Famed poem “Desiderata” hung framed in the entryway of Melisa “Missy” Preus Honolulu home as she grew up. “I must have read it a hundred times as a child, not realizing what it truly meant,” said Preus, a CBRE vice president for advisory and transaction services in Hawaii. Nonetheless, the words seeped in, becoming a guidepost for a 28-year career thus far.

“I realize that my path has been influenced by the Desiderata’s messages of embracing your strengths, staying positive, keeping hope and finding inner peace, regardless of your challenges,” she said. She added that the 98-year-old poem’s overtones of self-compassion and kindness to others and an acknowledgement that “everyone has their own story” also have influenced her.

Preus handles leasing and other locational transactions for landlords and tenants, working with national brands like Spectrum, Verizon, Panda Express and Foot Locker and with local, regional and specialty concepts like Kealopiko, Salvage Public, Land & Sea Golf, Big Island Candies, Leahi Health, Chubbies Burgers and Repetti’s Pizza & Provisions. Additionally, Preus handles office and industrial deals for CBRE clients who have retail components in their portfolios.

From Behind the Counter to Ahead of the Curve

Well before her commercial real estate life, Preus learned the retail ropes. She described her first job, working at McDonald’s in high school, as “a good place to start because you bust your butt and it kind of sets your work standards.” After a Bachelor of Arts in economics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Preus spent seven years as a store manager and regional manager for Finlay Fine Jewelers, which leased and operated space within anchor stores throughout Hawaii — including Honolulu’s Liberty House department store, now a Macy’s — and in inline spaces at properties like Ala Moana Center, where it operated as Jewel Gallery. As regional manager, Preus led nine other managers and 75 employees. “It was an integral experience for me,” she said. “As I negotiated leases, I came to realize the importance of urgency and adaptability and the constraints and challenges that face retailers.”

Preus spent eight years until 2010 at GGP, starting as a leasing manager and working her way up to group vice president of business development. Her focuses in the latter role were Ala Moana Center, considered the largest open-air center in the world at 60 acres; Whalers Village in Lahaina; Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo; and Honolulu’s Ward Centre, a standalone specialty-shop district in the master-planned Ward Village, where she leased and expanded the specialty leasing, sponsorship and alternative-revenue programs. “GGP was a very dynamic company to work with,” Preus recalled. “I was fortunate to learn from some of the best people in retail leasing there.”

Howard Hughes Corp. acquired Ward Village from GGP during that company’s bankruptcy, and from November 2010 to March 2019, Preus worked for Howard Hughes first as a specialty leasing manager and then as a vice president. “It was a memorable run,” she said, highlighted by leasing responsibility for three distinct shopping districts in the 1.3 million-square-foot, 60-acre Ward Village. A 2017 Architectural Digest story named Ward Village the best planned community in the U.S., and Howard Hughes announced in early 2018 that the National Association of Home Builders had recognized the project as Master Planned Community of the Year. Preus worked closely with Howard Hughes’ development teams and learned the value of collaboration, she said.

Her national-tenant deals at Ward Village include Whole Foods Market, CVS and an assortment of standalone projects like Straub Benioff Medical Center Ward Village Clinic & Urgent Care and the restaurants Merriman’s and Istanbul. But it was the development’s South Shore Market where Preus started fine-tuning her specialty leasing expertise. The challenge of leasing up a venue created for local and specialty stores later benefited Preus when she joined CBRE in July 2019, she said.

She remains active with ICSC. She served as Hawaii Retail Chair from 2019 to 2022 and on program planning committees for Hawaii events from 2016 to the present. “One of the best things I like about ICSC is working with professionals from all the shopping center industry sectors, then balancing the concerns and interests of our more experienced members with those of our next-gen associates, two groups that see the industry from different perspectives,” she said. A regular at the annual ICSC LAS VEGAS event, she’ll attend again this month. “I use that time to meet with my counterparts to discuss current and future transactions, grow my business and connect with my CBRE colleagues and others who I’ve worked with in the past who are now based on the mainland,” she said.

Preus recently joined CREW Network, which stands for Commercial Real Estate Women, commenting that “it’s extremely refreshing to find a group of women who lift each other by openly sharing ideas, experiences and knowledge while genuinely wishing for others to succeed.” She was also a member of The CCIM Institute and served as a board member for its Hawaii chapter in 2006 and from 2016 to 2019.

Adjusting to Profound Change

In her nearly three decades in retail, Preus has experienced manifold industry changes. “The most impactful is the use of data to determine optimal locations for clients,” she said. “We now have access to proprietary programs that provide extremely detailed information on customer demographics and psychographics in any market.” Another is artificial intelligence, which streamlines reports and other industry information in seconds for quick dissemination, she said, noting CBRE’s own Ellis AI.

And vacancies spurred by COVID opened space for a raft of local entrepreneurs anxious to test their brick-and-mortar mettle, said Preus. Mana Up Hawaii and the Made in Hawaii Festival, which showcase local products and services, helped incubate numerous tenants, she said. “Specialty concepts have become very popular with the locals and as a result, with tourists, too, who tend to follow local trends as they seek authenticity.” Pop-ups and short-term leases have enabled independent concepts to enter Class A centers and to rightsize their footprints before transitioning to permanent tenancies, she said. That also diversifies revenue streams for landlords.

Though Hawaii retail sales edged up a few percentage points in 2024 to $980 billion, she said, a strong, condensed holiday season, particularly in athleisure and restaurants, created additional momentum going into 2025. As in other states, Hawaii retail margins remain low due to higher costs of labor and goods and to recent hikes in utilities, insurance and tax expenses. “This has required merchants to work much harder and smarter to increase sales and remain profitable,” she said.

Outside work, Preus enjoys yoga, crafting and quality time with friends and family. “I have a brother who’s a pilot, a sister who’s a portfolio manager and financial analyst and another sister specializing in Chinese medicine,” she said, describing their varied paths, “but we’re all very close and share unconditional support for each other.” Her latest joy is spending time with the French bulldog, Bully Girl, she rescued a year ago. “She was a stray and came to me with serious allergies and skin problems, and today she’s happy, healthy and very active,” Preus said.

In addition to those of Desiderata poet Max Ehrmann, Preus has her own words to live by: “If you respond with urgency and lead with honesty, sincerity and respect and are trustworthy, you will do fine.”