Sperry Van Ness Targets Northeast

Jerry Anderson, president of the company's National Adviser Organization, tells GlobeSt.com that the firm will likely have offices in all 50 states by the end of the year, but its emphasis right now is on the "priority states" of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Of 31 cities in the US that SVN has targeted for expansion in 2005, 18 are in those four states.Anderson, the former president of Coldwell Banker Commercial, joined the firm last year as an SVP with responsibilities for managing Sperry's Florida region as well as helping to build the SVN brand in the eastern part of the US. He is based in New Smyrna Beach, FL, and recently was named president of SVN's NAO, which includes all of the company's franchised offices. Anderson tells GlobeSt.com that the Northeast "is an area where we do not have as much coverage as we have elsewhere," although the company is "very strong west of the Rocky Mountains" and growing stronger in places like Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Ohio.In order to provide more market coverage in the Northeast, where the company has about 20 advisers in 14 offices, Anderson tells GlobeSt.com that SVN has a two-member team that is working full time on evaluating new commercial real estate firms and independent brokers to join the company in the four northeastern states. Sperry already has a regional manager for the Northeast, Kevin Maggiacomo, whose region stretches as far west as Ohio and who is one of four SVN regional directors nationally. The two-member team working with Maggiacomo in the Northeast is one of four such teams working with Anderson and SVN's four regional managers to expand the firm nationally. "The sole purpose in life for this team is to put advisers in place geographically and by product type that meet the needs of our strategic plan," Anderson says.SVN operates through half a dozen corporate offices in California and Arizona, and the rest franchised offices and independent brokers throughout the country that are members of the NAO. About 160 of the company's 500 advisers work in its corporate offices and the remaining 340 in NAO offices.

The franchised offices of the NAO typically are operations of five to 10 brokers, while independent brokers who join the NAO typically are seasoned specialists in one or more of the product types SVN specializes in, which include retail, multifamily, office, industrial, hospitality and land sales. Those who join SVN tend to be experienced, with 25% having CCIM or SIOR designations, Anderson says.Besides the two-member team that is focusing on establishing new offices in the Northeast, SVN has a two-person team focusing on Texas, Tennessee and Kentucky; another focusing on Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota; and another targeting Florida and Georgia. But the biggest push right now is in the Northeast, emphasizes Anderson, who says, "When we look at the velocity of activity in the Northeast corridor, quite frankly, our clients need some coverage up there."

He sees benefit in the expansion both for SVN and for those who join it, explaining that many highly qualified small firms and individuals often lose out on certain assignments, especially investment sales, because they are not part of a national organization. "What happens to many of these smaller companies is that they will lease up a building for a client, but when it comes time to sell the building, the small firm loses the listing because the client turns to a larger organization with a national presence," Anderson explains. "That's where we've been able to take the strong local brokers who are doing a good job in their market and elevate them to a national platform."

SVN and those who join it both have something to gain, Anderson says, because growing numbers of buyers and sellers are looking for deals outside of their own geographic markets.