Chris Françoise
Owner / Founder / Principal Broker
Commercial Sales & Leasing
Chris Francoise is the co-founder, co-owner and Principal Broker of Titan Property Advisors LLC, headquartered in the City of Richmond, in Scott’s Addition. Founded in 2021, Titan is a boutique commercial real estate brokerage offering a range of services to help clients lease, own, occupy, develop, or invest in commercial real estate. Titan specializes primarily in the selling and leasing of office, industrial, retail, land, special-purpose and mixed-use properties in the Commonwealth of Virginia. With an emphasis on “occupiers or users” and investors, Titan’s expertise includes tenant advisory services, consulting for buyers and investment in historic adaptive reuse projects.
Chris is an experienced commercial real estate practitioner with over 25 years of expertise in all aspects of real estate sales, leasing, investment and development. He brings with him tremendous transactional brokerage experience with buyers, sellers, tenants, owners, owner-occupiers and developers in the leasing, management, acquisition and disposition of commercial real estate properties including office buildings, retail shopping centers, medical buildings, distribution warehouses and land for development.
Chris attended Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) receiving a Bachelor of Science in Business (1997) majoring in Real Estate & Land Development (RELD). His coursework included Real Estate Brokerage, Economics & Banking, Real Estate Finance, Real Estate Law, Real Property Management, Development, Land Use and Negotiating. While there, he worked for the Virginia Council on Economic Education (VCEE) coordinating the Virginia Stock Market Game.
After college, he began his real estate brokerage career in 1998 as a Licensed Salesperson (Agent ) with Divaris Real Estate, Inc. (DRE), headquartered in Virginia Beach. There, Chris worked for DRE (out of their Richmond office) with CRESA (Commercial Real Estate Service Advisors), the world’s leading global CRE advisory firm that exclusively represents occupiers and specializes in the delivery of fully integrated real estate solutions. Chris worked for CRESA/Richmond on the tenant’s behalf, learning the intricacies of the deal structure from the corporation’s point of view, filling the critical need of representing the occupier’s side in securing market lease terms as well as evaluating lease/buy alternatives for his clients.
For several years, Chris completed various commercial real estate transactions for corporate tenants needing market studies, financial/data analysis, site selection and contract negotiations. Likewise, he prepared request for proposals, negotiated letters of intent and was involved in the execution of leases for corporate tenants leasing commercial space in Central Virginia.
Former buyer and tenant clients while at Divaris include Cox Communications Inc., Microsoft Inc., EMC Corp. (EMC²), Dynex Financial, Progressive Insurance, The May Department Stores (Hecht’s), Medical Logistics, Heafner Itco Tire Group, EPE Industries, Darby Group Companies Inc., Amcor Sunclipse N.A., and many others. During this time period, Chris also worked as a Landlord Representative negotiating lease transactions for clients like Westbrook Partners at One Franklin Square in the CBD in the City of Richmond, The Hartford Insurance Company in the Innsbrook Office Park in Henrico County, 360 West Shopping Center in the Hull Street Road corridor in Chesterfield County, the Hill-Davis Medical Building in the Museum District, 1100 West Cary Street in the VCU area and 1209 East Cary Street in Shockoe Slip.
After acquiring his real estate broker’s license in 2001, Chris’ transactional experience included investment sales, tenant/buyer representation services and corporate site location work in Central Virginia & beyond, mostly in Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover, Goochland, Powhatan and New Kent. Additionally, Chris broadened his reach in the Virginia Real Estate market outside of Central Virginia fulfilling assignments, requirements and brokering commercial transactions in Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads and Southwest Virginia including the municipalities of Alexandria, McLean, Reston, Fredericksburg, Ashburn, Charlottesville, Roanoke and Virginia Beach.
Due to his strong academic foundation and a deep understanding of principles and practice of real estate, Chris realized that he could effectively teach it to others, so, he became a Licensed Certified Real Estate Instructor (2001-2005) working for the largest provider of real estate education in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Moseley-Flint Schools of Real Estate (Cape Education).
