April 23, 2019
This month’s office spotlight comes from the state of Nevada, featuring both our Valbridge | Las Vegas and Valbridge | Reno offices!
The offices appraise all different property types, with each of the appraisers having one or two specialties. Matthew Lubawy personally specializes in hospitality and gaming properties and has prepared numerous appraisals throughout Nevada and other states. Heidi Meidenbauer specializes in multi-family properties as well as self-storage facilities. Karen Park specializes in golf courses and has experience in appraising numerous regional malls. Other specialties in our offices include large master-planned land parcels, convenience stores, market studies for LIHTC projects, as well as single family residences.
Las Vegas is a very unique area due to legalized gaming. Many property types such as convenience stores, grocery stores, liquor stores, and taverns have gaming machines located in them, and clients from out of state don’t always understand the nuances of gaming associated with these properties.
The Valbridge Nevada offices are very diversified, and everyone is devoted to providing excellent service to our clients. One of the best things about our office is the camaraderie we share with each other. That is also true of Valbridge in general. Many of us have been together since the formation of Valbridge in 2013, and starting a new company with new software applications and re-designed appraisal reports was challenging in the beginning. That experience has made us stronger and we all have pride in what we have built together.
Meet the team:
Matthew Lubawy, MAI, CVA, Senior Managing Director | VPA Las Vegas and VPA Reno
Matthew has lived in Las Vegas since 1968. He went to Bishop Gorman High School and graduated from UNLV with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He has served on various boards over the years and has been a board member with Valbridge Property Advisors since its inception. He is also Chairman of the Board of Directors for Nevada State Development Corporation. He has also served as President of the Las Vegas Chapter of the Appraisal Institute. Matt obtained the MAI designation in 1994 and holds the CVA designation from the NACVA for business valuation. He primarily focuses on appraising hospitality and gaming properties and fractional interests for estate planning (for gifting and date of death valuations).
Karen Park – Managing Director | VPA Reno
Karen is a graduate of California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo with a BS degree in Computer Science. Karen has 15 years of real estate valuation and consulting experience, and is licensed in both Nevada and California. She recently joined the new VPA Reno office as Managing Director. Karen is active with the Appraisal Institute holding the MAI designation and the American Society of Appraisers holding the ASA designation. She is also an approved instructor for the California State Board of Equalization. Her concentration is in the appraisal of seniors housing, multi-family, golf courses, and other complex commercial properties, as well as ad valorem tax assessments.
Heidi Meidenbauer – Managing Director | VPA Las Vegas
Heidi is a 6th Generation Nevadan and in 1993 graduated from UNLV with a BSBA degree in Finance. She began her commercial appraisal career in 1992 working at her father’s company, Gary. H. Kent, Inc. Prior to her obtaining her MAI designation in 2004, she served on the Chapter Appraisal
Institute in numerous positions and was on the Regional Board of Directors. In 2005, she served as Chapter President. In 2007, Heidi ascended to Owner/President of Gary H. Kent, Inc. During 2011, she and her team joined Lubawy & Associates with the vision of creating a proprietary database and software writing program. Today, her goals have been exceeded and she is proud to be part of Valbridge Property Advisors who provides for the cutting edge of technology and demonstrates excellent networking from experienced appraisers Nationwide within the franchise. Heidi appraises a broad spectrum of commercial properties from small land parcels to complex assignments. She has appraised an approximate 1-mile stretch of scattered land and properties along the World Famous Strip over the years and land parcels along Fremont Street under Viva Vision Light Show, Downtown. In addition, she has appraised local hotel/casinos and golf courses.