In a bid to wrest office brokerage listings from Cushman & Wakefield and CB Richard Ellis, FirstService Williams has assigned one of its top New York City executives to its Stamford office covering Fairfield County and Westchester County, N.Y.
The move comes less than a year after Canada-based FirstService Corp. acquired GVA Williams, which has long been a prominent broker of retail and small office space but had a comparatively small share of the market for top-of-the-line, class A office space.
FirstService Corp. hopes to change that by parachuting into the market Joe Caridi, who has worked on both the brokerage and operating side of the commercial real estate business in New York City, Long Island, N.Y., and northern New Jersey.
Caridi joined FirstService Williams less than a year ago as senior managing director, having previously led Newmark Knight Frank”™s New Jersey operations.
He began his career as a Cushman & Wakefield broker in New York City.
Last February, FirstService Williams was named the leasing broker for an office building at 333 Westchester Ave. in White Plains, N.Y., a roadway dubbed “the platinum mile” for its glassy edifices that have drawn the likes of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and Nine West. New York City-based Cohen Brothers Realty Corp. owns 333 Westchester Ave., which was redesigned by renowned architect Philip Johnson.
Despite that vote of confidence, FirstService Williams has a long way to go ”“ as of late September, it published listings on its web site of just a dozen office buildings in Fairfield County classified as class A, just a few in downtown Stamford where some of the most sought-after office space is located.
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CB Richard Ellis and Cushman & Wakefield dominate the Fairfield County market for high-end commercial offices, and also are significant players in retail, class B office space and other less profitable areas where both regional powerhouses and smaller, independent brokers have been able to build up a viable business.
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“Cushman & Wakefield ”“ they have a great brand,” Caridi said of his old firm. “They might as well call themselves Coca-Cola.”
For its part, CB Richard Ellis the past few years has been building an adjunct practice focused on providing brokerage sale services to families with commercial real estate holdings, often retail or converted offices in village centers.
Representatives of both CB Richard Ellis and Cushman & Wakefield could not be reached for comment at deadline.
Caridi acknowledged the difficulties in cracking into the local orbit enjoyed by Cushman & Wakefield and CB Richard Ellis, and did not rule out attempting to hire veterans from the two companies.
“We are always looking to recruit,” Caridi said. “It”™s not as simple as, ”˜we are going to pay you X to come over”™ ”“ but we have the funding for it.”
Parent company FirstService raised $70 million in capital last month, and recently took a major stake in a U.K.-based affiliate of Colliers International, a commercial real estate broker with offices in Hartford and New Haven.
Through the first six months of 2009, FirstService revenue was down 5 percent to $786 million, and the company reported a $33 million loss during the period, much of it in the form of impaired goodwill due to the deterioration of the commercial real estate markets. FirstService was scheduled to report its third quarter results Nov. 3 after deadline.
