Michael J. Poulos Jr.

1950 - 2023

News story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade Staff Writer

Michael J. Poulos, Jr., a commercial real estate broker skilled at clinching deals and keeping tabs on market trends, died Thursday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio, South Detroit Avenue. He was 73.

He had prostate cancer, daughter Hali Forshey said.

Mr. Poulos of Ottawa Hills retired as a principal and senior vice president of Reichle Klein Group and, in 2019, was awarded "Realtor emeritus" status by the National Association of Realtors. He'd received a distinguished service award two years earlier from the Toledo Regional Association of Realtors, of which he was a former president.

After a stint in residential real estate, Mr. Poulos turned to commercial real estate more than 40 years ago, first with Zyndorf/Serchuk and then Reichle Klein.

Through the years, he served as leasing agent for downtown buildings, among them, in 1990, the then-new Summit Center at Summit and Adams streets, and by the late 2010s, as marketing agent for One SeaGate on the downtown riverfront. He'd been an agent for buildings in Arrowhead Park in Maumee and the Westgate area of West Toledo.

He didn't talk about the latest prospect, the latest deal, with family.

"When he came home, it was about the family," Mrs. Forshey said. But looking at buildings became part of car rides with him.

"He knew the ins and outs of Toledo like no other person," she said. "He knew the hot places or the places he might not want to dabble in. He was always aware of his surroundings and everything that was going on."

Son Drew said: "He just wanted to be constantly learning and constantly gain knowledge. That applied as much to his hobbies as his profession." His appreciation for design sparked many of those interests, whether architecture or sports cars.

Tony Plath, a longtime associate, noted in a tribute that his friend early on tried to recruit him to the residential real estate company Mr. Poulos then was with. Mr. Plath in time switched to commercial real estate, and Mr. Poulos approached him about making the change as well.

"This is where I always reminded him [that] I must be the better salesman because he wasn't able to recruit me, but I was able to convince him to join me," wrote Mr. Plath, a senior vice president of Reichle Klein Group. "The truth is, he was the better salesman, and once he made the switch, he went on to be a savvy, streetwise broker who could make deals happen."

He made a point of mentoring younger brokers.

"He was a no-nonsense guy," Mrs. Forshey said. "He was smart and knew exactly what he was doing. He mentored a lot of people. That was his favorite thing to do.

"He felt he was doing his part in the community," she said. "He really wanted to grow the younger generation so they knew what they were doing, so the field was the best it could be."

From the fray, he offered Blade readers an overview of office and commercial real estate through the years. In the sizzling market of the late 1990s, demand was so great for office space in and near Toledo suburbs that businesses were building their own structures to own and occupy. Mr. Poulos shared that for the first time in the decade-plus he was leasing agent for a Westgate-area office building, occupancy was 100 percent.

"The suburban market has never been this hot," he told The Blade in 1999. "We have never seen as much construction as you'll see in 1998 and 1999."

In 2007, the downtown market was in flux, with the decision by Owens-Illinois to leave One SeaGate for Perrysburg. But the overall market was healthy, with a suburban office vacancy rate at 15th lowest in the nation, he reported.

"We're an even and steady marketplace," Mr. Poulos said. "The market tends to tick up a little, then tick down a little. But we don't have incredibly high highs or low lows."

By 2013, as the market rebounded from recession, real estate professionals met the needs of tenants that otherwise might choose another city by looking for properties to reconfigure.

"One of the things we've been discussing is, if we have a big user, what buildings other than office buildings can we retrofit to accommodate a large user? That's the creative, fun part," Mr. Poulos said in 2013.

He was born Jan. 15, 1950, to Betty and Michael Poulos and grew up in the Reynolds Corners neighborhood of what is now South Toledo. From an early age, he helped out at his father's appliance store at Dorr Street and Reynolds Road.

He was a graduate of Rogers High School. He had several jobs, drilling for natural gas among them, before joining his father as a residential real estate agent.

He was formerly married to Elizabeth Raskin Poulos.

Surviving are his life partner, Tina Duran; son, Drew Poulos; daughter, Hali Forshey; sister, Angel Hart, and two grandchildren.

Memorial services will begin at 3 p.m. Sunday in Washington Church, 3925 W. Central Ave. Arrangements are by Newcomer Funeral Home.

The family suggests tributes to Ohio Wildlife Center at ohiowildlifecenter.org.