CHICAGO-It took 12 years, but Greg Gerber has finally returned to Studley in his desired hometown here as an executive vice president. John Buck, Gerber’s former employer, said it’s a win-win all around, as the locally based John Buck Co. is moving to focus more on the investment and fund business.

Gerber brought along to Studley the other three Strategic Advisory Group staff members from Buck: managing directors Sarah Cogswell and Chris Tarzon, and assistant director Scott Merz. Gerber also brings clients such as Aon, Chase, Greenberg Traurig and Northwestern Memorial Hopsital.

He had helped build the Studley office here about 20 years ago, said EVP and branch manager John Goodman in a statement. However, Studley needs took Gerber to California in the late 1990s, Gerber tells GlobeSt.com. “Buck made me an offer to return to Chicago, it’s where I wanted to be,” he says. “Now, I’m happy to be back here and at Studley. It’s not a big surprise that my core business is what Studley does.”

He says despite what enthusiastic landlords have touted about recovery, as long as unemployment is high in Chicago, office vacancy will remain at more than 15%. “It’s still very much a tenants’ market, and I believe users will still be in the driver’s seat in 2012,” Gerber says. “That being said, it’s getting tighter for large users, of blocks between 50,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet – they have to get smarter. Large users are going to have to be more selective and start a bit earlier on deals today in the downtown.

In a statement, Buck said he valued Gerber’s contributions to his company. “But this was a strategic, corporate decision to narrow our focus,” he said. A Buck spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com that the company had no further comment.

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Buck Tenant Team Leaves for Studley

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