About me

Daniel Cheng, Ph.D., CCIM
Vice President, Capital Markets & Industrial Services | Avison Young

Daniel Cheng is a Vice President with Avison Young’s Capital Markets and Industrial Services team, where he brings more than a decade of expertise in commercial real estate investment, disposition, and site selection strategy. His work is distinguished by a dual focus: serving institutional and private investors in income-producing asset including NNN properties transactions, and advising manufacturing and logistics companies—particularly those logistics owners seeking to purchase or lease third-party logistics (3PL) or manufacturer owners seeking industrial space—on long-term operational site planning.

Daniel has successfully led transactions involving industrial warehouses, distribution centers, retail assets, office portfolios, and land. He has completed deals totaling millions of square feet of industrial space, retail properties, and offices, and multi-families. A strategic thinker with boots-on-the-ground experience, Daniel supports clients across the full asset lifecycle: from site selection and incentive procurement to capital structuring and exit planning.

His site advisory practice emphasizes data-driven decision-making—evaluating tax policy, labor cost and availability, transportation infrastructure, proximity to suppliers and customer bases, utility readiness (electric, water, gas), and environmental constraints. This has made him a trusted consultant for international clients, particularly Chinese manufacturers expanding into North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and the southeastern U.S.

Daniel holds the CCIM designation and a Ph.D. from Duke University. His cross-border experience and financial acumen position him uniquely at the intersection of capital markets and operational consulting. Fluent in both English and Mandarin, he is adept at bridging cultural, regulatory, and capital expectations between global investors and U.S. stakeholders.

In addition to his brokerage practice, Daniel serves as Board Leader of the North Carolina Chinese Business Association (NCCBA), where he was President from 2016 to 2020. Under his leadership, NCCBA deepened partnerships between economic development agencies, Chinese enterprises, and local communities through educational forums and business matchmaking initiatives.