Bruce Mosler, president of US Operations for C&W, tells GlobeSt.com, "This completes a strategy that we put together 12 months ago." He explains that when he came on board C&W he and the company leadership developed a plan to "enhance" C&W retail, industrial and multifamily housing operations. Mosler says the goal with this merger was to complete the fourth element, creating a stronger market share across the "geographic spectrum" in the US.

Mosler adds that the merger will give C&W "dominant market share" in both "California and Houston." He says this is a significant piece of the puzzle from a "brokerage perspective."

John Cushman noted that following this announcement, analysts will be looking at what this merger means for the commercial real estate landscape. He commented that the ability to provide seamless operations is a necessity in the marketplace today and that this will enable the new company to capture a larger number of clients, potentially having a significant impact on smaller, regional and even bigger public companies currently struggling to meet the demands of an ever rising bar set by clients. "This is a quickly changing environment for all of us," he said.

Both Cushman brothers spoke of their family history with C&W, their grandfather, J. Clydesdale Cushman having been a co-founder with Bernard Wakefield (the Cushmans' great-uncle). They noted that their family, despite the break in 1978, has been active in the real estate scene here in this city for seven generations without interruption, 100 years before C&W was formed in 1917.

Mirante noted that a merger between the two companies had been "talked about" off and on for at least "10 years." He said "considerations had been underway" before, and they would "get down the road," but would always end "for different reasons." All that remains now to finalize the deal is C&W due diligence, Board approvals and the approval of C&W's parent company, the Rockefeller Group.