FirstGroup Hires CBRE to Evaluate 2,000 Sites

CINCINNATI-Locally-based transport provider FirstGroup America, a subsidiary of London-based FirstGroup PLC, one of the largest school bus transportation firms in the world and the parent of Greyhound, has hired CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. to help sort out about 2,000 properties. The sites are mostly industrial in nature but also including call centers and regional offices. The company has owned many of the properties for a while, but also took over a lot more through acquisitions, such as the purchase of Laidlaw last year.

Ed Schreyer, SVP of global corporate services for CBRE, tells GlobeSt.com that his firm has been tasked with transaction management and portfolio evaluation for all the properties for efficiency, possible sales or even expansion. “We’re going to see if we can find superior sites for properties that they have now, sublease or sell duplicate sites and, based on the company’s growing nature, expand some properties to handle more buses,” Schreyer says.

Many of the properties are in industrial-type settings, he says. “Think of all the yellow school buses in a community, and you have these 3- or 4-acre sites where the bus drivers show up and pick them up. Then you have maintenance facilities, refurbishment areas, and then you even have all the Greyhound terminals in every town,” Schreyer says. The company also runs many of the airport shuttle bus systems, such as in Miami and Baltimore, and is one of the largest vehicle maintenance companies, with clients such as the federal government and the US Navy.