our team

Mark Burns is Partner and Managing Director of Operations for Arizona Partners, a full service commercial real estate firm that works exclusive on their company portfolio of properties. Mark works with the leasing and management team in their Scottsdale office to maintain a high level occupancy and a well-managed portfolio. Mark also works on the redevelopment of their new assets appearance and functionality along with re-tenanting the centers with the newest cutting edge restaurants and retailers. Prior to forming Arizona Partners in 94, Mark started in real estate with the Marcus & Millichap Phoenix office in 84. Shortly after that Mark started a Retail Leasing & Management company called MC Burns & Associates where he employed over 35 brokers, managers and staff that lease and managed in excess of 4 million square feet of retail in the metro area.
Mark currently is an active member with the ICSC and ULI organizations.

MARK BURNS

Partner

As a transplant to the Metro Phoenix Area, Kirk has lived in Phoenix for over 30 year and is a graduate of Arizona State University. In his role as Chief Operating Officer for AZP, Kirk is responsible for overseeing the leasing, property management, accounting, development, and operation of AZP’s approximately 2 million SF portfolio of existing retail shopping centers in 4 states.
Kirk started his career in real estate in the late 90’s as a property manager for an emerging commercial real estate brokerage in Phoenix. Kirk’s career advanced as he became responsible for managing that same company’s new development department, which gained him valuable knowledge in planning, construction, development, and tenant improvement work. Additionally, Kirk served as Asset Manager for RBI’s in house portfolio consisting of 1.5 million SF of retail property in the Phoenix area. As Asset Manger, Kirk was responsible for 9 property managers and 8 leasing agents, and his responsibilities included managing property cash flow, budgets, collections, project management of construction and tenant improvements, and all leasing activity.
Kirk has been involved in The Institute of Real Estate Management and is a member of The International Council of Shopping Centers.

KIRK ZENK

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Lamont is Director of Leasing and an Associate Broker at Arizona Partners with over two decades of experience in commercial real estate specializing in retail in the Phoenix Metro Area. He has extensive experience in marketing and leasing in the redevelopment and turnaround of underperforming shopping centers. Lamont has extensive experience doing deals from shop space with mom and pops to anchors with national tenants. He is also active in acquisitions for Arizona Partners.
Lamont relocated here 28 years ago is a graduate of Arizona State University with a BSBA in Business Management and is a member of International Council of Shopping Centers.

LAMONT KINDSETH

Leasing Director

Natalia Babits, originally from El Paso, TX, started her career in Commercial Real Estate in 2003 working for Arizona Partners as the Marketing Director. She helped brand and develop the companies look and feel through website and flyer creation. She has overseen all the events at all the shopping centers that are owned and helped create a great symmetry with all the tenants. She is also the lead for the ICSC NextGen Committee for the Southwest. Since 2018 she started doing the leasing at the centers bringing in different tenants such as Ztejas, Crust, Phoenix Beer, Yasuo Sushi and many others. Natalia has 2 children and loves spending her time helping their schools by being on the PTO’s and volunteering at all the evets.

Natalia Babits

Marketing Director

Born and raised in North Central Phoenix, AZ, attended Brophy College Prep, and later earned a degree in Finance with a focus on Commercial Real Estate Development from the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.
Has worked with AZP for seven years, overseeing a diverse portfolio of five shopping centers across Arizona, Minnesota, and Michigan, totaling over 600,000 SF. Manages an assistant property manager to ensure smooth operations and tenant satisfaction, leads ground-up development initiatives, and guides redevelopment efforts for newly acquired properties. Oversees tenant improvements, major capital projects, budgeting, cash flow, and underwriting for potential acquisitions. Handles lease negotiations and renewals for seven centers, securing favorable terms for both landlords and tenants, and provides expert representation to tenants seeking prime locations.
Member of ICSC and CCIM Candidate.
Outside of work, coaches a youth soccer team for Thunderbird FC, a North Phoenix-based club.

Ben EPSTEIN

Portfolio Manager and leasing specialist

Bruce Shapiro, originally from Chicago, Illinois, graduated from the ASU School of Business in 1979. In 1984 he began his real estate career at the national brokerage firm Marcus & Millichap where he specialized in selling retail shopping centers. In his first year, Bruce was named rookie of the year and went on to earn several top awards during his ten-year run with Marcus. In 1994 he left and become a co-founder of his own investment company, Arizona Partners. Arizona Partners specializes in acquiring and redeveloping retail shopping centers. Today Arizona Partners owns approximately 2 million square feet of retail property in four states.
Bruce has two children and devotes his resources to several philanthropic causes such as Future for Kids and Good Will of Central Arizona.

BRUCE SHAPIRO

PARTNER

Bob Rusing is a widely recognized and respected expert in the retail real estate industry. With more than 26 years of diverse experience throughout the United States he is an award-winning, consistent performer within the shopping center industry. Rusing’s talents range from shopping center acquisitions, lifestyle center leasing, anchor tenant leasing, restaurant leasing, and redevelopment of aging regional malls to new ground up developments.
Bob has spent his entire career within the shopping center industry, holding positions at some of the top retail shopping center firms in the country; Director of Leasing at Feldman Mall Properties, Vice President of Leasing for Grossman Company Properties and Retail Leasing Specialist at Grubb & Ellis Commercial Real Estate. He is particularly known for his ability to identify unseen value in real estate and capitalize on it for his company and client’s gain.
Rusing has an unparalleled ability to create synergistic tenant merchandising plans, leverage relationships, and lead successful negotiations. Because of his relationships with leading national retailers, Bob has developed an ability to get things done. He has an exemplary track record of performance and provides vision, strategy, and execution for the retail projects he commits himself too.
Bob’s market knowledge, competitive spirit, and relationship-building skills have allowed him to excel and subsequently was recognized in 2014 as the Retail Lease Broker of the Year “RED Awards”.

Bob Rusing

DEVELOPMENT PARTNER

Shannon has over 20 years experience in the Commercial Real Estate Industry and is highly skilled in developing strategies to re-position underperforming projects. Shannon has a comprehensive grasp of retail commercial centers, the overall retail market and prides herself with creating and maintaining longstanding client relationships. Shannon is now a Development Partner at Arizona Partners – working on several Retail and Multi Family Projects in California, Texas and Colorado. Shannon was instrumental in the strategy to ‘value add’ to an Enclosed Shopping Mall in Sacramento for disposition, by pursuing, negotiating and executing new leases with the most sought after National Retailers. Within a period of twelve months, the Mall sold at a profit of more than $12 million dollars. Initial development planning of a Retail, Multi Family and Mixed Use Project in the suburb of Denver Colorado. Single Tenant Buildings and Land Sales. She was previously the vice president of Bend Properties – In charge of leasing the entire portfolio. Shannon was directly responsible for negotiating and drafting large national tenant leases; participating in the refinance and sales of large enclosed and power shopping malls located in Southern California, Northern California and Las Vegas.
Shannon attended University in Paris, France and in Southern California. University of California, Irvine as a French Major and ultimately decided to study International Business at California State University, Fullerton where she received her B. A. in International Business with a concentration in French.

Shannon Green

leasing associate

Alex Shapiro has been around real estate his whole life. He has been with Arizona partners for 6 years. Alex is a native to Arizona, and knows the valley well. His specialty is leasing shopping centers and tenant representation.

Alex Shapiro

leasing specialist

Aquisitions & Redevelopments

Arizona Partners is a vertically integrated company, performing all acquisition, leasing, property management, construction management and accounting functions in-house.