Cassidy Turley's Burkhart

GlobeSt.com: Why did you decide to make the split from the Collier's name?

Burkhart: Most of us have been a founding member of Collier's going back over 25 years. However, the growth of our firm has been substantial over the last four years, and it just got to the point, because we are doing all of this business, that we just have outgrown Collier's. Because of our national platform of services as well as finding other like-minded partners that are dominant in their respective cities, we really had no choice.

GlobeSt.com: What kind of interaction did the firms have prior to the merger?

Burkhart: Up until now, there really hasn't been much professional interaction, but it's still a small world that we're in. Some of us knew each other and that was the interaction because of professional organizations or just being in the business. Before we came together, there wasn't a lot of business interaction. But now we obviously began doing that.

GlobeSt.com: You're pretty nationally spread out. Are there any other areas of the country where you're looking to grow?

Burkhart: We're under a number of confidentiality agreements, but we expect to grow both geographically and through service lines. A lot of the reason we have grown in the past is not because of geographic growth but because our clients have asked us to grow with their international portfolios or their business. We will continue to grow because of our client requirements or we find additional partners that want to be part of the firm.

GlobeSt.com: Is there a sector or type of service that you feel is a strong suit for the firm?

Burkhart: Less than 50% of our company, both on gross revenues and bottom-line revenues are the transaction business. When we're talking about property management, facility management, capital markets and corporate services, those businesses make up more than 50% of the firm. Certainly we expect growth in all of the local markets. But by all of us coming together, we expect to grow those national service lines. With the addition of these other strong dominant firms and their connections to their clients who are significant investor and corporate clients, we will continue to grow our national service lines.

GlobeSt.com: Some pretty big local names are disappearing. Are you doing any particular type of marketing with clients to let them know about the merger?

Burkhart: They are key, so we've spent a significant amount of time, as this became clearer to us that this was going to happen, to have discussions with our clients and let them know what we are doing and how it was a good thing for them and us.

GlobeSt.com: What is your focus on distressed assets?

Burkhart: If you're not focused on it, you're not paying attention to what is going on in the business. Frankly, a huge reason why we feel it was important to get this done and announced is because we see the distressed-asset activity in 2010 and 2011 will be very strong. Our clients are already calling on us for that help and make sure we were established as Cassidy Turley and could get it done now. We wanted to make sure there wasn't any confusion with our national clients and that they knew we could continue to help them with theirh distressed assets.

GlobeSt.com: We've seen a lot of services firms merge over the last few years. Will this continue?

Burkhart: I've been in the business 30 years, and throughout that time there has been consolidation in the commercial real estate business throughout good times and bad times. When Jones Lang LaSalle and Staubach came together, the market was near the top. Our firm began merging in 1994 with other like-minded firms, and we did that in the best of times and the worst of times. It's just a matter of locating great partners who share the same core values and are like-minded about the vision of their company and the future. There will continue to be consolidation in our industry, but there will continue to be consolidation in any business that I can think of. And there continues to be startup business in commercial real estate at the local level. They are offshoots of strong local players who have been with national firms. They start up, and it's a continuous cycle.

GlobeSt.com: Finally, what do you think it will take to turn the market around?

Burkhart: March of 2009, we definitely hit the bottom. Since that time, there has been a gradual improvement in the transaction business. It's certainly not where it was in the 2006 or 2007 level, but three months of 2009 were very good months for us. When I talk to our key brokers, they are positive about things across the board and painting a picture that 2010 will be better than 2009. Maybe that's not saying much to some, but there are positive things going on out there. Investment sales were hit the most because of no financing and no one could understand what the real valuation point was on every kind of property type. We're now seeing a number of properties under contract, so we're seeing some positive traction on the investment-sales side. I want to emphasize that it's nowhere near where it was near the peak, but it's come up a pretty good measure since the bottom. 2010 will be measurably better than 2009. Where we were psychologically, and in reality, we're considerably above that now.