2022 Top Commercial Development Firms

Find out which firms made CPE’s annual list of industry leaders.

Research Center CPE

You can also read our other Top Development Firms rankings.

RankCompanySF Completed 2019-2021SF Under Construction*Property Sectors
1Trammell Crow Co.       48,090,817       73,032,349O, I, H, He, X
2Lincoln Property Co.       36,800,000       18,500,000O, I, R, H, He, X
3Tishman Speyer       14,000,000       22,100,000O, X
4Hines       20,239,533       31,715,987O, I, R, H, X
5Stream Realty Partners         9,305,105       15,462,734O, I, R, X
6The Related Cos.         8,364,241       13,792,480O, R, H
7Sansone Group         6,917,062         7,221,785I, R, X
8Flaherty & Collins Properties         3,095,123         1,557,335R, He, X
9Transwestern Investment Group         2,101,939         1,688,865I
10First Industrial Realty Trust         7,244,971         5,818,757I
11KDC Real Estate Development & Investments         5,836,514         2,204,108O
12Crescent Communities         2,256,868         1,533,009O, I, X
13WS Development         3,500,000         2,600,000O, R, H, He, X
14Greystar –          3,737,982O, I, H, X
15McCraney Property Co.         5,430,000         6,750,000I
16Ashley Capital LLC         6,860,000         2,802,000I
17TMG Partners –          2,000,000O
18HSA Commercial Real Estate         3,733,950         4,343,095I, He
19Transwestern Development Co.         7,874,904            235,650I
20Hunt Cos.         1,478,153            717,511O, I, R, H, He, X
21Billingsley Co.         1,075,964         1,751,770O, I, R
22The Inland Real Estate Group of Cos.             500,000            150,000I, R, H, He
23Holt Lunsford Commercial          3,000,000            850,000I
24Palladium USA                11,242              14,000R

* As of June 30, 2022

Key: O=Office; I=Industrial; R=Retail; H=Hospitality; He=Health care; X=Other

Though we make every effort to include all major commercial developers, several notable firms (among them SL Green, Bridge Industrial and Prologis) did not participate this year.

To be included in upcoming surveys, email Agota Felhazi at [email protected]

Industrial Project Dominates Activity

The last several years have brought unique challenges for commercial real estate developers. In addition to coping with rising costs, they have had to rebalance inventories to match shifting demand brought on by the pandemic.

Among all sectors, industrial remains a hot commodity, with new supply unable to keep pace with demand. As a result, developers continue to focus heavily on this property type. According to a recent CommercialEdge report, 703 million square feet of industrial space are under construction, with another 650.3 million square feet in the planning stages.

Office deliveries have slowed compared to pre-pandemic volume, and the new-supply pipeline may not produce construction starts at former levels anytime soon. Still, the amount of new office space in 2022 is on track to match 2021’s 62.2 million square feet, according to CommercialEdge data. Office construction starts, however, have not dropped as much as expected. That is a good sign for a sector with an outlook clouded by the rise of remote and hybrid work models.

In this year’s Top Commercial Developers ranking, Trammell Crow Co. holds the top spot with more than 73 million square feet under construction as of June 30, 2022, and over 48 million square feet delivered between 2019 and 2021. Lincoln Property Co. is in second place, with 36.8 million square feet completed during the same period. Rounding out the top three is Tishman Speyer, with 22.1 million square feet of commercial space underway.

Combined, our top developers had more than 220 million square feet under construction across all property sectors at the end of June. Unsurprisingly, many reported a large portion of their commercial portfolios developed between 2019 to 2021 were in the industrial sector.

—Claire Spodoni, Senior Research Analyst, Yardi Matrix

Methodology

The 2022 CPE Top Commercial Development Firms ranking utilized self-reported data for all companies. Our rankings utilize weighted formulas based on a variety of factors (only a few of which are specified here), including current and future plans, market value of projects completed and under construction, and geographic and property diversification. The ranking represents what we feel is a logical balance between firm growth and market share.

Read the December 2022 issue of CPE.