For Jean Kane, Colliers International just made sense.
That’s why Kane, chief operating officer and president of Minnetonka-based Welsh Companies, is so looking forward to Aug. 1. That’s when Welsh Companies officially makes the move from its affiliation with NAI Global to the Colliers International Network.
“This is a big move for us,” Kane said. “We started working on this move more than a year ago. Strategically we wanted to make the best move for our organization. We wanted to position our company well for the next decade. Our goal was to find the best brand we could for our brokerage and property management that allowed us to remain a privately held company. We’ve done that with Colliers.”
Kane cited Colliers’ name recognition and resources as the main reason why Welsh decided to make the move to the network.
Bill Wardwell, executive vice president with Welsh Companies, who will retain this title when the official changeover arrives on Aug. 1, said that Welsh was only making the smart move when it began exploring its options after its contract with NAI ended.
“We saw that many of the other national networks were continuing to expand,” Wardwell said. “We owed it to ourselves to take a sincere look at our options. In doing that, we were very impressed with the organization that Colliers has put together.”
Making a return to the Twin Cities
Colliers International has been busy adding brokerages across the country to its operations. It scored a major victory in June when it announced that it would add Welsh Companies’ brokerage and property management divisions to its global operations. The two Welsh Companies divisions will partner with Colliers and begin operating under the Colliers’ name and brand beginning Aug. 1 of this year.
Welsh is no small addition. The company currently boasts a staff of 75 commercial real estate brokerage professionals and 50 property management pros.
This isn’t the first time, though, that Colliers has operated in the Twin Cities. St. Loius-based Cassidy Turley, which was then operating under the name Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, had previously established the Colliers name in the Minneapolis/St. Paul region. Early in 2010, though, Cassidy Turley rebranded itself and broke off its relationship with Colliers. This left Colliers without a presence in the Twin Cities, until now.
Since the breakup with Cassidy Turley, Colliers has been busy growing its own network. Colliers International now operates more than 600 offices in 61 countries with a staff of 12,500 professionals. It has revenues in excess of $1.5 billion.
Raising the Colliers flag (again) in the Twin Cities
In a written statement, one of Collier’s top officials said that the addition of Welsh Companies ranks as an important addition to the Colliers network.
“The Twin Cities is a vitally important market in the United States, and we wanted to be certain that we had the best-in-class firm raising the Colliers flag there,” said Dylan Taylor, chief executive officer of Colliers International in the United States. “In addition to its business model, Welsh’s philosophy and culture is a great fit for Colliers that will significantly contribute to our future growth in the Twin Cities, nationally and around the globe.”
Welsh is also a successful company, something that surely factored into Colliers’ decision. In 2010, Welsh’s 75 licensed Twin Cities real estate brokers completed about 970 transactions totaling more than $414 million. And that took place in a seriously down commercial real estate market.
Mark Parten, senior vice president of Welsh’s property management division, said that by joining Colliers his division will have access to even more resources.
“Colliers has a commitment to building a true national network of service providers,” said Parten, who will also retain his position after the Aug. 1 changeover. “This differentiates from what we’ve had in the past. There will now be more sharing of client relationships and businesses to help us expand our business with institutional clients and to maintain our commitment to service our local Minneapolis/St. Paul client base, too.”
Welsh officials are now busily preparing for the Aug. 1 changeover date. The company’s Web site is being updated. Company officials are ordering new signs for its properties.
The transition, though, has gone surprisingly smoothly so far, Kane said.
“The people within the Colliers system have been great in reaching out to Mark and Bill,” Kane said. “This is an exciting time for us. We are thrilled to be a partner with Colliers moving forward in this market. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback on this move from our people. Our customers who have worked with Colliers’ offices throughout the country are also excited.”
Welsh today oversees a portfolio of about 27.1 million square feet of office, industrial, retail and multi-family properties for a variety of institutional and entrepreneurial commercial real estate owners throughout the Midwest, serving the needs of more than 2,000 tenants daily.
“We see no negatives at all with this move,” Wardwell said. “It’s all been positive. NAI is a good brand, but it is made up more of independents. What Colliers is doing with its brand and its people has been exciting to us from the time we made the decision to move. This is a big change, and it’s one that we’re looking forward to.”
