Transwestern Buys CRE Services Firm

The Chicago bean. Image courtesy of Transwestern

Transwestern Real Estate Services has acquired MB Real Estate, a private full-service commercial real estate firm based in Chicago. The company serves corporate tenants, government entities, as well as private and institutional landlords. The sales price was not disclosed.

Originated in November of last year, the transaction greatly expands Transwestern’s Chicago portfolio of brokerage and office management. The firm, a private company founded almost 45 years ago, is already one of the nation’s largest property management and CRE leasing services providers in the U.S., with some 2,100 employees nationwide.

Starting on January 1st, the MBRE team of 120 employees joined the Midwest Transwestern team, a more than 300-person operation responsible for some 44 million square feet of commercial properties. MBRE contributed its 12 million square foot regional property management portfolio to the deal.

MBRE, founded in 1982, offers services in property management, leasing, project management, tenant representation and investment services. The company has completed projects for Astellas Pharma, US, Inc. and Coyote Logistics as well as transacted its own large scale MOB purchases in Chicago.

The Michigan Plaza, 181 West Madison St., 550 West Washington Blvd. and other properties such as Millennium Park and the Richard H. Daley Center are all under MBRE’s leasing and management portfolio.

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Leasing and portfolio management team members from MBRE transitioning to Transwestern include Executive Vice President and Managing Directors Mark Buth and Suzanne Hendrick and Senior Vice President & Director of Operations Andre Wiggins. MBRE’s corporate real estate services, led by Executive Vice President & Managing Director Andrew Davidson, and project services headed by Executive Vice President & Managing Director David Graff, will deepen Transwestern’s national tenant advisory expertise.

Transwestern was highly active in deals last year, from gaining approval for a 375,000-square-foot biomanufacturing campus in the Bay Area, to partnering with WeWork to broker a new D.C. coworking space. With the MBRE acquisition, the company has increased its presence in Chicago, while adding to its national service offerings.