Scott Elkins may be the best dressed man in Old Town.  Known for his distinctive sport coats and trademark bow ties, Scott is a fixture on King Street.  At age 84, he recently put the finishing touches on yet another commercial real estate investment for a client, something that he has been doing for more than 35 years as a partner in Elkins Lane Realty Advisors, LLC, a full-service boutique firm with offices in Old Town. You can check out his real estate blog at https://elkins-lane.com/wphome/news/.

But what few know is that before his success in commercial real estate, Scott was one of the premier commercial bankers in Northern Virginia.  Years spent in commercial banking have given Elkins a perspective in real estate sales that is indeed unique.

“Scott’s broad base of commercial banking experience is a real boost to making certain the deal gets done,” said Rick Lane, his business partner who himself had a first career as a practicing attorney.

Back in the 1980s, Scott found himself working at what was then First American Bank, in a small office with a phone (which has no reason to ring at the time).  As the Senior Commercial Lending Officer, he pioneered lending to government contractors, who before then were considered to be high risk. With Scott providing his innovative approach, he soon landed BDM International as the first to break this barrier to bank financing, Scott’s success soon caught the eye of Richmond-based Sovran Bank, which recruited him to develop commercial lending in the DC area, up to that time considered nothing more than a bedroom community for the military and government establishment.

One of the early successes was with American Management Systems in Rosslyn, founded by three former Pentagon officials and destined to become one of the top government contractors in the region.  Scott followed that success by landing McLean-based Mars Incorporated, the world’s largest privately owned company – not an easy achievement at a time when the prime rate hovered around 18%.  Not only did the Mars corporation leave its New York based relationship with Chase Manhattan Bank, but Scott and his team of vice presidents provided personalized private concierge banking services to the highly compensated Mars executives.

As his reputation as a “can do” banker grew, so did the client list.  Gannett (USA Today), Sallie Mae, Fannie Mae, Equitable Life, Mariott, Smithfield Foods, and Clyde’s Restaurant Group all joined his client list in just three short years.  The secret to his success:  fostering personal relationships.  As his fellow banker and sometimes competitor Bob Wiles remarked, “Scott’s personality and connection with his community fostered long-term personal relationships, which became real personal friendships over time.”

Among the most memorable relationships was the one with the Washington Redskins in their glory years of the 1980s.   His dealings with John Cooke, Bobby Mitchell and general manager Bobby Beathard led to his being invited to travel with the team to away games like the 1986 playoff game against the Bears in Chicago, flying on the team’s charter flight, boarding the motor coach, and being whisked to the hotel with a police escort.  Hanging out with the likes of Dexter Manley, riding with Sonny Jurgensen and Sam Huff, and even working out in the hotel with Bethard, were genuine career highlights.

Scott’s  townhouse in Old Town became the “place to be” for dinner parties that included a “who’s who” of local corporate leaders, including at various times a former RCA chairman, the head of Planning Research Corporation, the Chairman of Sovran Bank, and even Jack Kent Cooke, the billionaire owner of the Redskins.

But as the 1980s came to an end with bank merger after merger, Scott decided his experience with business entrepreneurs would translate to commercial real estate.  So after a few years working with various commercial real estate firms, Scott teamed up with Rick Lane and began a whole new career that brought yet more years of success.  “Scott’s competence, knowledge, diligence and effectiveness are simply off the charts,” said his long-time client, Dr. Robert Bunn.  “Not to mention that he has provided me with wealth I could never have imagined.”

Scott graduated from Washington-Lee High School (now Washington-Liberty High School) in Arlington.  He still attends several Nationals games each year with several from that graduating class.  He attended Randolph Macon College, graduated from East Tennessee State University in his native state, and waws awarded a Masters of Banking and Financing at Rutgers University.  He has been a guest speaker at the Army War College, the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia, and George Mason University, among others.   Along the way he was a Trustee of the Fairfax County Schools Education Foundation and served as a director of the Alexandria Red Cross.

“I’ve known Scott for more than 40 years, through two careers – each of which would have been a big success for anyone else,” said Mark Allen, a local real estate attorney.  “Scott has no equal when it comes to cultivating client relationships that become real friendships.  For his clients he is tenacious, with his friends he is loyal.  He is creative, he’s fair, and above all, he’s got integrity.”  Truly the secrets to his decades of success.

About the Author: The author of this piece asked to remain anonymous but is someone who has been close to Mr. Elkins for many years as well as a fairly well-known entity in Old Town Alexandria and the surrounding area in his own right.