One quality that seems to get attributed to Rod Blake frequently is congeniality. Indeed, this native of Pontiac, Mich., who became vice president of development at Starwood Retail Partners in September, enjoys a reputation as something of a statesman going back to early life in his home state.

“He’s almost like a politician,” said Stephen J. Kieras, who was Blake’s manager years ago at Michigan-based Taubman Centers. “If he wasn’t in real estate, he could have been the mayor of Pontiac.”

As it happens, Blake did in fact launch his career from politics, if somewhat obliquely. As a high school student, he was a youth representative on the Pontiac City Council, and before leaving to study political science at Yale, he promised then-Mayor Wallace Holland that he would return. In 1990, a few months before Blake had even graduated, the mayor offered him a position as chief assistant to the director of public works, which Blake accepted. “I thought I’d only work there for a year or two, but I ended up spending seven years in government,” he said. “I had the opportunity to take on some really big responsibilities at an early age.”

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Blake’s real estate career has included senior development positions not only at Taubman, but also at GGP (now Brookfield Properties Retail Group) and Olympia Development. During his 30 years in the business, Blake has negotiated some tough real estate deals — including the $2 billion Little Caesars Arena, in The District Detroit — and he is admired for his ability to broker trust between local residents and government officials on projects.

“What really makes Rod unique is his people skills,” said Kieras, who retired from the industry in March 2017 as Taubman’s executive vice president of development. “He’s relationship-focused — everyone loves Rod.”

Blake’s responsibilities while working for the city of Pontiac included land acquisitions for right-of-way projects. He helped negotiate a land swap with Taubman Centers, which at the time was building the Great Lakes Crossing Outlets, in neighboring Auburn Hills. He evidently made no small impression on Taubman executives, because in 1997 they offered him a job as an assistant to then–Vice Chairman Robert Larson (also then-chairman of Taubman Realty Group).

Blake’s powers of diplomacy came in handy on his first big assignment: heading up the development of Stony Point Fashion Park, a mall in Richmond, Va. “I remember showing up in Richmond, thinking I was bringing all this great news,” Blake recalled. “We were bringing the community a new Saks, a new Dillard’s and a shiny new 750,000-square-foot lifestyle center.” But if Blake was expecting any gratitude, he got just the opposite. “The community did not take kindly to someone from Detroit showing up and saying, ‘This is how it is going to be done,’ ” he acknowledged. Blake says he ended up spending many evenings at the homes of residents over several years, working through design, planning and permit issues.

“I learned through a lot of postponed Council meetings that we really needed to spend time with the community and have them in effect be a partner with us on decisions,” he said. “Sometimes you have to spend both the time and a little extra money to create the kind of place the neighbors will be happy with.”

That lesson also helped Blake years later, in what is perhaps his best-known negotiation: the Little Caesars Arena deal, done while he was director of real estate and development at Olympia Development. This project called for public funding — hardly ever any easy process, even at the best of times, which this was not. “This was a time when Detroit was coming out of bankruptcy, so it was a hard case to make,” he said.

The narrative then circulating among residents was that “Detroit was going to, in effect, subsidize a new development for a billionaire,” recalled Blake. He and his team spent lots of time with community members and public officials trying to dispel this notion. “We worked hard to develop a program that focused on employment [for] residents,” he said. The promise of jobs together with a stimulated economy helped sway the residents and the mayor, as did some design concessions on the new Red Wings arena, among other things. “Neighbors didn’t want to see this mammoth building casting a shadow on the neighborhood,” he said. Thus, the developers agreed to put some of the square footage below-grade. “Now when you walk by, the arena looks like a three-story, garden-style office building with retail on the bottom.”

Last May when Vincent Corno became senior vice president of development at Starwood Retail, Blake reached out to congratulate him. It turns out they shared some history in common: Starwood Retail acquired seven Taubman properties in 2014, among which were two that Blake had been in charge of developing, so they had much to talk about.

Corno, for his part, was impressed with Blake’s experience, knowledge and relationships, so he invited Blake to become director of development. “Rod has a stellar reputation,” Corno said. “He has worked in and knows many of the other markets where Starwood owns shopping centers. With his pedigree and experience, he has been able to immediately take the reins on several important Starwood Retail redevelopment initiatives.”