Principal / Thinkwell Development
Liam Thornton has joined Thinkwell Group as a Principal and Managing Director of Thinkwell Development, a recently formed division of Thinkwell focusing on the creation of experiential, branded, and entertainment business concepts into viable real estate development projects. Liam is a real estate investment and development executive with experience crossing multiple development platforms, including urban redevelopment, retail, gaming, sports, hospitality and entertainment. His background and experience make him the ideal leader to form strategic partnerships with municipalities, real estate developers, resort owners, sports team owners, facility operators and investors to drive the development visions to reality.
Prior to joining Thinkwell Group, Liam was the Senior Vice President of Development and corporate officer for House of Blues Entertainment, directing the domestic and international expansion of the House of Blues club venues and House of Blues concert venues.
Before joining House of Blues, Liam was the Vice President and Executive Director of New Business Planning and Development at Universal Creative, the real estate planning, design and development division of Universal Studios Recreation Group (USRG).
Prior to joining Universal Studios, Mr. Thornton was a development executive for Disney Development Company and Walt Disney Imagineering identifying, evaluating and initiating location-based entertainment, hospitality, sports facility, and architecturally significant corporate real estate investment and development projects.
Before Disney, Mr. Thornton was a manager for a large west coast commercial builder and developer with responsibility for the development of over 2 million square feet of commercial office, retail, hotel, restaurant and club properties for private and institutional investors.
Liam holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Santa Clara, School of Engineering, where he was a DaVinci Scholar, and a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Architecture and Planning with a concentration in Finance.
He is a member of the Design Management Institute, Urban Land Institute, International Council of Shopping Centers and and alumni member of the MIT Center for Real Estate.
Liam is also a board member for San Francisco based Mavericks Surf Ventures (www.maverickssurf.com) and Cedar Bay Entertainment based in Branson, Missouri (www.titanicbranson.com).
Liam is also a partner in ANI, Northwest, a Pacific Northwest regional office of American National Investments, a real estate investment, development and asset management firm based in San Diego, CA (www.americannationalinvestments.com).
