Jones Lang LaSalle Establishes Presence in Northern NY Suburbs

Company principal John McCarthy, who has been in the commercial real estate business in the Westchester/Connecticut region for 28 years, will now serve as managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle's new Westchester/Connecticut office. McCarthy, who previously was senior vice president and partner of Rostenberg-Doern Co. Inc. of White Plains and Stamford, launched McCarthy Associates in 1990. Later that year, he partnered with Christopher O'Callaghan and renamed the company McCarthy O'Callaghan. In 2003, the company reverted back to McCarthy Associates when O'Callaghan left the firm to become a senior vice president with Albert B. Ashforth of Stamford.

Stephen Schlegel, chief operating officer of Jones Lang LaSalle's New York office, says of the deal with the McCarthy firm, "During the past two years we have steadily expanded in the New York metropolitan market, establishing an office in New Jersey, acquiring the region's leading project management operation and now, establishing a presence in the Westchester and Fairfield markets. This new office further enhances our ability to service client's local, regional and global needs."

McCarthy says that a number of firms had approached him about a possible merger over the past few years, but he had spurned all offers until now due to a variety of reasons. "The synergies between our two firms just clicked," McCarthy says, noting that Jones Lang LaSalle and McCarthy Associates had engaged in a number of co-brokered transactions over the years.

He adds that the deal "brings the firm to a totally different platform." Saying he was proud to have operated an independent brokerage firm for 15 years, he admits that some owners and tenants are "more comfortable with the larger brokerage firms."

Also joining Jones Lang LaSalle are McCarthy sales associates Tim Donohue and Kevin McCarthy. The firm plans to add more than 10 additional brokers in the next 18 months. McCarthy says that once the firm hires the additional personnel, it will then look for a larger permanent location in either Westchester or Fairfield County. The new Jones Lang LaSalle regional office will be housed in McCarthy Associates' space at 1 North Broadway in White Plains on a temporary basis.