James Coleman ofHanley Advisors

He admits that one of the first deals he attempted on his own fizzled--his attempt to purchase the 49% stake in Grubb & Ellis held by Warburg Pincus. (He puts a value of $20 million on the firm's piece of the pie.) That's when he turned his attention fully to launching his own firm and created Hanley (his middle name) Advisors, which he describes as a "high-end strategic planning firm with a focus on Global 2000 companies. What that means, he explains below. How he will implement the plan is becoming clear as he takes on a growing stable of real estate professionals from a variety of disciplines. These include newly hired director of strategy Rich Podos, former biz dev EVP for NetStruxr; Steven Kaufman, also a Cushman alumnus, who will implement the real estate advisory initiative; and Alyce Leonard, manager of branch leasing for Prudential Securities, who will also serve in real estate advisory.

GlobeSt.com: Right place, wrong time for the Grubb & Ellis buyout?

Coleman: The people of Warburg Pincus said that a year earlier they would have been interested, but they had just gotten the new team in from Ernst & Young, so things had changed.

GlobeSt.com: You said your target clients are the LBOs, opportunity funds and corporate users with no in-house real estate expertise. How do you see your revenues as breaking out over each of these areas?

Coleman: It's hard to say this early in the game exactly how each of them will break out. But we are having conversations now with some of these players to advise them on some acquisitions and we're looking at their real estate.

GlobeSt.com: You are looking to be full-service. Toward that end, you're eyeing brokerages to buy. How close are you, and where are you looking?

Coleman: We're talking about acquisitions with brokerages in Atlanta, New York and LA, which are currently on our active radar screen, and we are just looking at operations in some other cities. By the end of the year, we hope to be in at least four cities with brokerage services.

GlobeSt.com: But aren't the waters churning with all the full-service advisors out there circling for corporate clients?

Coleman: Yes, there is more of a trend among brokerages to focus on the CEO and CFO office. But it's our unique background--our view from the CEO or board-level perspective--that sets us apart.

GlobeSt.com: Which the other players could claim as well. What's new and different that you bring to the party?

Coleman: We're still a boutique. We don't have the potential conflict of interest that could exist with a larger firm. For instance, we're specifically doing tenant rep now. The other difference is that we'll go where the need is. If you look at most of the big brokers in New York City, 95% of their business is in the New York City metro area, whereas with us, 50% to 75% is typically outside of New York City.

GlobeSt.com: But you're going against some major branding firepower, with these firms stating that they are no longer brokers but full service advisors. I'd go to a Grubb or a C&W before a Hanley based on name-recognition alone.

Coleman: You would, and you're right; the evolution of the brokerage firm has brought us to the point where they have tacked on corporate services. But in 2000, based on my understanding of their annual report, 88% of Grubb's revenue was from brokerage and 92% of its EBITDA. The big companies are, at their core, brokers, and we've been designed from the ground up with a different mindset. Were designed to be an advisory service and are compensated as advisors. The big brokerages are top-heavy with giant producers who control 80% of their business. Don't you think they are trying to do brokerage business? We're not here just to do deals.

GlobeSt.com: With all respect, from conversations I've had with all the major players who have pushed from brokerage into corporate advisory, they say the same thing.

Coleman: Of course. They are very smart people.

Email James H. Coleman