On the heels of its merger with international real estate powerhouse DTZ,Cushman & Wakefield of Florida Inc. has snapped up a Florida firm with a presence in each of the Sunshine State’s biggest markets.

Cushman this week closed on its acquisition of Tampa-based Taylor & Mathis of Florida, adding about 120 employees to its Florida footprint. Of those, about 100 are in property management, with the remainder in brokerage and leadership positions.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

With the acquisition, Cushman becomes the second largest property management firm in Florida. The combined company will have a management portfolio of 41 million square feet, employing 270 property managers.

Hank Brenner, president of Taylor & Mathis of Florida, said Wednesday that he and Larry Richey, Florida market leader for Cushman, have had conversations about a potential acquisition dating back years.

“The days of the small guys seem to be limited,” Brenner said, “and we felt like we wanted to get the right fit, and again, this felt like absolutely the right fit.”

Cushman & Wakefield, like its peers in commercial real estate, has an international network through which to market properties and potentially draw new clients. Under Richey’s leadership, Cushman’s Florida network combines the resources of a major corporation with an entrepreneurial vibe in its local offices.

“In my view, this is the single largest acquisition opportunity that’s surfaced in Florida in the last 10 years, maybe 20 years,” Richey said.

Taylor & Mathis has property management and brokerage employees in Tampa, Orlando and Miami. In Jacksonville, the company has a small presence, handling the management of a half-million-square-foot building.

No employees will be cut, Richey said. Taylor & Mathis employees in each market will move into Cushman offices.

One of the biggest changes for the Taylor & Mathis employees will be the available resources, like Cushman’s data and marketing said Damien Madsen, principal in Taylor & Mathis’ Orlando office.

“We try to do so much stuff on our own,” he said. “Having access to resources is going to be a huge, huge benefit to us.”

 

Source:  TBBJ