Expanding in U.S., Avison Young Opens Sacramento Office

SACRAMENTO, CA-Calling itself the world's fastest-growing commercial real estate services firm, Avison Young, Toronto, ON, has just opened a new office here and hired six new agents.

The newest American office represents Avison Young's 32nd office outside of Canada, the company's eighth office in California, and an additional step in the firm's ongoing aggressive growth and expansion strategy.

Over the past four years, Avison Young has grown from 11 to, now, 47 offices in 38 markets and from 300 to more than 1,200 real estate professionals across Canada and the U.S.

Effective immediately, Roger Bilstad joins as EVP, property management services, Northern California; and Tom McEfee joins as SVP, property management services, Northern California. Bilstad will focus on leading and growing the region's property and facilities management services while McEfee will head up Northern California's lease administration and occupier services, and grow them strategically.

Also joining Avison Young in Sacramento are: Bryce McEfee as property manager; Amanda Russell, accounts manager/senior lease administrator; Kim Holbrook, senior lease administrator; and Ashley Smith, lease administrator. All six members were most recently with Colliers in Sacramento.

“Opening a Sacramento office is another strategic move for Avison Young to become a dominant player in the Bay Area commercial real estate market,” said Mark Rose, chair and CEO of Avison Young. “The entirety of the Western U.S. region is a vast real estate market and a focal point for many of our investor and occupier clients. We couldn't be more pleased to have Roger Bilstad on board, along with Bryce McEfee, to grow our property management services team. The addition of Tom, Amanda, Kim and Ashley will catapult Avison Young's Northern California region into a leading corporate services market.”

Rose continues: “Having Roger, Tom and team join Avison Young expands the depth of our capabilities and is aligned with our focus on creating a culture of collaboration to ensure we are able to provide the highest quality of service to our clients.”

The Sacramento office is located at Park Tower, 980 9th Street, Suite 350.

“Sacramento is a key market as we expand our business in Northern California. Besides being the hub of state government, Sacramento is also home to some of our key West Coast clients,” notes Earl Webb, Avison Young's president, U.S. operations. “Roger brings a wealth of management experience and a number of excellent client relationships to Avison Young, and along with Tom McEfee and the team will anchor our growing presence there as well as augment our growing team in downtown San Francisco.”

Avison Young opened its first Northern California office in April 2012 in San Francisco, with Nick Slonek joining as a Principal and Managing Director of the Northern California region. He will continue to provide oversight for Sacramento and the Northern California region.

Avison Young opened its first Southern California office in Los Angeles in August 2011, followed by a second L.A. office in December 2011. In November 2012, Avison Young opened its fourth L.A. office in Downtown L.A., followed that same month by a new office in Irvine, CA. Avison Young opened its San Diego office in March 2013.

“The Sacramento office, which represents our third office in the Northwest U.S. region after San Francisco and Denver, provides a low-cost occupancy solution for our property management and lease administration businesses,” says Slonek. “Obviously, we will be passing along those savings to our valued clients. While the Sacramento commercial real estate market has been underperforming for the past three years, we feel that now is the right time to capitalize on what is a very exciting time for our state's capital.”

The Sacramento Metropolitan Area is the largest in the Central Valley and the fourth-largest in the state. Greater Sacramento has been cited as one of the five most livable regions in America. The city's economy is broadly based although government is by far the largest employer with 25% of California's 471,000 government employees. Transportation is a large sector along with information technology, leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, higher education, health services and research, and construction.