To gain a greater share of the industrial and office markets, New York-based Cushman & Wakefield has developed the Cushman & Wakefield Alliance to form alliances with regional firms. The Alliance, in the works since second-quarter 2001, will be managed by Derrick Mashore, head of client strategies for C&W.
The first six firms to join are all former C&W offices or preferred providers. They are Commercial Carolina, in North Carolina and South Carolina; Commercial Jacksonville, in Jacksonville, Fla.; Corporate Real Estate Advisors in San Diego, Calif.; Commercial Tennessee in Memphis, Tenn., Little Rock, Ark., and Mississippi; Eason, Graham & Sandner in Birmingham and Huntsville, Ala., and Mission Property in Nashville, Tenn.
Each firm will retain its name, but will now be identified as members of the Cushman & Wakefield Alliance. "All firms will be contracted and branded with C&W as a ‘Member of the Cushman & Wakefield Alliance,’" said Bruce Mosler, president of U.S. operations.
The firms will pay a flat annual fee for Alliance membership, and will be required to follow C&W operating procedures and adhere to the company’s standards. The regional firms will get an exclusive relationship with C&W, which has 147 offices in 49 countries.
Mosler said that C&W wouldn’t add more alliance members without careful consideration. "We’re in no hurry to grow alliance members," he said. "We selected markets that benefit core C&W businesses and clients."
Although other competing real estate firms such as Insignia/ESG and Grubb & Ellis also form alliance relationships, Mosler said that’s where the comparison ends. "We’re not trying to do this in every market," he said. Instead, he said the high number of the alliance might stop at 10, as only companies that align with C&W’s core strategies will be asked to join the new initiative.