New Thinking: Broker Feels Banks Could Boost Brokerage Business

ORLANDO-Retail broker John M. Crossman doesn’t feel the sky will fall if banks jump onto commercial real estate turf with checkbooks open. Instead, the senior vice president and director of retail services in the Orlando office of Trammell Crow Co. tells GlobeSt.com the controversial entrance could be a positive for his industry. Banks outsourcing certain elements of the commercial real estate business would be the solution for both disciplines, Crossman says.

“There is this argument in our industry right now that if banks begin doing their own development deals, they may not then use a third party leasing and property management company,” Crossman says. “Additionally, we would end up competing with them for new development sites so we would have another competitor and lose a client.” The Trammell Crow executive cites the growth of the REITs in the 1990s as an example of the above scenario.

“While we made money selling them properties, their growth limited our growth in third-party leasing and management because REITs typically handle their own accounts,” Crossman says.