Martin Pupil Leads Colliers International Region

AS Rick Chichester, president of US operations for Colliers International, told GlobeSt.com in an interview in August, Colliers Macaulay Nicolls' strategy includes closing two of the company's 10 offices in Southern California—Century City and San Gabriel Valley—and folding them into its remaining eight locations in a move designed to streamline operations and improve efficiency. Pupil tells GlobeSt.com that Colliers "had to make some hard decisions" in closing the offices, particularly in Century City. "Although it's a very important market, we'd rather re-enter that market through acquisition, with a bigger presence and bigger market share, and we figured the best strategy was to cease operating there and concentrate on some other markets for now," he says.

Colliers would like to re-enter Century City as soon as it finds the right fit, according to Pupil. In addition, he says, "We are looking at what we can do in the Inland Empire to strengthen our base there."

In addition to the office realignments, Pupil says that changing market conditions dictate that service firms like Colliers will need to reposition themselves to serve a changing client base with different needs from those of the recent boom years. "The clients we will be dealing with will be different, and therefore the services required and the way we build our platform will be different," he says. Whereas money managers and private equity firms made up much of the client base during the market upswing, banks and other institutions that require "more financial analysis and generally more reporting" will represent the biggest portion of the client base in the changing economy, Pupil explains.

"I don't think what's happening is unique to the credit crisis or the economy. It's just a cycle that the market goes through," Pupil comments. "When the market is on a downswing the clients are different from the ones you deal with on an upswing." Business is now going to come more from REOs, failed deals and other sources, he adds. "It's going to be more of a disposition business than a buyer's rep business," he says.

[IMGCAP(2)]In his new position, Irvine-based Pupil spearheads operations in Colliers' eight Greater Los Angeles offices, which are located in Valencia, Encino, Downtown Los Angeles, Commerce, Torrance, Irvine, Diamond Bar and Ontario. His appointment to the new post was one of two executive moves recently within Colliers' Greater Los Angeles operations, where the firm recently recruited Jereme Snyder, formerly of Sperry Van Ness, as a vice president specializing in retail investment services.

Snyder, who is also based in Irvine, has more than seven years experience in the commercial real estate industry and has closed transactions across the Western US totaling in excess of $500 million. He was a vice president at Sperry Van Ness, where he completed transactions upwards of $200 million in 2007.

Colliers is a partnership of independent companies, and Colliers Macaulay Nicolls is the largest member of Colliers International, operating 146 offices in 36 countries, with 26 offices in the US.