GAITHERSBURG, MD- Avison Young, a Toronto-based commercial real estate services firm with a seemingly insatiable appetite for acquisitions, has scooped up the locally-based McShea & Co., which focuses on the suburban Maryland submarkets. The deal brings an additional 150 employees to Avison Young's suburban Maryland operations. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquisition makes Avison Young one of the largest real estate firms in the area, with more than 250 staff members under its roof. Its local leasing practice increases to approximately 30 million square feet and properties under management in the region expand to 10 million square feet.

McShea & Co. founders Tim McShea and Jack McShea, along with Len Mongeon, Laurie Craft, Steve Lynch and Bob Dickman are becoming principals of Avison Young. Tim McShea and Mongeon also become co-managing directors of Avison Young's suburban Maryland office, while Craft also becomes director of Commercial Property Management, and Lynch, director of Residential Management.

This transaction is Avison Young's 20th in the last three years, Mark Rose, chair and CEO of Avison Young tells GlobeSt.com. Indeed in recent months Avison's acquisition have included, but are not limited to, R7 Real Estate in Torrance, CA; Witherspoon & Carswell Commercial Real Estate Advisors and its sister company L&W Commercial Property Management in Tampa, FL; and WG Compass Realty Cos. in West Palm Beach, FL.

"Washington DC is a primary market so of course we want to strengthen our base here," Rose says. "By acquiring McShea we are not just making a Maryland play but strengthening our regional footprint."

More than likely more acquisitions will occur in the area, he says ("we are in continuous acquisition mode always looking for good prospects") as well as, increasingly, in international markets. However, Rose also says that the end of 2014 will quiet down for Avison Young. "You will star to hear more from us during the first quarter of 2014."