JOHN A. FRANSEN
is the president of The Fransen Company, a California real estate consulting firm founded in 1984.
Mr. Fransen works with cities, private land owners,
developers, and users of property, as well as pension funds and lenders on new projects,
redevelopments, and re-positioning of existing properties. The wide range of his experience is
typified by recent and current projects:
Bloomingdale’s and a mixed-use strategic plan for a developer, and a mixed-use strategic plan where Big Lots is the anchor
store in greater Phoenix. Project
sizes have ranged from 12,000sf to more than a 2,000,000sf and single
development projects to entire portfolios of projects.
The firm evaluates project potential,
provides strategic plans, and in many cases also assists in the
implementation of the plan.
Mr. Fransen previously served in management for the
1984 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (1982-1984).
Mr. Fransen also served as a vice president for Ernest W.
Hahn, Inc., (1975-1982) where he reported directly to the CEO and chairman,
Ernest Hahn. At Hahn, Mr. Fransen
was a corporate officer and headed all company marketing and market research. His responsibilities included
department store and community presentations of Hahn company projects. He is a
graduate of the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Arts
degree.
Mr. Fransen has been an active member of The International
Council of Shopping Centers for more than three decades and the Urban Land
Institute (ULI). He served on ULI panels for the University of Southern California downtown Los
Angeles campus property, and downtown Westchester (see link to ULI panel).
RONALD ARSLAN
Mr. Arslan, served as a Partner in The Fransen Company, from 1990 through 2008. Currently he works with the firm on a project basis. He brings a broad knowledge of retailing to The Fransen Company based upon his previous 17 years of experience with the May Department Stores⎯a leading department store operator. During his tenure at May Company, his most recent position was Director of Corporate Development at the corporate office in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was a major participant in retail acquisitions including May’s 1986 acquisition of Associated Dry Goods ($2.5 billion), Foley’s/Filene’s ($1.5 billion), Miller & Rhoads (Norfolk, VA) and numerous other acquisition and divestiture deals. Previously, Mr. Arslan held a variety of other executive positions at the Los Angeles-based May Company division, including: Director of Corporate Strategy with responsibilities for the coordination and administration of the Long Range/Strategic Plan process for all divisions and for the overall corporation; Vice President of Marketing with responsibilities for development of advertising plans and strategies to profitably grow an $800 million, 35-store division; and Vice President of Planning and Research of May Company with direct responsibility for all aspects of sales planning, long-range planning, site research and consumer research.
Mr. Arslan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley. Mr. Arslan is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers.