Commercial Real Estate

SVN agent among top nationwide
Sperry Van Ness Commercial Advisory Group agent Gail Bowden is solidifying her place in the upper echelon of the nationwide brokerage firm.

Through August, Bowden ranks fifth among all advisers at the commercial brokerage franchisor, which operates in 35 states and has more than 1,200 agents, according to its website.

Even more impressive, the four agents who ranked higher through the first eight months of 2015 come from much larger cities: San Francisco, Minneapolis, Dallas and Cincinnati, according to an internal company ranking.

Bowden, a senior investment adviser, is no stranger to being among the brokerage's top agents. In 2014, she was named “Advisor of the Year” and to the company's prestigious “Partners Circle.” The year before, Bowden was named a “Top Producer” after selling more than $25 million in commercial property.

She has specialized in both medical office building and industrial property sales, and in all has closed more than $200 million worth of deals. Bowden, who has been in commercial real estate for more than three decades, has been with Sperry Van Ness since January 2009.

Colliers prez weighs in on GE
If General Electric Co. decides to pull up its corporate stakes from Connecticut, it would have nearly a dozen sites to consider in the Tampa Bay area for a new headquarters, says the local president of commercial real estate brokerage Colliers International.

Ryan Kratz contends that between downtown Tampa, where Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik is hoping to lure a headquarters to his planned Channelside development; St. Petersburg, where developer Larry Feldman has proposed a 52-story, mixed-use tower containing offices; and multiple developable sites in the city's Westshore district, GE would have a lot to consider for its roughly 150,000-square-foot office requirement.

The company also would likely benefit from a solid local talent pool and its proximity to Tampa International Airport.

“I absolutely think it's plausible that they'd come here,” Kratz says. “The region has done a good job in communicating and refining its message about the benefits of relocating here,” he added. “We're on a roll.”