Alan Joel, newly installed president of the Atlanta CommercialBoard of Realtors, has run his own firm for the past 14 years whileDan Granot, a former GVA Advantis executive, went independent threeyears ago. The principals have at least 20 years of commercial realestate experience each, primarily in office tenantrepresentation.

"Our goal, hopefully, is to become the dominant real estate firmin Atlanta," Granot tells GlobeSt.com. He points out that recentmergers among larger commercial real estate brokerages have takenaway the type of direct access and relationship-based servicedemanded by small and mid-sized clients.

Joel adds that even though the recession is not a primary factorin the merger, realizing economies of scale and being able to offergreater local office market knowledge is helpful for both the firmand its customers. "It exponentially increases the value toclients," he says. "It gives them two firms for the price ofone."