IRVINE, CA—Commercial tenants are embracing the conflict-free model more than ever before, and tenant-rep firm Savills Studley, having recently acquired Cresa Orange County, is now positioned to provide this more than ever, company principals tell GlobeSt.com. The New York-based Savills Studley, whose local office is based in Irvine, CA, recently completed the acquisition of Cresa Orange County, the Newport Beach affiliate of Cresa LLC in Boston, and the acquisition brings two similarly minded firms together

The two Orange County offices are merging their operations as a result of the acquisition and will operate as Savills Studley with a combined firm of 35 brokers and about 56 employees. The Irvine office of Savills Studley is believed to be the largest tenant-advisory group in the Western US by headcount.

Royce Sharf, EVP of Savills Studley, and Pat Murphy, former managing principal of Cresa Orange County, will co-manage the local office. We spoke to Sharf and Murphy about the implications of the merger and what it represents in terms of the overall Orange County real estate market.

GlobeSt.com: What does this acquisition mean for each of your companies?

Sharf and Murphy: For Cresa, it means the opportunity to again be a partner with Savills, who was our partner globally outside North America before they acquired Studley. For Savills Studley, it allows us to convert some of the top competitive talent into colleagues and partners.

GlobeSt.com: What does the future look like for the merged firm?

Sharf and Murphy: We see the existing Savills Studley Irvine office physically merging with the former Cresa Newport Beach office sometime in the July/August time frame and somewhere around the Newport Center office market.

GlobeSt.com: What does this acquisition represent in terms of the direction of the Orange County real estate market?

Sharf and Murphy: In light of some recent dual-agency disclosure laws in California, commercial tenants are embracing the conflict-free model more than ever before. We are uniquely positioned to provide that unbiased service. We see the combination of our two offices as complementary in the areas our advisors focus on right now. We also see a continued push to grow our Inland Empire office and to expand our business outside of Orange County, and around the globe, for our clients.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this acquisition?

Sharf and Murphy: We have known each other for 30 years and will co-manage the combined office, with a deal volume of more than $700 million a year. Savills Studley recently acquired a number of other Cresa offices including locations in Silicon Valley and North Carolina.

GlobeSt.com: What does this acquisition mean for each of your companies?

GlobeSt.com: What does the future look like for the merged firm?

GlobeSt.com: What does this acquisition represent in terms of the direction of the Orange County real estate market?

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this acquisition?

Instant Insights /

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