Green Bay school board awards real‑estate broker contract to NAI Pfefferly after three interviews

The Green Bay Area Public School District Board of Education unanimously voted Monday to award a contract to NAI Pfefferly to assist with the negotiation and sale of district properties advertised under request for proposal Q2425-11.

Board members made the decision after hearing 45‑minute presentations and answering questions from three finalist firms: Bartolacci Real Estate (Ben Bartolacci and Rebecca Larson), NAI Pfefferly (Greg Landwer, Tom Fisk, Adam Myers and James Wheeler) and RE Commercial (Todd De Villers and Mark Veris). The interviews, plus a scoring workbook tied to the RFP criteria, formed the basis of the board’s recommendation and final vote.

The board’s vote followed more than five hours of interviews and discussion across two special‑meeting sessions. NAI Pfefferly’s presentation emphasized the firm’s experience with school dispositions, regional commercial networks and a multi‑broker team approach. “We went to market at $500,000, and it ended up selling for $500,001,” said Greg Landwer, senior broker with NAI Pfefferly, describing the firm’s recent work on school property dispositions in Neenah to illustrate both market unpredictability and the need for broad outreach. Tom Fisk, managing broker and partner, stressed the firm’s commercial focus: “We do not do any residential real estate unless it’s apartments,” a distinction the board cited when weighing firms’ fit for marketing mixed‑use and multifamily conversions.

Discussion during the interviews focused on marketing strategy, likely buyer pools, timing and pre‑marketing planning. Ben Bartolacci, owner of Bartolacci Real Estate, described his firm’s approach to showability and conceptual planning for investors and noted district costs the board should expect: “The fees that you should expect on the sale would be the commission and then I think we have in our RFP that it’s a $495 administrative fee at closing,” he said. Bartolacci also told the board that timelines can vary widely depending on zoning and buyer interest, saying sales cycles could extend “up to a year and a half” in some cases.

Board members pressed all firms on experience selling school properties and on how conceptual plans, demolition estimates or survey work would be handled. Representatives from RE Commercial and NAI Pfefferly recommended high‑level conceptual plans and civil/architect input to give potential buyers credible pro formas; both firms said the district would most commonly bear those pre‑marketing costs if the board wanted detailed block plans prior to listing. RE Commercial’s representatives framed the work as a stepped “highest‑and‑best‑use” assessment that could lead to residential, senior housing, multifamily or land‑sale outcomes depending on individual site constraints.

Before the final vote the board reviewed numeric scores from the interview workbook; staff said references checked for each finalist were positive and no red flags were identified. The formal motion to award the contract to NAI Pfefferly passed with all board members voting in favor. Staff indicated they would notify the firms and follow up with next steps the following morning.

The district’s RFP (Q2425‑11) covers broker services for multiple properties, and the selected firm will be expected to coordinate marketing on LoopNet and other commercial platforms, leverage regional broker networks and advise the district on site‑specific valuation and redevelopment potential. The board’s action does not itself approve any sale; individual dispositions and any negotiated sale prices or restrictions will return to the board for approval under the district’s established processes.