Visionary commercial real estate leaders being honored today

Some of the area's most innovative thinkers in commercial real estate will gather today to honor their peers for creativity and problem-solving when it comes to issues involving real estate.

The Counselors of Real Estate will hold its 4th annual Creative Thinkers Awards at Carmel Country Club. The group, which is an invitation-only group of real estate professionals, will be recognizing winners for their out-of-the-box thinking, treating obstacles and risks as opportunities for novel solutions, and making cutting-edge decisions.

Winners include: Philip Dubois, chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Ted Rollins and Mike Hartnett of Campus Crest Communities and Kyle and Pattie Petty for their work founding Victory Junction, a camp for children with chronic medical conditions or serious illness.

Past real estate visionaries honored include developer H.C. "Smoky" Bissell and Ned Curran of The Bissell Cos., Larry Wheeler of the North Carolina Museum of Art and John Kane of Kane Realty Corp.

Established in 1953, The Counselors of Real Estate is an international group whose members include professionals working in the real estate, finance, legal and accounting industries as well as leaders of government and academia who provide advice on real estate matters.