SAN DIEGO—Avison Young has opened a new office in San Diego, and Jerry Keeney has joined to lead the team. 

Mark E. Rose, chair and CEO of the firm, said today that the newest American office marks Avison Young's 22nd market outside of Canada and an additional step in the firm's ongoing aggressive growth and expansion strategy.

Over the past four years, Avison Young has grown from 11 to, now, 44 offices in 36 markets and from 300 to more than 1,200 real estate professionals across Canada and the U.S. The new San Diego office represents the company's sixth office in Southern California. 

Effective immediately, Keeney joins Avison Young as a Principal and will oversee the operations and growth of the San Diego office, as well as service clients. He will also focus on further expanding the company's landlord agency leasing, tenant representation and investment sales practice in Southern California. Keeney was most recently Managing Director of Cassidy Turley's San Diego office.

“Avison Young's expansion into San Diego is of critical importance to Avison Young's overall Southern California strategic plan,” comments Rose. “Jerry is a highly experienced leasing and investment sales professional with deep knowledge of the institutional markets, which is especially beneficial to our rapidly growing leasing, capital markets and investment sales practice across the U.S. We are very pleased to have Jerry join us to spearhead our growth in San Diego. He has extensive experience in the market and brings with him the knowledge of both client development and strategy execution.”

Canada's largest independently-owned commercial real estate services company, Avison Young opened its first Southern California office in Los Angeles in August 2011, followed by a second L.A. office in December 2011 through the acquisition of Ramsey-Shilling Commercial Real Estate Services, Inc. In March 2012, industry leader Chris Cooper joined as a Principal and Managing Director of the Southern California region. In September 2012, Avison Young acquired Starrpoint Commercial Partners, Inc. and opened a third L.A. office in Santa Monica. In November 2012, Avison Young opened its fourth L.A. office in Downtown L.A., followed that same month by a new office in Irvine, CA.

Effective immediately, Avison Young's new San Diego office will be located at 4225 Executive Square, Suite 600, La Jolla CA, 92037. The office is situated in the University Towne Center (UTC) submarket of San Diego between downtown San Diego and North County, and minutes away from the Village of La Jolla.

“With his long history of market dominance and leadership throughout San Diego County, Jerry is the optimal brand builder. We look forward to leveraging his longstanding track record to provide best-in-class service delivery to our clients,” says Cooper.

He adds: “With breakthrough technology companies and research organizations, the largest military population in the world, and a strong tourism industry, San Diego County has one of the most diverse and dynamic economies in the country. Boasting an overall office market base of more than 74 million square feet, and with five consecutive quarters of positive net absorption, San Diego is poised for sustained growth for both our clients and our firm.” 

Jerry Keeney brings to Avison Young 25 years of commercial real estate experience in the U.S. and Asia. He has extensive experience with tenant representation, leasing and investment sales. Prior to joining Avison Young, he spent two years as a life sciences property sales and leasing broker with Cassidy Turley-BRE Commercial in San Diego. During each year of his tenure with Cassidy Turley-BRE Commercial, he ranked as a Top 5 producer.

“I am thrilled to have this opportunity to open and build Avison Young's San Diego office,” says Keeney. “Having had the unique opportunity to open and build offices in Hong Kong, Hawaii and San Diego, I look forward to leveraging my experience and entrepreneurial acumen as we pursue our strategy in Southern California. Avison Young's commitment to its long-term growth strategy and vision to build the leading global commercial real estate services firm is something I am excited to be a part of. I am very impressed with the company's innovative client-service model and high-integrity partnership culture.”

Avison Young was a winner of Canada's Best Managed Companies program in 2011 and the company announced last month that it had requalified in 2012 to maintain its status as a Best Managed company.