TOP STORY: Sperry Van Ness Targeting Industrial and Office Brokerage

IRVINE, CA—As part of an initiative to expand in the US and internationally, Sperry Van Ness added several local and regional firms to its stable. JBM Realty Advisors Inc. of Tampa, FL, a company that specializes in global marketing of institutional-quality commercial assets and portfolios, is the latest addition for SVN, the nation’s 16th largest commercial real estate brokerage.

SVN president Jerry Anderson says the expansion, which began five years ago, coincides with the 20-year-old firm’s decision to bolster its presence in the industrial and office sectors. “Historically, we’ve been mostly in retail and multi-family,” he explains. “But more recently, office and industrial have come to represent about 30% of our transactions. We expect that percentage to increase.”

According to Anderson, the firm structured its expansion through a program that grants licenses to existing companies to operate under the SVN banner. JBM, for example, now operates as JBMRA-Sperry Van Ness Institutional. Anderson says the arrangement, which the Federal Trade Commission formally regards as a franchise business, provides more than the network organization provided by companies like Corfac or NAI. “SVN presents a very unified front compared to a network,” he asserts. “We have much stronger policies and procedures to make sure all our offices deliver consistent service.”