"The opening of our new Jackson office marks the first time a national commercial real estate brokerage firm has entered the state of Mississippi," he says in a press release, adding the team will focus on an "investment community that has been overlooked in the past."

The team, with its office at 617 Renaissance Way, will cater to local and out-of-state investors interested in Mississippi's growth areas along the Gulf Coast, DeSoto County, Downtown Jackson and Madison/Ridgeland. Brent Yurtkuran and Brad Barham, local multifamily investment specialists previously with Jackson-based Real Estate Solutions, were made senior associates to help lead the new team. Harry Noble, a retail and single-tenant net-lease investment specialist, is joining the office from Greenville, MS-based Noble Development Properties Inc. The office plans to expand to a team of eight within the next six to 12 months, Yurtkuran says.

"In my experience, each year I see an increase of growth in both properties being developed and investors wanting to place equity within Mississippi," Yurtkuran tells GlobeSt.com. "The need for us to have a national firm to have out-of-state investors place their equity here has been building up pre-Katrina. It was after Katrina when the need became very noticeable. That's when incentives were put in place by the federal government, along with other regulations allowing more growth within Mississippi."