Commercial Real Estate

Evergreen taps CBRE
While landlords often try to spread assignments among various vendors and service providers to maintain good relations and leverage expertise, Evergreen Industrial Properties' recent play in Pinellas County may have set a new high-water mark for owner diversification.

In the wake of its $103 million deal to acquire five business parks containing 34 buildings in August, Evergreen hired commercial real estate services firm JLL to lease up the properties, which were 84% committed to FedEx, Lockheed Martin, Jabil, L-3 Communications and others at the time of the purchase.

Given the push by service providers like JLL to become “one-stop shops” for institutional clients, it was widely assumed the Chicago-based company also would be retained to manage the 1.66 million square feet in the Gateway Business Center, Metropointe Commerce Park, Westbay Corporate Center, Joe's Creek Industrial Park and Gateway Business Center.

But earlier this month, CBRE Group Inc. — the nation's largest commercial real estate services firm and a JLL competitor — announced it had been tapped by Evergreen to manage the five parks.

Oakland, Calif.-based Evergreen declined to comment on its selections, or on why CBRE and JLL rival Cushman & Wakefield — which earlier this month was purchased in a $2 billion deal by Evergreen parent TPG Capital, of Texas — also wasn't given the nod for the St. Petersburg leasing or managing.

Former Yankee steps up to lead
Sarasota-based residential brokerage powerhouse Michael Saunders & Co. has named a former New York Yankees' first-round pick to lead its commercial real estate division.

Matt Drews, 41, took over the 12-agent division Sept. 1 from Dennis Dahm, who stepped down earlier this year to focus on brokerage.

Drews expects to leverage Saunders' residential capabilities to boost the division's estimated $100 million in 2015 transactional volume.

“I see this as an opportunity to lead a team and be part of a company that has a great reputation,” Drews says.

Drews previously worked for UBS Financial Services, the defunct Stanford Financial Group, owned part of a water delivery franchise and was affiliated with One Sarasota Realty, where he brokered retail deals and assembled multifamily land.