Jonathan Zimmerman
President/Founderjzimmerman@willardjones.com
312-263-8787
About
Who was Willard Jones?
The year was 1833. Still nearly four years away from officially being chartered as a city, Chicago consisted of a sparsely populated rural territory with approximately 350 inhabitants. Fresh off …
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Jonathan Zimmerman
President/Founder
jzimmerman@willardjones.com
312-263-8787
After graduating from Loyola University Chicago summa cum laude in 1995 with a degree in business economics, Jonathan Zimmerman went to work at a large financial brokerage firm as a marketing coordinator for their retirement planning division. After a nine month stint, he realized that he desired a job which required more creativity and mental stimulation. Therefore, on a whim, he decided to enter the wild world of downtown Chicago commercial real estate as a "1 year experiment." Little did he know that would be the start of lengthy and fulfilling career.
Jonathan joined the downtown office of Norwood O'Hare Realty Group as an Associate Director in 1996. While there, he assisted with the leasing of such high profile Loop office towers as 150 North Wacker, 11 South LaSalle, 30 North Michigan, 100 West Monroe, 200 South Michigan and 5 North Wabash. Additionally, he participated in the negotiation of nearly 100,000 square feet of tenant representation leases over a 3 year period.
In 1999, Jonathan was hired by Rubloff to lead its newly formed commercial real estate practice. Over a 13 year period which concluded in 2011, Jonathan coordinated the leasing and marketing programs for over 3 million square feet of office and retail space in downtown Chicago. Among the buildings represented by Rubloff at this time included 100 West Monroe. 29 South LaSalle, 39 South LaSalle, 205 West Randolph, 309 West Washington, 166 West Washington, 180 West Washington, 123 West Madison, 203 North Wabash, 17 North Wabash, 30 North Michigan, 55 East Washington, 555 West Jackson, 400 East Randolph, 160 East Grand, 324 North Michigan, 223 West Erie, 345 North LaSalle, 819 South Wabash, 850 South Wabash, 1300 South Wabash and 1556 South Michigan. In addition to his landlord representation work, Jonathan also assisted hundreds of businesses on a representation or consulting basis.
In 2012, Jonathan founded Willard Jones Real Estate as an agency to fill the niche of representing smaller sized landlords and tenants in downtown Chicago. To date, Willard Jones is the exclusive marketing agent for over 800,000 square feet of office space in downtown Chicago.
Jonathan is a life long Chicagoan who resides in the city with his wife and daughter.
Amanda Friedlander
Broker/Creative Directorafriedlander@willardjones.com
224-241-9821
Amanda Friedlander
Broker/Creative Director
afriedlander@willardjones.com
224-241-9821
Amanda Friedlander graduated magna cum laude from Loyola University Chicago in 2018 with a degree in Advertising Creative, among the first class of graduates at Loyola to complete such a program. She is a JD candidate with an interest in real estate law. She comes to Willard Jones with extensive experience in SEO, lead generation, creative marketing, event planning, and public relations. Amanda also produces and narrates the Willard Jones podcast.
Jillian Schwartz
Creative Assistant
Jillian Schwartz
Creative Assistant
Jillian graduated cum laude from Loyola University Chicago, with a degree in Communication Studies. She worked for Willard Jones Real Estate and led the marketing efforts for over 3 years before moving to the Bay Area. After a few years in the financial industry, Jillian switched to freelance marketing and reconnected with Jonathan. She has extensive experience with email and lifecycle marketing, creative content generation, and social media.
Willard Jones
The year was 1833. Still nearly four years away from officially being chartered as a city, Chicago consisted of a sparsely populated rural territory with approximately 350 inhabitants. Fresh off of a stint as a carpenter involved in the construction of the Erie Canal, one of the region’s early settlers, Willard Jones, migrated from New York and decided to set down roots.
For a mere $200, he purchased several plots of land in the area that today comprises the Central Loop business district of downtown Chicago. Jones constructed a farm and successfully operated it on this terrain for a number of years.
As the population started to grow and early industry emerged, real estate began to gain in value as early developers looked for ways to utilize land in ways more profitable than agricultural use. In response to this phenomena, Jones began selling off parcels of his land in 1844 in the surrounding vicinity of what today encompasses Clark Street on the east, LaSalle Street on the west, Monroe Street on the south and Washington Street on the north.
Jones continued to operate a smaller version of his farm in the vicinity of the present day intersection of Clark and Monroe. Amidst the new developments, he needed to maintain a dedicated path for his cows to access a nearby pasture. Therefore, when he sold off these plots of land, he included an easement for cow access in the sales deed. No construction was permitted that would obstruct this “cow path” in any way.
As downtown Chicago began to develop over the upcoming decades, the easement was held legally binding by the Illinois Supreme Court in 1925. When the 22-story office tower known as 100 West Monroe was built on this land site in 1927, the building had to be built around and over the path. A plaque was placed on the building which reads as follows: “Historic Cow Path: This areaway 10 x 177 x 18 feet is reserved forever as a cow path by the terms of the deed of Willard Jones in 1844 when he sold portions of the surrounding property. Erected by Chicago’s Charter Jubilee and Authenticated by the Chicago Historical Society, 1937.”
This unique bit of Chicago history still exists today.
We proudly pay tribute to Willard Jones with the formation of Willard Jones Real Estate to help bring recognition to his role as one of the pioneers and founding fathers of downtown Chicago commercial real estate.