Travers Realty Corp. and Cresa Merge

LOS ANGELES—Those who follow @GlobeStcom on Twitter and @GlobeStLIVE may have seen a post teasing the announcement, but GlobeSt.com has learned that Travers Realty Corp. has merged with Cresa. The combined company will operate under the name of the Travers Cresa with 150 employees in the western region and more than 1,000 employees internationally, including new comers like Steven Edlefsen. Travers Cresa will be headquartered in Downtown Los Angeles at Travers Realty Corp.'s former headquarters.

Although Travers Realty Corp. and Cresa have been longtime competitors—the two firms are leading tenant representation companies—they are both strong tenant advocates and share a similar culture and goal. For that reason, according to Cresa managing principal Gerald Porter, this deal was a particularly good fit. “The obvious synergy created by combining the firms' formidable talent and experience in tenant representation was a compelling driver to consummate this deal,” he says. James Travers, Travers Realty founder and new managing principal Travers Cresa and board member of Cresa Los Angeles Board of Directors, echoes those thoughts, explaining that the firms have a “similar corporate values, commitment and focus” paired with a “talented and experienced brokerage team.”    

One of the key similarities between the firms is their support of exclusive tenant representation policies due to the conflicts that arise when a broker represents both the tenant and the landlord in a transaction. The State of California recently developed a new law known as AB 1171 to require brokers to disclose their tenant and landlord relationships. The law, which goes into effect in January, will help mitigate some of the problems that arise from dual representation.

GlobeSt.com was unable to get an additional comment before publication of this story. We plan to write an update as more information becomes available.