 Commercial and industrial real estate specialist, Gerald J. Christiansen Santaella is the co-owner and co-founder of Christiansen & Portela, one of Puerto Rico's premier commercial and industrial real estate firms.  
 Gerald J. Christiansen and Rafael Portela founded the company in 1997.  The firm offers a full range of commercial and industrial rel estate services in the Puerto Rico market.
 It has proved to be a successful real estate brokerage company by creating unique opportunities, and offering their corporate and institutional clients a full service real estate solution in: property dispositions, tenant representations, leasing, relocations, property acquisitions, buyer representations and site searches.  
 In addition, Christiansen & Portela's advisory service offers an outstanding variety of opportunities to their customers.  Its success is directly atrributed to their unique knowledge of the local market, the solid long-term relationships with customers and their ability to address client's needs. 
 Christiansen, the firm's Managing Partner, was born in San Juan in 1954.  He attended Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola and Georgetown University, School of Business Administration where he graduated in 1976.  Christiansen has been a licensed real estate broker in Puerto Rico since 1988.  He holds the coveted GRI (Graduate Real Estate Institute) designation from the National Real Estate Institute.
 Prior to his experience in the Puerto Rico market, he was actively involved in the commercial real estate brokerage business in Washington, D.C.
 Being a community leader, Christiansen has been actively involved with non-profit organizations such as Unicef, where he served as president for three years.  He is also a member of the Rotary Club, San Juan's Nautical Club and AFDA Fraternity.  
 Christiansen currently resides in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  He is married to Eng. Gisselle Betancourt and has three sons and a daughter; two of whom are actually working with the firm.  He is a big fan of boats and loves to spend his free time with his family at sea.
 With over 25 years of experience, Christiansen considers that persistance, determination and a positive attitude are the keys to his success.
 He has acknowledged the following quote as a guiding force: "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistance.  Talent will not.  Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.  Genius will not.  Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education will not.  The world is full of educated derelicts.  Persistance and determination alone are omnipotent."
