ATLANTA-In a move to expand its leasing and management platform, Canadian real estate services firm Avison Young has acquired the majority of Barry Real Estate Co.s’ third-party business unit. The Atlanta-based developer’s property management and leasing portfolio adds about 600,000 square feet of office leasing and management properties to Avison’s 50 million square feet of assets under management in the U.S. and Canada. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Avison Young immediately assumes property management of four buildings in Atlanta totaling nearly 600,000 square feet: 30 Allen Plaza; Lenox Plaza; Lenox Center; and 2045 Peachtree. Avison Young will also handle the leasing in 30 Allen Plaza and 2045 Peachtree. Major tenants in 30 Allen Plaza include the Southern Company, and the law firm of Balch & Bingham LLP.

“This acquisition expands the office side of our agency platform and is a deliberate step in executing on our growth plan,” Steve Dils, Avison Young principal and managing director of the company’s Atlanta office, said in a statement. “The expansion is a logical move for us, and we are excited about our new relationship with the owners of these properties and the opportunity to continue our growth.”

Avison Young, which also acquired Atlanta-based Hodges Management and Leasing Company in July 2010, now has in excess of 20 million square feet under management in Atlanta. The moves are part of the changing face of Atlanta’s commercial real estate sector in a down economy. The company plans to do more acquisitions and  partnerships to grow the Avison Young brand internationally.

“Sometimes companies that have operating platforms do third-party management and leasing acquisitions because they are buying into a cash flowing business,” Jahn Brodwin, senior managing director of Real Estate Solutions at FTI Consulting, tells GlobeStcom. “It also gives them a presence in a marketplace they may want to be in. It will give them insider access, if you will, to deals that they might not otherwise see.”

Although Brodwin is not familiar with the state of Barry Real Estate, he speculates the company may have sold its third-party services in order to raise revenue. He says it is a common strategy for firms that need to recapitalize cash flowing assets and shore up the balance sheets of other assets that are potentially in some level of distress.

“We see quite a bit of acquisitions and we are going to see more over the next couple of years as the world deleverages itself,” Brodwin says. “Each company will evaluate each deal individually and in cases where there is solid real estate that is just too highly leveraged, they may sell.”