Savills drops Studley name from firm

As it approaches the fifth anniversary of its purchase of tenant rep commercial real estate brokerage Studley Inc., London-based Savills plc has decided to simplify its identity and drop the Studley name.

The move will better align Savills’ North American operations with those of the rest of the globe, company officials say. From here on out, the company’s website will be www.savills.us, and

In Florida, the former Savills Studley Inc. maintains offices in Orlando, Miami and a Tampa office led by broker Cheri O'Neil, and the change isn’t likely to affect those operations dramatically, says Christopher White, the firm’s head for the Southeast U.S.

“This rebranding reflects who we are historically,” White says. “The world has gotten flatter and flatter, as Thomas Friedman once wrote, and we know now we need to be unified as a company.

“This will make our business that much more seamless as we globalize services,” he adds.

Savills acquired the brokerage begun by Julien Studley in 1954 for $260 million in May 2014. Since then, the New York-based firm has added 10 North American offices — from Atlanta to Minneapolis to Seattle — and 300 new employees, while bumping up transactional revenue by 55% and cross-border transactions by 122% annually.

The move brought Savills, a 160-year-old company listed on the London Stock Exchange with 660 offices in 71 countries worldwide, into North America.