint venture with the Howard Hanna Company and created a new commercial real estate company known as Hanna Commercial. That company is now the second largest commercial real estate company in Northeast Ohio. Wagner continues to be active in the real estate community, creating long-term, unique, creative and sensitive real estate solutions for his private clients. 

David will speak about creative development projects in Northeast Ohio that are equitable, sustainable and functional and that will stand the test of time.