Jim Lighthizer

Daily Record Staff//December 29, 2023//

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Principal, Managing Partner
Chesapeake Real Estate Group

Jim Lighthizer started Chesapeake Real Estate Group LLC (CREG) in 2004 after spending 16 years at CB Richard Ellis, a real estate investment firm based in Boston, where he was a senior vice president and partner.

Since he started CREG, the Hanover-based company has purchased numerous properties as part of its initiative to both own and broker commercial real estate. CREG has acquired, developed and/or held ownership in more than 20 industrial, office and retail projects worth a total of more than $300 million.

Lighthizer has negotiated some of the region’s largest industrial transactions, including representing General Motors in the sale of its Baltimore Van Assembly Plant, which consisted of 182 acres and 2 million square feet of industrial space, to Duke Realty for $33 million.

He also negotiated the purchase of a 240-acre, 500,000-square-foot planned business park known as Baltimore Crossroads @95, which is currently in its final stages of development.

Among his many affiliations, Lighthizer has been chairman of the NAIOP (Commercial Real Estate Development Association) Market Overview Panel. He also founded and for two years ran the Baltimore JDRF real estate games, a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career?

There’s no substitute for hard work.

What’s been your biggest success?

My relationships.

This profile is part of The Daily Record's Power 100 List for 2023-2024. Information used in this profile was sourced from the honoree. See the full list at origintdrdev.wpengine.com.