As managing director at Murphy Real Estate Services, Chris Horney has helped lead the development of some of the city’s most eye-catching buildings, from a two-tower glass high-rise overlooking Grant Park to the massive redevelopment of the Beaux Arts-style building that was once home to the Cook County Hospital on the Near West Side.

But more recently, as economic factors including high interest rates made it harder for the firm to make big, ground-up developments in Chicago pencil out financially, Horney has spearheaded a development portfolio that’s allowed the firm to establish a new business line and a footprint in around two dozen states, though it may not win any architectural awards: building day care facilities.

“Our business is a roller coaster, and I try my best to sort of be as even-keeled as you can."

“It’s not cool, it’s not sexy, but it’s reasonably profitable,” he says. “Amazon can’t create day care, right? It’s a needed service that’s somewhat immune to some of the other forces that are out there.”

The Purdue University and Harvard Business School alumnus has weathered economic ups and downs before. He started his career in 2008 working for a Detroit-area construction company that laid off a third of its staff when the financial crisis hit.

“Our business is a roller coaster, and I try my best to sort of be as even-keeled as you can," Horney says. "Otherwise, it’s a stressful world to be in."

After graduate school, Horney moved to Chicago with his wife and the goal of getting into real estate development. He started working with John Murphy about a decade ago, when the real estate veteran and then-MBRE president was looking to take on more development projects.

“He’s highly adaptive to all the various product types we’ve developed,” Murphy says. “I think that gets back to his strict discipline and being well-organized, on top of being a very smart guy.”

Another challenge Horney had to adapt to was working through what was going to happen to the company’s projects during the onset of the pandemic — while working remotely and taking care of three young daughters. 

“When everything in the city shut down, I had a 1-year-old, a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old all at home,” he says. “Our business is seemingly on fire, and I’ve got my 1-year-old crawling around.”