BOSTON-Avison Young, the Toronto-headquartered commercial real estate service company, has added a couple of industry veterans to its Boston office. Jack Kerrigan and Steve Cook are joining the company as principals. Both real estate vets are coming over from Grubb & Ellis to enhance and expand Avison Young’s growing New England brokerage business.

“Boston is a key market for Avison Young,” Kerrigan tells GlobeSt.com. “The company, financially, is doing very, very well; debt-averse and doing very well in terms of profitability.” With a tepid pipeline and solid fundamentals throughout the downturn, Boston has rebounded particularly well from the recession. Kerrigan points to the good news coming out of the city with rising absorption and falling vacancy within the core markets.

“Basically, in the heart of 128, where we spend a lot of time, there’s very strong growth,” he explains. “Before people would let people early retire, let people go, now they’re hiring and being profitable so the landscape, in terms of money/hiring, they’re taking more spce and it’s changing the which bodes well for the economy. Select industries and select markets, but a much more buoyant market than we had a few years ago.”