PHOENIX-On the heels of positive 3Q reports indicating mostly strong absorption rates and an uptick in rents for many sectors, Cushman and Wakefield's new Phoenix market leader Gregory Valladao has plans to increase the company's industrial platform, and expand the team of brokers by about 20.
Other plans for the new director include expanding Cushman and Wakefield's small but growing retail platform, adding a land group and possibly a regional group focused on hotels, resorts and golf courses.
“If you look at the projections in Phoenix over the next eight to ten years, even looking at the most conservative models, we'll grow by about 1 million people,” Valladao says. “That means that there's going to be a huge demand for commercial real estate services as we build office buildings, industrial buildings and retail shopping centers.”
To prime Cushman and Wakefield for growth, Valladao plans to expand the existing team of 35 brokers to about 55 over the next five years.
Valladao was named to his new position on Oct. 11. He takes the reins from Tom Johnston, who left to lead leasing and sales for Casa Grande's PhoenixMart-a hub for manufacturers and distributors to sell products, set to open in 2014. Casa Grande is about an hour south of Phoenix.
PhoenixMart is betting its success on the Valley's easy access to interstates, trains and ports, the same reason Valladao plans to increase Cushman and Wakefield's industrial platform.
“If you look at where Phoenix sits from a distribution, from a trucking perspective, the ports of Long Beach and in San Diego, it makes sense that this should be the first stop for those containers coming out of Asia,” Valladao tells GlobeSt.com. Besides its geographic attributes, Phoenix offers insulation from natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes, and a well-connected, inter-city highway system.
While industrial construction has picked up Valleywide, Valladao says office and retail construction has lagged behind. Limited construction coupled with strong absorption rates leads Valladao to predict upward movement in rents, some of which has already begun.
Phoenix is “a market that Cushman and Wakefield has been in for 26 years, and it's a market that the company believes in,” says Valladao.
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