Avison Young Acquires Tampa Brokerage

TAMPA, FL—Avison Young is still beating the expansion drum—through acquisition. Avison has acquired Witherspoon & Carswell Commercial Real Estate Advisors and its sister company L&W Commercial Property Management and opened a new office in Tampa, FL.

Founded by Ken Lane, Clay Witherspoon, Trey Carswell, and Suzi Dixon in 2007, Lane Witherspoon and L&W Commercial is one of the leading commercial real estate service providers in the Central and West Coast regions of Florida. The firms provide office, industrial, and retail leasing for landlord and tenant representation, seller and buyer representation for building sales, and full property management and property management accounting services.

“In less than 11 months, we are launching our fifth Avison Young office in the Florida region,” says Mark Rose, chair and CEO of Avison. “Our strategic plan for system-wide expansion through the assemblage of a hand-selected team of the area's leading and like-minded industry professionals ... will enhance our platform and provide our clients with the resources and market knowledge to make informed decisions regarding their real estate needs.”

The newest American office represents Avison's 36th office outside of Canada and the company's fifth office in Florida. Over the past four years, Avison has grown from 11 to, now, 51 offices in 40 markets and from 300 to more than 1,300 real estate professionals across Canada and the U.S.

The latest acquisition expands Avison's market coverage beyond South Florida to include Central and West Florida. The merger adds a sizable portfolio including 6.3 million square feet of agency listings and more than 2.3 million square feet of property management assignments.

“Along with South Florida and Orlando, the Tampa Bay area represents one of the three major markets in the state, and a gateway to make inroads into the Central Florida and Orlando market,” says Rose. “Tampa's significant population base, the third largest in the state, and mass appeal to both ownership and tenants make Tampa a natural hub for Avison Young to have a home base from which to serve our growing client base.”

The deal also gives Avison 19 new members. Lane and Witherspoon will serve as co-managing directors and oversee the growth and development of the company's presence in Tampa as well as manage the day-to-day operations of the office.

"We were not actively seeking, nor had strong intentions of an acquisition,” says Lane. “However, after meeting the leaders and ownership of Avison Young, it became acutely apparent that this unique platform affords our team the freedom to remain entrepreneurs, place clients first, and remain principal owners in a fast-growth company. In short, there is no commercial real estate services company of this size that is designed by brokers and run by brokers. This is a very exciting opportunity for our entire organization.”

Effective immediately, Avison Young's new Tampa office is located at 1715 North Westshore Center in Tampa. The Westshore submarket is in proximity to Tampa International Airport, International Plaza, and Westshore Plaza Mall.

The Tampa metro area is one of the top 20 commercial real estate markets in the country, and the population center of the eight-county region with more than 4.2 million residents. Home to 19 corporate headquarters with $1 billion-plus in annual revenue, eight of which are Fortune 1000 companies, Tampa is also the location of choice for nearly 500 foreign-owned companies representing more than 40 nations.

“The Tampa market is benefiting from an improving housing market, resulting in an uptick in employment led by the construction industry,” says Pike Rowley, principal and managing director of Avison's Florida region. “The timing for the Lane Witherspoon & Carswell team to join Avison Young is ideal—with the overall market outperforming first-quarter numbers and continuing to trend in a positive direction from one year ago.”