Paul G. W. Fetscher CCIM, CRX CLS is President of Great American Brokerage, a New York based firm specializing in Restaurants and Retail.
His restaurant experience dates back to 1963, and as a principal since 1968. He started in commercial real estate in 1969 and was the top retail producer nationwide for Cushman and Wakefield Real Estate during the 1970s. For two and a half years, Mr. Fetscher lead Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT's Commercial Division with 15 offices covering New York City and Long Island.
Since founding Great American in 1980, he has been responsible for more restaurants throughout the Greater New York metropolitan area, than any other broker.
Great American Brokerage Inc. consults in retail concept, design and development and has performed that function in lifestyle centers, downtown redevelopment, urban renewal, regional malls, specialty and entertainment centers, factory outlet centers and airports. The firm will work on developing ideal tenant mixes. In many cases, Great American has also been retained to find the specific operators to fulfill the dream.
Paul Fetscher holds the designations of CCIM (a Certified Commercial Investment Manager) as designated by the National Association of Realtors; CRX (Commercial Realty Executive) and CLS (Certified Leasing Specialist) as designated by the International Council of Shopping Centers. He has also served on test writing committees for ICSC.
He has been a guest columnist for Nation's Restaurant News, Dealmakers, Retail Vacancy Reporter, Entertainment & Specialty Projects Magazine, and others.
Mr. Fetscher has been a featured speaker at MUFSO (the Multiple Unit Food Service Organization); The International Council of Shopping Centers, both National and Regional conventions; and Toastmasters International where he has been a Local, District and Divisional Speech Contest winner. He was Keynote speaker at the opening of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. Mr. Fetscher was also elected to Chair the WRG International Conference on Airport Retailing 2000 and again in 2002.
Mr. Fetscher's real estate experience has reached far beyond the Greater New York Metropolitan Area His involvement in projects or transactions encompasses a wide diverse geographical range from Maine to Florida; New York to California; and includes Hawaii, Alaska, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Thailand. Most recently he was selected as restaurant consultant for Dubai Festival City, United Arab Emirates, a multi use project that will include the world’s largest collection of restaurants.
In his spare time Mr. Fetscher is an accomplished long distance runner. He is past National Champion at 50 kilometers (31.1 miles), has won 6 marathons or longer with a personal marathon best of 2:21:49. He was the first American to run a marathon in Russia, placed 11th in the World Cup and has run a total of over 300 marathons including Rome, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Miami, Philadelphia, Dallas, Marathon, Minneapolis, Montreal, San Diego, Nashville, San Francisco, New York, Boston, and Washington, DC. Paul has run in over 2,000 races.
Mr. Fetscher attended The Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina with a major in Civil Engineering, and minors in Mathematics, Business and Psychology. He is also a member of MENSA.