Newmark Acquires McCall & Almy

Bill McCall, President & Founder, McCall & Almy Inc. Image courtesy of Newmark Group Inc.

Newmark Group Inc. continues its strategic expansion plan with the acquisition of leading Boston-based McCall & Almy Inc. Through the purchase of McCall & Almy, Newmark brings into the fold one of the Boston area’s top tenant representation and real estate advisory firms and its highly respected team of industry players.

McCall & Almy made its debut in 1990, founded by Bill McCall and the late David Almy. The firm has since become one of the most prominent names in real estate services, providing expert proficiency in a bevy of sectors, including office, medical, academic, life science and industrial. Its roster of longtime clients includes the likes of Harvard University, Bose and Partners HealthCare System. Since its establishment, McCall & Almy has closed more than 5,000 transactions totaling in excess of $50 billion.

Along the way, Bill McCall, also president of McCall & Almy, emerged as a veritable icon in the business across the metro area and has long been widely known as the dean of Boston’s commercial real estate industry.

The Commercial Broker Association‘s McCall Leadership Award, the highest honor for brokers in the state of Massachusetts, is indicative of the respect and admiration McCall commands in his field. He brings his reputation and his redoubtable experience in the business with him to Newmark, where he will join the company’s partners in the tenant representation practice and the real estate advisory practice. McCall, however, won’t disappear from the annals of Boston’s commercial real estate history and become a small fish in a big pond.

“Bill McCall is not changing his name and will forevermore be the Dean of Boston’s commercial real estate industry,” Barry Gosin, CEO of Newmark Group Inc., told Commercial Property Executive. “We anticipate Bill will make client introductions for Newmark as he identifies value in an opportunity, but Newmark will be holding the door for Bill.”

Not just a boys’ club

When Newmark pursues a firm for acquisition, it has quite a lengthy list of criteria, and diversity is on that list. McCall & Almy fit the bill. The firm has an ethnically diverse staff and many of its executives have been recognized as leading women in real estate on various notable lists over the last several years.

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“Newmark has ambitious goals for diversity and inclusion across our firm, employee network, client relationships and community,” Gosin said. “McCall & Almy has a culture of creating compelling career paths for women into leadership and revenue-generating positions within the commercial real estate advisory space, and we very much value the importance. We look forward to uniting the cultures, learning from and applying McCall & Almy’s success to our culture.”

Growth mode

The announcement of Newmark’s acquisition of McCall & Almy comes just days after the company’s disclosure of its purchase of leading London-based real estate advisory firm, BH2, which will now operate as Newmark BH2. Newmark has set its sights on evolving into the global commercial real estate leader in advisory and client services as well as capital markets, according to Gosin. To that end, the company is expanding not only via the acquisition of premier firms in key gateway markets in the U.S. and around the world but also through partnerships and the recruitment of senior talent.

More announcements are sure to come. “Specifically, Newmark is targeting the world’s financial capitals—London, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong—and deepening its presence in the U.S.,” Gosin added. “CRE professionals outside the U.S. are attracted to Newmark’s entrepreneurial, fast-moving culture and flat corporate structure. Our culture, which creates incredible opportunities for learning, mentorship, growth and leadership for our employees, has positively helped us to attract and retain talent.”