The San Francisco-based commercial mortgage banking and investment firm, which last fall opened an office Las Vegas, also has branch offices in Irvine, Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Jose. "There is an awful lot of synergy with Southern California and Arizona in terms of borrowers and property," says Peter G. Welsh, Newmark's managing principal in Southern California. "Knowing that the Phoenix market is one of the fastest growing in the country makes it a good long term investment to establish an office."

Welsh tells GlobeSt.com that the firm has been planning to open a local office since its inception in April 2004. "When we formed Newmark in Southern California our plan was to eventually have an office in Arizona when the right person came along," he says. "The market is very competitive and we would have only entered the market with the right person."

Newmark's Southern California operations were formed when five ex-Churchill Mortgage Corp. officers left the company and purchased 50% of Newmark Realty Capital Inc., which was established in 1991. Welsh says he and other Newmark people knew Storey from their time at Churchill.