The overall concept of the plan, which has been crafted through an exhaustive series of meetings with local offices across the country, rests upon Barovick's employee-backed conviction that the firm's future success depends upon identifying clients at the local level and presenting them with a full menu of national and global services. In addition to its vast US resources, the Grubb platform includes its alliance with London-based Knight Frank for European, Asian and African business, Avison Young's Canadian operations and Grubb & Ellis Best/White LLC in Mexico. And every Grubb employee will have access to, and familiarity with the breadth and depth of that information.

"A significant part of the Project Iowa plan is integrated services to our clients and that includes global delivery," says Ray O'Keefe, Grubb & Ellis' executive vice president and director of international operations. "What the international operations provide is the selection and integration of our international alliance and affiliate partners."

"The beauty of [Project Iowa] is that it's global but services are still delivered locally," Barovick tells GlobeSt.com. "The company really needed to begin to change its model. As clients have begun to demonstrate more integration the company had to move in that direction."