Ben Loughry, Integra's managing partner in Dallas/Fort Worth, is the overseer for the consolidated force. Cannon will be its executive director. Integra managing directors Anthony Sanna in Detroit and Anthony Graziano in New Jersey also will have starring roles in the plan, which has been under negotiation for the past six to eight months.

"We now have ownership in the Miami office of Integra," Loughry tells GlobeSt.com. "It's a great opportunity for us and for them." The transaction closed yesterday afternoon.

Cannon, a recognized expert in Miami and newspaper columnist, will be working the streets fulltime, applying his skills as always on complex transactions. With added muscle from the other three Integra offices, the 20-member Miami team will now be able to expand into single-tenant and smaller multi-tenant office assignments.

"He didn't have the capacity for that huge market before," Loughry says. "We gave him the ability to do what he enjoys most and us to grow the office by doing these other property assignments." In turn, Loughry says Cannon's market expertise will be an invaluable resource for the other participating offices.

Integra offices are owned by principals in respective markets, who have an additional stake in the New York City-based corporate hierarchy. Loughry is a board member and founding stockholder in the nine-year-old Integra, which has 57 offices in the US and Mexico. Loughry hinted that the four-office consolidation might not be the last one for the new partners and longtime business associates, extending a merger peace pipe to other South Florida appraisal practices to join the new team.

Since its launch as one of the original Integra offices, Loughry has built the 52-member Dallas/Fort Worth office into a broad-based consulting firm. The Detroit and Coastal New Jersey offices have extensive expertise in portfolio analysis, shopping centers and office development. As a result, Loughry says they are a good match with Cannon, whose 40-year consulting and valuation practice targets highly complex transactions, including resolution disputes for municipal governments in land-use issues. With the change, Mark A. Cannon, director of the Miami office's residential appraisal division, will focus on expanding his division's clients.

"Michael has been quoted as the 'undisputed forecaster' and is sought out for his analysis of market conditions, trends and the feasibility of complex, high-profile property transactions," Loughry says in a press release. Cannon's credentials include being a member of the executive committee of the Urban Land Institute Southeast Council.

Loughry says the plan calls for an expansion in Miami and opens the door for transfers from the participating offices. "We are going to increase the number of people very substantially, 50% or more in the next 12 months," he says.