NLRP Team
Paul J. Bonanno
Principal/Broker
Paul Bonanno is one of the nation’s leading experts on single-tenant properties and commercial real estate investments, as well as completing 1031 and 1033 IRC Tax Deferred Exchanges. Paul has nearly 30 years of experience in the industry.
Paul has worked with numerous institutional and private investors and has sold properties tenanted by such companies, as Wal-Mart, Wells Fargo Bank, McDonald’s, Chick-Fil-A, AutoZone, Dollar General, Walgreens, PetSmart, and many others. Paul started Net Lease Realty Partners in 1998 with the vision of providing clients with a level of personalized service and expertise not readily available in large commercial brokerage firms.
As a result, Net Lease Realty Partners has become one of the top producing niche brokerage firms in the single-tenant leased investment category.
Paul has been in the industry for twenty-eight years, most notably as a partner with Net Leased Real Properties (1992-1998), now doing business as Net Lease Realty Partners. During his time at Net Leased Real Properties, Mr. Bonanno represented clients in over $1 Billion worth of real estate transactions spread over hundreds of escrows. The company as of 2020 has completed over $2Billion in total transactions. Mr. Bonanno’s transactions have included both Buyer and Seller representations in over 40 states. Mr. Bonanno has sold properties tenanted by companies such as Wal-Mart, Walgreen’s, CVS, AT&T, Kroger, Vons, US Bank, Bank of America, Barnes & Noble, Jack-In-The-Box, Burger King, Carl’s Jr., Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Federal Express, DaVita, Fresenius, AutoZone, Staples, Sterling (Jared’s), IHOP, Brinker, 7-Eleven and more. In addition, Mr. Bonanno has sold office, industrial and retail centers located in California, Texas, and Florida. In San Diego County, Mr. Bonanno sold the AT&T Building off of I-8, Pacific Station, and Ocean View offices along coast highway in Encinitas. Mr. Bonanno works with a large network of institutional clients and private investors to find the best-positioned properties. When working as a Buyer Representative for investment properties, Mr. Bonanno utilizes his network and relationships to identify and qualify properties that are best suited for his clients. On the listing side, Mr. Bonanno has pre-sold hundreds of build-to-suits, packaged groups of properties for institutional portfolios, and has been involved with over 250 sale-leaseback transactions. Mr. Bonanno has an extensive network of direct principals and sells a large percentage of his listings directly to principals. Mr. Bonanno is well recognized in the market as a net leased investment expert and investment real estate advisor who is very knowledgeable with 1031 and 1033 IRC Tax Deferred Exchanges, Sale-Leasebacks, and Build-to-Suit developments. Mr. Bonanno works almost exclusively from referred or repeat customers.
Paul Bonanno is one of the four principals at BGMS Land Partners in Austin, Texas. BGMS has bought and sold land in the Austin MSA and is currently working on new projects in the Austin MSA. Mr. Bonanno also owns and manages Paul J. Bonanno Enterprises, Inc. a brokerage and investment development firm. Mr. Bonanno has owned and developed industrial and office projects in Vista Business Park and along Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas, California, a 12.3 Acre retail sub-division in Vero Beach, FL, 10 acres of residential land in Pflugerville, TX, and 18 acres of commercial land in Leander, TX. Paul is also a partner on a multi-family development in Phoenix, AZ, and a marina in Washington.
Other Awards & Accomplishments: Mr. Bonanno has been the top Salesman in the office over the past 20 years. Additionally, in 2002 and 2003, Mr. Bonanno was the “Top Gun” Salesman for Commercial Net Leased Realty (a $4.5 Billion Real Estate Investments Trust now owned by GE Capital). Mr. Bonanno has also served as the CFO in the development of Depot.com an internet-based packaging supply company located in Oceanside, CA.
Before NLRP, Mr. Bonanno was an investment consultant for the North County office of CB Commercial in San Diego (Now CB Richard Ellis). While in this position Mr. Bonanno evaluated over $100 Million worth of investment real estate including retail centers, apartments, industrial and office buildings.
Education: Mr. Bonanno is a graduate of the Marshall School of Business at The University of Southern California. At USC Mr. Bonanno minored in Finance/Entrepreneurship. Mr. Bonanno is a member of the International Conference of Shopping Centers and Delta Sigma Pi an international business fraternity.
Personal: Mr. Bonanno lives in Encinitas, California with his wife Stacey and their three children Liberty, Skylar, and Grayson. They have three dogs, Duke, Dollie, and Murray, and a horse named Gunner. Paul and Stacey are active with North Coast Christian Church, Children’s Heritage Foundation, and the San Diego County Disabled Veterans Association. Paul has coached several years of Little League Baseball in Encinitas. Paul enjoys golf, sport fishing, boating, and snow skiing in his free time.
Erik Sjolund
Investment Sales Consultant
Erik A. Sjolund’s professional experience includes a proven track record of investment property disposition, property acquisitions, portfolio valuation and sales as well as 1031 tax deferred exchange placement assistance.
Erik Sjolund is an Associate of Net Lease Realty Partners. Prior to joining NLRP Erik was the former Co-Founder of Beach & Urban Commercial, a boutique investment real estate advisory firm & brokerage in Beverly Hills. Mr. Sjolund has an intricate understanding of the real estate investment strategies with a focus on the advisory of private high net worth individuals and family trusts. Prior to moving back to his hometown, in North County San Diego, Mr. Sjolund spent 8 years living and working in West Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. Over the years he has built relationships with high net worth private real estate investors, private family real estate offices, commercial developers, private and public real estate investment trusts, and other various institutional real estate investment firms.
His professional experience includes a proven track record of single asset acquisition & disposition, portfolio valuation & sales, with a focus on the utilization of the IRC 1031 tax-deferred exchange. Mr. Sjolund has assisted many multi-generational landlords in Southern California to take advantage of the 1031 exchange laws to sell low-income and or management-intensive real estate assets, and trade into higher-yielding, corporately leased investment properties with zero landlord responsibilities while deferring their capital gains. Prior to the inception of Beach & Urban, Mr. Sjolund was a Senior Associate at Lyon Stahl Investment Real Estate in Manhattan Beach. Mr. Sjolund began his career as an analyst in 2012 and transitioned into brokerage by 2013. By the time Mr. Sjolund had branched off from Lyon|Stahl to form Beach & Urban, he had been involved in more than 200 successful commercial and multi-family transactions. Erik believes that complete trust between a client and advisor is paramount for a successful relationship, and prides himself on his ethics and candor.
Brennan Fontana
Investment Sales Consultant
Brennan W. Fontana is an Investment Specialist with Net Leased Realty Partners. Brennan’s focus is managing relationships with a select group of private client net leased property owners. Prior to joining Net Leased Realty Partners, Brennan has had over a decade of success at Marcus & Millichap as a retail/net leased advisor as well as several different real estate investment firms. Brennan also brings a well-versed background in finance as a Financial Advisor with Merrill Lynch helping his team manage over $2 Billion in assets. Brennan is the 4th generation in real estate within his family, with both his grandfather and father playing a big part in the real estate development in San Diego. Brennan is a graduate of Southern Methodist University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with Financial Application and a Minor in Business. He is originally from Encinitas, CA and in his spare time, he enjoys fly fishing, hiking, mountain biking, surfing, and snowboarding.
JoAnn Nygard
Transaction Coordinator
JoAnn is a licensed CA Real Estate Agent, a licensed CPA (retired) and a Notary Public. JoAnn brings to NLRP 20 years from the Homebuilding Real Estate Industry, where she worked for 17+ years as a Director of Corporate Systems for one of the largest builders in the US.