Lee Expands, Opens New Office

Lee is targeting both the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County markets, according to Mike Tingus, who has joined Lee as SVP and managing principal. Tingus is a former SVP with the Charles Dunn Co. in the San Fernando Valley and was a managing partner at Colliers Seeley for more than seven years. Lee has hired the 12 new brokers in the past month, Tingus says, noting that nine of the new hires have more than 10 years' experience each.

Tingus tells GlobeSt.com that he was attracted to Lee for its platform, its ownership model, and its core of seasoned brokers in all of the product types. Strength in all product types has become increasingly important, Tingus adds, because industrial brokers today often find themselves turning industrial sites into residential, retail or office deals.

The new Calabasas office, opened this month, is geared toward covering the West San Fernando Valley, Conejo Valley, and the Simi Valley markets, while the firm's longstanding Sherman Oaks office covers North Los Angeles County. Tingus says the brokerage also plans to open a Ventura County office in Camarillo, most likely in the third quarter of this year.

Tingus tells GlobeSt.com that Lee sees opportunities in the redevelopment that is driving much of the activity in the San Fernando Valley, as well as opportunities in many parts of Ventura County. "We're not just looking at Oxnard, Ventura and Camarillo," he says. "There are also a lot of commercial opportunities in places like Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, Fillmore, Santa Paula and Carpinteria."

Tingus calls the markets that Lee is aiming at "lucrative, yet under-served," and says the timing is right for a strong regional brokerage to expand there despite what he calls a tightening of the purse strings at many brokerages. Those joining the firm, their specialties and the brokerages they are moving from include: Jack Schlaifer, industrial space and investments, Colliers Seeley; Wayne Saldana, office sales and leasing, Newmark; Joe Jusko, industrial sales and investments, Colliers Seeley; Tom Specker, office sales and leasing, Charles Dunn; Scott Silverstein, office sales and leasing, Charles Dunn; Marc Spellman, a founding member of the Lee LA/North market office, returning from Colliers Seeley; Randy Kobata, industrial sales and leasing, CB Richard Ellis; Jay Rubin, office sales and leasing, Charles Dunn; Collin Foutz, industrial sales, NAI Capital Commercial; Chris Dorland, office specialist, Charles Dunn, and Spencer Strull, a recent college graduate who joins as an associate.