Led by Joe Allen Managing Director, Pemberton Commercial
JA
Joe Allen
Managing Director · Pemberton Commercial Advisory Group
More than 20 years of experience and over 1,000 real estate transactions spanning commercial brokerage, investment properties, land advisory, and residential investment real estate. Currently a candidate member for both the CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) and ALC (Accredited Land Consultant) designations.
Joe focuses on helping business owners, investors, and landowners make thoughtful real estate decisions where timing, strategy, and long-term outcomes matter. His work frequently involves owner-user commercial properties, small to mid-sized investment real estate, and land with development potential across the Twin Cities.
Joe believes the most valuable real estate advisory often happens long before a property is listed or a lease is signed. By helping clients evaluate their options early, he provides clarity and strategic perspective so decisions can be made with confidence.
Joe lives in Minnetonka with his wife, Cici, and their two sons. Outside of real estate he enjoys physical fitness, coaching his sons' sports teams, masterminding with close friends and business associates, working on bucket-list experiences, and traveling when time allows.
Inside the Pemberton ecosystem Specialized focus, brokerage-wide strength
Pemberton Commercial operates inside the broader Pemberton organization, the largest independent residential real estate brokerage by transaction volume in the Twin Cities. The commercial team gets the benefits of an established, top-producing brokerage (the brand, the relationships, the back office, the reach) while maintaining the specialized focus required to advise commercial clients.
Unlike corporate franchise models, the Pemberton platform is built around entrepreneurial professionals, strong collaboration, and long-term relationships. The result for clients (and for agents): thoughtful, personalized guidance instead of process-by-the-book transactions.
Who we serve: Business Owners & Commercial Occupiers Real estate is often a business's #2 expense
Decisions around leasing, purchasing, or relocating directly impact cost, flexibility, and long-term value. Pemberton Commercial represents business owners exclusively, aligning real estate strategy with operational and financial goals. From site selection to lease negotiation or owner-user acquisition, we guide the process end-to-end.
Who We Work With
The clients we serve
- Professional firms, medical users, retailers, restaurants
- Service businesses, contractors, nonprofits
- Growing companies that have outgrown their current footprint
Property Types
What we transact
- Office and medical space
- Retail and mixed-use properties
- Industrial / flex and stand-alone buildings
- Owner-user properties
Services
What we deliver
- Buy vs. lease analysis
- Expansion and relocation strategy
- Lease negotiation and restructuring
- Owner-user acquisition and sale-leasebacks
- Site selection and market analysis
Representation
How we represent
Tenant and buyer representation focused on securing favorable terms, plus strategic advisory for owners selling occupied properties.
Who we serve: Development & Redevelopment Land Long-term value, approached strategically
Land can offer significant long-term value when approached strategically. Pemberton Commercial helps landowners evaluate timing, zoning, and market demand to determine the best path forward. We assess location, surrounding development, infrastructure, and municipal factors to identify feasible uses and opportunities, whether holding, developing, repositioning, or selling.
Who We Work With
The clients we serve
- Families and long-term land investors
- Business owners with excess or underutilized land
- Owners evaluating development or redevelopment potential
Property Types
What we transact
- Raw land and infill development sites
- Redevelopment and repositioning opportunities
- Commercial and mixed-use land parcels
- Subdivision sites and outlots
Services
What we deliver
- Highest and best use analysis
- Development feasibility and market demand evaluation
- Zoning and land use assessment
- Subdivision and redevelopment strategy planning
- Developer outreach and buyer identification
- Disposition timing strategy and 1031 exchange considerations
Representation
How we represent
Strategic advisory for landowners (marketing, negotiation), plus site acquisition support for developers and builders pursuing residential, mixed-use, or commercial projects.
Two ways PRE agents participate Open to every Pemberton agent
ReferralNo expertise needed
Refer the deal, earn the split
A residential client mentions an office, warehouse, retail space, or land deal. Hand it to Joe and the Pemberton Commercial team and you earn a referral split on the closed transaction. Stay in your residential lane while still capturing the upside on commercial conversations your clients are already having.
Build Your BookUnder PRE
Build your own commercial book
Want to grow a commercial business of your own? Build it under the Pemberton Commercial Advisory Group umbrella. You get the brand, the data tools, the back-office support, and Joe's mentorship; you build the client relationships and the deal flow.
Resources we provide The commercial stack, covered
Data PlatformProvided
CoStar Group
CoStar is the industry-standard commercial real estate database: comps, ownership records, leasing history, building specs, market analytics. Subscriptions can run thousands per month for an independent agent. Pemberton Commercial agents get access included.
Brokerage SupportProvided
Pemberton infrastructure
Everything you already get on the residential side (broker oversight, compliance, marketing support, transaction coordination) follows you into commercial deals. You're not building a commercial practice alone, you're building it inside a brokerage that's already doing 2,700+ deals a year.
How to get started
The fastest way: have a conversation. Whether you've got a commercial referral to hand off today, or you're thinking about building a commercial book over the next year, Joe and the Pemberton Commercial team will walk you through the splits, the resources, and the steps.
