MIAMI—There’s a new commercial real estate firm in town—actually, in two towns.
Earl Wesson and Mia Stierheim have launched Stierheim and Wesson Retail Realty Inc. with offices in Indian Rocks Beach and Miami. Stierheim, senior vice president of Retail Services, will head the Miami office while Wesson, president, will head the Indian Rocks Beach office.

Why start a new commercial real estate firm now? Stierhem tells GlobeSt.com that she and her partner have discovered that clients need a higher level of personalized service.

“There are greater expectations for hands-on, fast turn-around results with a higher degree of integrity in today's environment than ever before,” Stierhem says. “Large corporate commercial firms have a structured platform that can hinder the amount of time dedicated for each and every client. These large firms also departmentalize industry categories to specific areas, which can create red tape and less flexibility when servicing a client's overall needs.”

Stierheim and Wesson is off to a good start. The firm has been named the exclusive representing broker for Pei Wei Asian Diners, a restaurant concept owned by PF Changs for their expansion in all of Miami-Dade, Broward, Colliers and Lee counties.

Stierheim sees repositioning of existing properties jumping to the next level. She and Wesson worked on the entire repositioning of CocoWalk in Coconut Grove in 2006-2007. Even though hurt by the current economy, the mixed-use lifestyle center is surviving.

“If CocoWalk had not been repositioned it would be another Bay Walk, and surely closed or over 60% vacant today,” Stierhem says. “We project that for older retail centers within good locations, in order to survive, keeping their national as well as attracting new national tenants, they must be repositioned or redeveloped. Aside from the grocery arena, redevelopment of retail in many instances, given the distressed prices for existing properties, is much less expensive than new construction.”

Stierheim was previously director of retail services at Colliers International South. Wesson is a Tampa developer and owner of Wesson Realty and Development, and was previously director of real estate for Kash n’ Karry Grocery Stores. Recently, he has developed several Publix Grocery Stores throughout Florida and has been retained in providing site selection for a number of large box retailers.

Stierheim admits there are challenges. The biggest challenge in today’s environment, she says, is twofold. As she sees it, dealing with lenders for distressed assets can be extremely cumbersome and complex. Therefore, she says, the number of properties that are underwater to be sold or in need of repositioning can be held stagnant for extended periods of time—and, if they can be acquired the timeframes are not reasonable.

“On the other side of the coin, many tenant's have expectations of lower rates given the current economy,” Stierheim says. “Many national tenants require high tenant improvement dollars and we're finding landlords reluctant to offer the lower rates or higher allowances because they are struggling to hang on to their properties. Quality time and analysis using our expertise will be required for each and every client, therefore we must remain a hands-on firm never biting off more than we can service.”