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Founded by Mike Hammond in 1985, PICOR Commercial Real  Estate is one of Tucson's leading independently owned, full-service commercial real estate companies. PICOR offers brokerage, consulting, financing, asset and property management for industrial, office, medical, retail, land and investment properties.
Mike is President and Managing Shareholder for PICOR, and he believes a factor of the company’s success has been the ability to retain quality employees. Those employees have helped shape and give credibility to PICOR’s mission of “building value through service.”
“The key to our success as a company is if we keep our good people then the company does very well,” said Mike. “The experience level of our people is very high.”
PICOR currently manages more than three million square feet of industrial real estate space, and employs 16 licensed brokers and seven property managers.
Mike grew up in San Diego, but later moved to Tucson and started working in commercial real estate in 1978.
“I came to Tucson for the lifestyle – I enjoy the outdoors and I don’t enjoy traffic. It’s a great place to raise a family.”
Many people cite Tucson’s lifestyle as a reason for living here, but Mike also noted another, not-so-common advantage of the Tucson area.
“One of Tucson’s competitive advantages is that it is very accepting of diversity. That’s one thing I really appreciate about this community” he said.
Since founding PICOR in 1985 Mike has always taught his employees to “give service better than expected, and faster than anticipated.” He says PICOR is constantly trying to stay ahead of the competition, and he is famous for saying, “I hear footsteps.”
Mike notes that the successes of PICOR are the collective results of the hard work of a lot of different people. That’s why it makes sense that PICOR is a shareholder/employee-owned company. When you have a stake in the company, you seem to take more pride in working here, he said.
Maintaining the company’s reputation is one of Mike’s top priorities, but he also finds value in giving back to the community.
Ten years ago he founded the PICOR Charitable Foundation. Each fall PICOR employees host a pancake breakfast to raise funds for disadvantaged youths in the Tucson community. In October 2006 the Foundation raised more than $40,000 during its 12th annual pancake breakfast.
Mike says the future of PICOR will involve more regionalization and globalization, with a particular emphasis on expanding the market in Southern Arizona. In fact, PICOR signs can be found in Sonora, Mexico. “If we market Southern Arizona and Mexico as a region we can all benefit,” said Mike.
PICOR’s market will likely grow proportionately with the booming Southern Arizona population.
“The best way to look at Tucson is that we’re in a place where people want to live. The only way to stop growth in Tucson is to ban air conditioning,” Mike joked.
“We are in the right place at the right time, and it’s exciting to be a part of it.”
To learn more about PICOR visit www.picor.com.
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