NAI Robert Lynn CEO George Dutter announced the opening of a Houston office concurrently with forming a joint venture with Hiffman National to serve the commercial real estate requirements in Houston.
“When the Houston market became available to us within the NAI Global platform, it was an easy decision to expand there, especially since we already do business in Houston,” said NAI Robert Lynn President Mark Miller, who is also one of the firm’s leading industrial brokers. “It also made a lot of sense to form a joint venture with Hiffman National, which has already planted a flag in Houston, and they are the fastest growing, privately owned property and project management services provider in the U.S. Together, we are bringing a high-powered and quality service offering to the Houston market and with proven systems in place.”
Dallas-based NAI Robert Lynn also has an office in Fort Worth, which has grown by 1,400% since opening in 2011. The company serves commercial property owners, investors and occupiers with industrial, office, and retail leasing, investment sales, call centers and site selection services. Based on transaction volume, NAI Robert Lynn is one of the three biggest commercial real estate services firms in the DFW market and has over 100 employees, including 70 brokers. The firm celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2022 and joined NAI Global in 2006.
Chicago-based Hiffman National already has a presence in Houston and manages 4.7 million square feet of commercial property comprised of 30 buildings and 419 tenants in its Houston portfolio. The firm also has a project management team in Houston and provides tenant and landlord construction services. Nationwide, Hiffman National manages over 130 million square feet of commercial property in 27 states, largely for institutional investors. That portfolio is comprised of approximately 1,110 buildings. In the past 2.5 years, Hiffman National has expanded its portfolio of managed assets by over 40%.
The collaboration between the two operating entities allows them to provide agency leasing services, property management and project management seamlessly to commercial property owners and institutions in the Houston market, which has approximately 750 million square feet of industrial property, 425 million square feet of retail space and 350 million square feet of offices.
“By our estimate, 60% of our clients across the U.S. own commercial assets in Texas, and about 90% of institutional property investors in the U.S. are invested in Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston, so this is a great fit for our business, said Hiffman National Chief Executive Officer Dave Petersen.
Petersen is also the CEO of NAI Hiffman, also based in Chicago, and provides brokerage services in the Chicago market under the NAI Global brand.
In the last five years and operating under the NAI Global brand, the NAI Hiffman office and the NAI Robert Lynn office have combined to originate 375 outbound referrals and concurrently serviced 275 inbound referrals from other NAI offices, for a total of over $37 million in commission fees. The NAI Global platform annually generates in excess of $20 billion in transaction fees.
NAI Global now has nine offices in Texas, over 200 in the U.S. and over 300 worldwide.
