Staubach Starts OC Revamp; Hayes' Team Jumps to Cresa

Kevin Hayes, chairman and president of the Staubach Co.-West Inc. in Newport Beach, tells GlobeSt.com that the switch is a result of "differing visions for growth in Southern California," but he emphasizes that the parting is amicable and that the new Cresa office will continue to do business with Staubach. In fact, the Staubach Co. and the new Cresa office--both tenant rep firms--have struck a deal in which Staubach clients who need services in Orange County, San Bernardino County and Riverside County will work with the new Cresa Partners office until Feb. 1, 2005.

Elysia Ragusa, president and chief operating officer at Dallas-based Staubach, describes the parting with the OC office as "professional and dignified," designed to ensure uninterrupted service to clients.

"We have a high degree of respect for Kevin. He has been with us for years, and we are parting amicably," Ragusa tells GlobeSt.com. "Our agreement really has to do with providing our clients with uninterrupted service, and we have been working on this reorganization for a few months now." Ragusa says Staubach definitely will establish a new office in Orange County, most likely combining it with an existing Staubach retail services office that is not part of the move to Cresa.

The Newport Beach office of Staubach, which has 26 licensed real estate professionals and five construction professionals who manage tenant improvements, is the Corporate Services Division of Staubach in Orange County. The separate Staubach office to which Ragusa referred is its Retail Services Group, which has about 15 brokers.

The new Cresa Partners office in Newport Beach will include an existing Cresa Partners office in Irvine that will be merged into the Staubach office, which is at 610 Newport Center Drive and will remain there.

With the addition of the Newport Beach office, Cresa will nearly double its total of brokers in Southern California, where it already operates a Los Angeles office of 27 brokers.

Adding the Staubach brokers and their accounts to the fold make Cresa the largest tenant rep firm in Southern California. The Staubach brokers will be the latest in a number who have made the switch to Cresa since November 2002, when Staubach co-founder and president Jim Leslie joined Cresa's board as an advisor. Leslie later established a capital markets group at Cresa to advise clients on financing, synthetic leases, sales/leasebacks and related matters. Others who have joined since then include Cathy Sweeney, former Staubach CFO; Brant Bryan, former president of Staubach's financial and capital markets group; and managing director David Stringfield, a top Staubach producer. The Cresa L.A. office also includes three former Staubach West L.A. brokers; Bryan Lewitt, Peter London and Michael Jones.

The new Cresa office in Orange County is already interviewing senior brokers and hopes to expand by 30% this year, Hayes tells GlobeSt.com. He declined to elaborate on reasons for the split from Staubach, and he emphasized that the companies remain on friendly terms. "We really are parting with a very positive relationship. Roger (Staubach) was the best man at my wedding, and my wife was a member of the firm when we got married, so I have a lot of very fond sentiments about the company," Hayes says.

With the name change to Cresa Partners, the Newport Beach office will form a new ownership structure. Hayes will remain chairman, with Jeff Manley as CEO and Ken Ward as president. Sandy Kikerpill and Jim Leslie will be board members. Dave Willis, the former Cresa Partners leader in Orange County, along with former Staubach professionals, also will share in the leadership and ownership of the new office.

The former Staubach office will become part of a Cresa organization that includes 48 offices nationwide, six offices in Canada and 74 offices overseas. The Staubach Co., with more than 1,100 employees, operates in 50 markets in North America and 179 more markets around the globe.