The new office will operate under the direction of Ed Indvik,president of Lee & Associates' Riverside County operations,with brokers in the new office to serve the greater CoachellaValley area. Indvik describes Palm Desert as "one of the fastestgrowing emerging markets in Southern California," adding that theopening of the new location is part of the company's strategic planto capture real estate opportunities in growing and expandingmarkets. The firm plans to open offices in every significantcentral business district and submarket by the year 2010, includingsignificant expansion in the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest andNorthwest regions of the country.

The four co-founders of the Palm Desert office include RobertYoung, senior vice president and shareholder; Polo Doria, seniorvice president and shareholder; Noel Ramos, vice president andshareholder and Dallas Pulliam, vice president and shareholder. Thefirm's Palm Desert team includes veteran brokers who specialize inthe local market and have wide-ranging experience in leasing andsales of office, industrial, retail properties and landinvestment.

Indvik says that the office founders will be in a position totake advantage of growth that includes a population base projectedto double in 10 years. The new office is at 41990 Cook St., alocation in the center of the Coachella Valley market as well ascentral to most office and business parks in the area.