Bo Okoroji has always been a mall man. He’s walked more than 70% of the U.S.’s superregional malls, and he revels in that mall staple: the pretzel. And at a time when some have questioned the future of the mall, Okoroji is more bullish than ever.

The 36-year-old Dallas native and alum of Simon and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is the founder of Steerpoint Capital, a retail real estate advisory and investment firm that specializes in opportunistic and value-add properties. Steerpoint leverages capital commitments from partners ranging from family offices to domestic and international investment funds to execute adaptive reuse conversions and retail-repositioning opportunities in high-demand markets within Southern California and Sunbelt states. The Los Angeles-based firm has trained much of its work on enclosed malls and now has six under management. Steerpoint, Okoroji said, is as much an adviser as it is an investor. The firm provides services to high-net-worth individuals and institutions looking to stake an interest in shopping malls, which Okoroji called pillars of every U.S. community.

He has negotiated, structured and underwritten some $11 billion in commercial real estate transactions. But his love for malls looms larger. Okoroji worked his first job at the Abercrombie & Fitch at Galleria Dallas. After watching the 1987 Michael Douglas film Wall Street, he took a detour into investment banking. But while working for Asset & Resource Management Holding Co. in Nigeria, he realized that real estate, not investment banking, is his passion.

After moving back to the U.S., he enrolled in a Master of Business Administration program at Drexel University and soon joined Simon as a summer associate. After graduating, he became a full-time executive-in-training. The program gave Okoroji, named to the ICSC 4 Under 40 at ICSC NEW YORK in December, “an early, holistic view of the business,” he recalled. It allowed him to rub shoulders with David Simon and other industry leaders and learn firsthand about underwriting, partnership and asset management practices and about mixed-used strategies. “Without Simon, I wouldn’t have had the ability to learn so much so quickly,” said Okoroji. “I got to see the business as a whole and sit in rooms with the likes of J.P.Morgan.” Okoroji often was tasked with chauffeuring Simon executives among mall properties. He would listen to their conversations and calls, learning “by osmosis,” he said.

In 2019, URW recruited him to be vice president and head of U.S. investment and divestment. There, he played a key role in liquidating its multibillion-dollar U.S. real estate portfolio, he said. Okoroji organized “roadshows” in which he’d pitch the U.S. properties to mall buyers. That skill helped prepare him for the mall-buying niche he would pursue when he founded Steerpoint in January 2022.

With backing from Bridge Group Investments — the original owner of Shoe Palace — Steerpoint and Okoroji got to work on a forward-thinking strategy: buying outdoor malls early in the pandemic when others were avoiding them, rightsizing the retail footprints and repurposing the tenant mix for hospitality, multifamily and other uses. The strategy is working. In just over a year, Steerpoint closed California acquisitions for The Shops at Montebello, Antelope Valley Mall in Palmdale, Northridge Mall in Salinas and North County in Escondido. The company is exploring opportunities in Texas, New York and the Mid-Atlantic.

In December, it announced the acquisition of the Galleria at Sunset in Greater Las Vegas, a region that has played an outsize role in Okoroji’s career. Okoroji began attending ICSC’s annual Las Vegas event in 2014. He credited these events with helping him build relationships and expand his network. Today, Okoroji is a member of the 2022-24 ICSC Next Generation Leadership Network for rising leaders in the Marketplaces Industry. He also serves on the advisory board for finance company Walker & Dunlop’s CREUnited diversity initiative. “I’m a big believer in inclusion and have always wanted to work on ways to diversify minority real estate leadership and ownership for the next generation,” he said. “That will lead to bringing in more diverse talent.”

Centennial president Whitney Livingston, who nominated Okoroji for the ICSC 4 Under 40, said: “Bo is forward thinking, innovative and tenacious and is exactly the type of talent the Marketplaces Industry needs to thrive in the future. He exemplifies the type of leadership, creativity and vision ICSC is looking for in its volunteers and is a role model for others who may not always see themselves adequately represented in top leadership roles.”

Among his professional inspirations, Okoroji counts Livingston; David Contis, former president of mall operations for Simon; Shoe Palace CEO George Mersho; and URW CFO Jaap Tonckens. Simons taught him to be a utility player, Mersho taught him how to be an entrepreneur and Tonckens “allowed me to help build an investment team and allowed me to learn a part of the business that became so important to my future,” Okoroji said.

The ICSC 4 Under 40 distinction is “a real honor for me,” Okoroji said. “I am excited to make the list and look forward to serving with a very talented group.”