Continuing with the recent trend of "bigger is better", Cornish & Carey Commercial, one of the Bay Area's largest privately held commercial real estate brokerages, has agreed to merge with Newmark Knight Frank, an independent real estate services firm with worldwide operations.
C&C joins a growing list of local brokerages who have merged, joined, or sold out, over the past 3 years. The list includes:
- BT - whose local operations dropped a long-time affiliation with NAI, to become part of the new Cassidy Turley/Commercial Real Estate Services, now a nationwide brokerage.
- The former Texas based Staubach Company, with strong Bay Area operations, sold to Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.
- Colliers International (locally the San Francisco and Walnut Creek Offices), combined with FirstService Real Estate Advisors - the new combined organization continues to operate under the Colliers brand.
The C&C merger now completes an almost total restructuring of the Bay Area's commercial brokerage world, as these once independent regional partnerships become part of large national companies. The reason for this quantum shift is pretty clear - the brokerage business has shifted from a fragmented regional business with multiple local partnerships, to a largely national business with fewer larger players. The primary driver of this consolidation is the major tenant, seeking to streamline their own operations, and now seeking one-stop nationwide providers.
