Tanya Bell
Co-Founder and Partner, Grand Real Estate Advisors
Saint Paul, MN 55102
Phone (651) 797-2919
Property Types
Industrial, Office
Markets
Minneapolis/St Paul
Bio
Tanya Bell is co-founder and partner of Grand Real Estate Advisors. Tanya has been an active member of the commercial real estate community for thirty years. Her career has taken her from a role as a real estate broker, to sales manager, to developer and asset manager. Most recently, Tanya was Vice President of Acquisitions and Development at Wellington Management, Inc. for thirteen years. In all, she led her group in over $175M in new construction and redevelopment and over $115M in acquisitions of real estate assets. Tanya launched Wellington’s residential real estate practice with the award-winning Emerald Gardens, a 212-unit condo development on the border of Minneapolis and St. Paul and The Metro Lofts.
Before that, Tanya started her career at CBRE, a global commercial real estate firm, and became managing director after a significant merger with another real estate firm. As a sales professional she specialized in corporate advisory services and office leasing with notable clients including Delta Environmental Services (now Antea Group), Minnetronix Inc, MN Women’s Foundation, MECC (Minnesota Educational Computer Corp), MN Nurses Association, Aetrium, American Express Advisors and Perkins & Will.
A collaborator by nature, she very much enjoys the process and variety of her work, which she likens to that of a movie producer. A number of Tanya’s projects have received industry recognition: the complete renovation of the Drake Marble Building into award-winning office space for Northwest Area Foundation and Drake Bank to River Bend Business Center, a 170,000 square foot business park located along the picturesque Mississippi River in St. Paul.
Civic and community involvement has always been a priority for Tanya. She has been and is involved with a number of groups and organizations that include:
Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, past board member
Friends of the Saint Paul Library, board chair and board member, Chair of Opus and Olives and MN Book Awards
Landmark Center Property Committee
Midway Chamber of Commerce
Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce past board member and executive committee member – Volunteer of the Year (the year the X opened)
Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce Volunteer of the Year
Ford Site Task Force
Task Force Member for District 12 (St. Paul)
Regular speaker for MN Real Estate Journal
Business Advisory Council - Central Corridor
Creative Enterprise Zone
NAIOP: National Association of Industrial and Office Properties
MnCAR – former board member
Member Capital Campaign Steering Committee for Midway YMCA
40 Under 40 and Top 25 Women in Business
Tanya received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Macalester College. She lives with her husband, Lee Schafer and three daughters in the Mac Groveland neighborhood in Saint Paul.
