Avison Young Acquires Business Lines From Madison Marquette

Woodbranch III – Linde Plaza, Houston; right top, 5555 San Felipe, Houston, and right bottom, One Hanover Park, Dallas. Image courtesy of Madison Marquette

Avison Young is acquiring the office and industrial property management, agency leasing and project management service lines from Madison Marquette that will add more than 20 million square feet under management to its portfolio and 235 professionals to its team.

The acquisition will add a new market in Hawaii and bolster Avison Young’s growing presence in 11 states including Texas, California and East Coast markets. The deal is expected to close in September. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

In Texas, Avison Young will gain 68 property management assets with a total of 12.2 million square feet. The Houston market makes the largest addition to the property management portfolio with 54 buildings totaling 11.2 million square feet. Dallas adds 14 buildings totaling 966,451 million square feet. Properties include Woodbranch III – Linde Plaza and 5555 San Felipe, both in Houston, and One Hanover Park in Dallas.

The acquisition also adds 27 buildings in California totaling 4.2 million square feet and 2.5 million square feet of East Coast assets. In Hawaii, seven buildings totaling 1.2 million square feet will become part of the portfolio. Most of the Hawaiian assets are Class A buildings in downtown Honolulu. Major institutional clients are also represented in the portfolio including CenterPoint Energy, Starwood Property Trust LLC, and Principal Global Investors, according to Avison Young.

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Seven Madison Marquette executives will join Avison Young. In Houston, Wade Bowlin will become principal and managing director. He will be joined by Kim Shapiro and Brad Sinclair as principals focusing on agency leasing, and Brenda Dougherty, who will become principal, director, Texas Real Estate Management Services. In Irvine, Calif., Jim Proehl will join as principal and director of the Western Region, Real Estate Management Services. Eileen Doody and Mark Mattis will join as principals specializing in agency leasing.

The deal also includes a partnership enabling Madison Marquette to access Avison Young’s data analytics, technology and global real estate platform called AVANT by Avison Young.

Transformative Opportunity

Randel Waites, principal and managing director, U.S. Real Estate Management Services Group at Avison Young, said in a prepared statement that growing the firm’s real estate management platform across the U.S. is a strategic priority. Waites said the transaction underscores the company’s commitment to delivering new, improved and expanded services in all markets, especially those that are critical to the growing needs of their clients.

Madison Marquette CEO Vince Costantini called the transaction a transformative opportunity for both companies to build on their core strengths to achieve competitive advantage. Costantini said in prepared remarks the firm made the strategic choice to move a portion of its services to Avison Young to better serve their office clients.

Costantini has been CEO of Madison Marquette since a March 2019 merger with his former company, The Roseview Group, a Boston-based boutique institutional real estate investment and advisory company. A year earlier, Madison Marquette had merged with PMRG, a Houston firm.

Amer Hammour, chairman of the Washington, D.C.,-based investor, developer and operator of mixed-use real estate, said in a prepared statement Madison Marquette will focus on enhancing and growing its core investment management programs and advisory services, including retail and mixed-use property management and development. Hammour said the firm will be building on its expertise in the retail, mixed-use, multifamily, office and medical and senior living sectors.

Avison Young Growth

The Madison Marquette deal is another example of how Avison Young continues growing its service offerings through acquisitions. In December, Avison Young acquired Dowling Houy, a Boston boutique firm specializing in life sciences and project management services. Jeanne MacLellan, a longtime Dowling Houy principal, joined Avison Young as principal.

The Dowling Houy transaction was one of several made last year when the firm was focused on expanding its client experience and professional services teams to best help occupiers, owners and investors navigate increasingly complex and accelerating market needs around future of work and city resiliency. In September 2021, the firm expanded its debt and equity finance services presence in New York City with the acquisition of The Singer & Bassuk Organization LLC, a boutique real estate finance brokerage and advisory firm and its powerhouse team of five commercial real estate finance veterans including SBO founders Andrew and Scott Singer.