While at Moseley-Flint, he taught Principles of Real Estate (Pre-License Education), Virginia Real Estate Law/Rules & Regulations, Internet Skills for the Real Estate Professional, Exam Prep, Continuing Education (Post-License Education), and R.E. Ethics courses.
From 2002 to 2012, Chris was the Owner/Principal Broker of Francoise Real Estate LLC where he managed and supervised agents (Realtors®) who sold residential properties including homes, condos and vacant land in the Richmond metropolitan area. His responsibilities included overseeing the hiring and training process, crafting effective contract language, facilitating the buying and selling of residential property and advising on investment sales.
From 2004-2020, Chris built a wealth of commercial transactional brokerage experience as an Associate Broker for Wilton Realty, LLC. For over 16 years, Chris provided brokerage services for one of the largest developers in Henrico County, The Wilton Companies (TWC). While there, he was part of a small, dynamic team that leased and managed a diverse portfolio of approximately three million square feet of commercial real estate worth approximately $500 million dollars. Chris’ core responsibilities included the leasing of retail shopping centers, light industrial warehouses, downtown and suburban office buildings, and mixed-use and free standing properties. While there, he prepared proposals, letters of intent and negotiated, prepared & executed lease agreements, renewals, amendments and contracts for corporate entities looking to lease commercial space in the Richmond metro.
Additionally, while at TWC, Chris was involved with the third party leasing of Willow Lawn Shopping Mall, a landmark retail shopping destination and West Broad Village, a 400,000 square feet lifestyle open-air shopping destination in Glen Allen, Virginia. Moreover, he was also responsible for the day-to-day management of the company website and property portfolio databases including CoStar / Loopnet information, property flyers, digital photography, custom floor plans, maps, demographics, and email marketing.
In addition to national clients, Chris has worked on behalf of local and regional commercial interests including Central Virginia Health Network (CVHN), Global Technology Solutions, Design Depot Online, Health Care Concepts, The Clark Street Corporation, Care Advantage, HD Medical, LC, Indochine, Turning Point Development, Recovered Gold LLC, Electronics Doctor, Inc., Impact Makers Inc. and Rx Drug Partnership.
Notable brokered transactions at Wilton include Nationwide Insurance, Toad’s Place Richmond, Alcatel Lucent USA Inc., PT Works, KOR Food Innovation, Fresenius Medical Care, Brazilian Best Granite, R&B Distributing Co., Fisher Auto Parts, Advanced Visual Production, Lansing Building Products, H.O.M.E., Werres Corp., URS Corporation, March of Dimes Foundation, Humana, Soundworks of Virginia, Tweed, River City Escape Room, Cater 2 Events, Kidtopia Salon, The Local Cup and Premier Exhibit & Event Services.
Over his career, Chris has been involved with over 750 leasing & sales transactions in excess of $200 million and has been involved with over 8 million square feet of retail, office, industrial warehouse, flex, special purpose, and mixed-use properties. In these capacities, Chris has represented landlords, tenants, and buyers and sellers in the identification, acquisition and disposition of commercial real estate assets.
In addition to brokerage representations, Chris has experience in investment and land sales. This work has provided vital experience with the development process including proforma evaluation, financial analysis and lease procurement. His outstanding record is based on a thorough understanding of the fast-growing Central Virginia market and has put him in the vanguard of Richmond’s commercial real estate professionals. His networking and negotiating skills and his outstanding technology proficiency has been instrumental in bringing together industry specialists who have created some of the area’s most successful real estate projects.
Presently, Chris is involved with his local community as a Board Member of C2Adopt, an organization with a mission to help find, prepare and support families to adopt from the Virginia foster care system. C2Adopt is a non-profit, Virginia-licensed agency offering training and education, placement and supportive services to anyone whose life has been touched by adoption.
Most of his free time is spent with his amazing wife Janet, his chow chow Cubby, his two grown sons who live in the Richmond area and visiting with his daughter in Texas. Other family members near and far from Northern Virginia, Maryland, Wisconsin, New Mexico, California to New Zealand.
Janet & Chris have three grown children – Sophie Peyton, a 2016 graduate of the University of Texas-Austin, L.T. Francoise, a 2019 graduate of Radford University and Will Francoise, a 2021 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).
