It’s an exciting time for SVN | Chicago Commercial, as the office was recently named the top revenue-grossing office in Sperry Van Ness for 2014 at the full-service brokerage firm’s national conference in Orlando, Fla. The firm, who ranked second last year, grabbed the top spot out of 190 franchisees with a 44 percent year-over-year growth in revenue. On the heels of a 46 percent year-over-year growth from 2012-2013.
“It’s great, and is a nice accomplishment for myself and partners after a long road behind us in 2008 and 2009,” said Michael Thanasouras, managing director at SVN | Chicago Commercial. “We’ve been in a growth mode since the downturn happened. After that we started to really push for growth because we thought the timing was right. A lot of people had gotten out of the business, and some firms had either closed or combined, so we knew that there was an opportunity.”
Thanasouras noted that SVN | Chicago Commercial has demonstrated an impressive expansion in market share.
“I don’t think our name was well-known as some of the other corporate, national firms,” he said. “Although Sperry Van Ness was very well known in the western United States and over the last five years, their expansion has grown with a lot more strength heading east. We definitely wanted to push upon that in the Chicago marketplace.”
Sperry Van Ness International Corporation has also increased its profile recently on a global level, achieving the number six ranking in the Lipsey Company’s 2015 Top 25 Commercial Real Estate Brand Survey. The annual Lipsey Company survey is one of the most trusted surveys in the commercial real estate industry, compiling more than 100,000 votes from industry professionals.
“They have actually added a handful of offices,” said Thanasouras. “Along with their tertiary market offices, they have also really made an effort to get into some of the larger markets across the country. With that in mind, growing the larger offices a little bit, such as the Chicago office. International presence has been a major importance as well.”
SVN also supports a cooperative brokerage system that encourages outside firms to work with SVN brokers. Unlike many national commercial real estate firms, SVN shares commissions 50/50 with cooperating brokers 100 percent of the time, allowing for clients and brokers to get the maximum amount of exposure for their listings as well as the highest price.
“It’s a unique group of people at SVN, and we have the mentality that we are willing to cooperate with other brokers,” Thanasouras noted. “We think by doing so, and putting our clients in front of our own interests, in the long run our clients will make more money and so will we.”
According to Thanasouras, the firm’s culture subscribes to an entrepreneurial philosophy that does not act to stymie a broker’s ambition, but rather encourages them to be creative and service clients wherever needs exist, whether it be across multiple asset classes or in different geographies.
“We really do live by that, it’s not just a saying,” he said. “In this business you know that brokers are really independent contractors. They are not employees of the companies in most cases, as there are a few exceptions. That being said, they are all individual business owners, and our job is really to look at all of our brokers as though they are our clients. What we are here to do is service them so that they can be the best that they can be, and help them to become better brokers.”
“I’d like to say that we did it all,” Thanasouras added. “But the basis of it is that you have to create the culture. We have to be here—myself, my partners Al and Scott—and work hard every day. The owners and partners in the company have to be involved. I think that if we were absent and not in the business on a daily basis, why would anybody else working with, or for, us be motivated to? So we practice what we preach, and we’re excited. It’s always great to be on top, and now the hard part starts to stay on top.”
Led by partners Thanasouras, Alfred Stepan and Scott Maesel, managing directors, SVN | Chicago Commercial delivers full-service capabilities to the Chicago market, in the sale and leasing of land, retail, industrial, office, multifamily and specialty properties. In recent years, the firm has also added an auction group, SVN | AuctionWorks; a property management partnership, SVN | Crossroads property management; and a new restaurant business/real estate brokerage group.