Running Marcus & Millichap's Downtown office is Stephen K. Rachman, who has been sales manager at the firm's office at 8750 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. under managing director Greg Moyer. Rachman says his West Loop office will be staffed with 16 agents, but Marcus & Millichap president and CEO Harvey E. Green promises "a cadre of 25 to 30" should be working there this summer.

The opening is part of a corporate strategy that includes 14 new offices since 1995, with another three in the works. Meanwhile, Marcus & Millichap's sales force has doubled to about 700 during the last nine years. A second Chicago office is expected to help the company move product and capital between buyers and sellers.

"The reason is the amount of activity and growth of our first Chicago office has been so significant over the last three years that we think a second Chicago office will allow us to serve the Chicagoland market better," Green tells GlobeSt.com. "Although it's an old cliché, we do like to think globally but act locally. The way the Chicagoland market is, having those key strategic locations gives us better coverage for our clients and coverage in terms of the product types that we're involved in the arena of investment real estate."Green says business has increased "over 25% a year over the last three years" in the existing operation along the Kennedy Expressway.

Rachman admits replicating that success will be his biggest challenge, but he is confident of success Downtown. In addition to a maturating Marcus & Millichap brand, as well as a now-veteran sales staff, he concedes the "phenomenal" growth is partly a product of a low-interest-rate environment coupled with a lack of alternative investments.

"The stars, the sun and the moon have aligned," Rachman says. Despite stagnant or declining net operating incomes, property owners have seen values soar to new heights, he adds. "That's been a paradox in the marketplace," Rachman says.

After a sharp drop in 2002, multifamily sales involving Downtown assets sold for more than $5 million jumped to $264 million last year, according to Appraisal Research Counselors' most recent "Residential Benchmark Report."

However, in addition to multifamily, Green notes Marcus & Millichap brokers hit to all sectors of commercial real estate, including senior housing, manufactured housing, infill land, hospitality as well as the mainstays of office, industrial and retail.

Rachman's staff will include some brokers from the Bryn Mawr Avenue office as well as a number of new hires, Green says.