8-Person Grubb Team Joins Avison Young

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WASHINGTON, DC-Every year, almost like clockwork, Avison Young makes some move to expand its local presence in the commercial real estate market. Two years ago it acquired Appian Realty Advisors.  Last July, it snapped up Millennium Realty Advisors, a deal that placed Avison among the top five agency leasing businesses in Northern Virginia.

Now the company has announced that it has recruited an eight-member team from Grubb & Ellis to join its local office. The team, led by industry veterans Bruce McNair and Bill Morris, is also bringing its portfolio along with it, which earns about $4 million to $4.5 million a year, McNair tells GlobeSt.com.

Currently, he says, “We have about a dozen live transactions that are in the $1 million to $1.5 million range. It is a typical forward-looking pipeline in other words.” Also joining the firm are Joshua Hartman and Will Travis as principals; Michael Molinari and David Roehrenbeck as vice-presidents; Wesley Preuss as a financial analyst; and Thomas Leachman as marketing associate.

McNair and Morris are long time partners, founding Morris-McNair & Associates some 25 years ago. The partners sold the business to the St. Joe Co. in 1999 and went on to work for GVA Advantis. In 2006, they were recruited by Grubb & Ellis. “The client portfolios have transitioned with us along each stop,” McNair says. The Morris-McNair team focuses on corporate, legal and defense contractors, including Alion Science and Technology, Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, and the Urban Institute.

In separate news, Avison Young has announced it has completed lease transactions in Northern Virginia totaling 46,400 square feet. These transactions include a 29,200-square foot renewal by Fairfax Innovation Center, a business accelerator-program facility in Fairfax; a 7,000-square foot lease by Ntrepid Corp. in Merrifield; a 5,100-square foot lease by CenterScope Technologies in Tysons Corner; and another 5,100-square foot lease by New Editions Consulting in Falls Church.