NEW YORK CITY-Jones Lang LaSalle has acquired Surge Retail International, a Boston-based specialty retail tenant representation firm, GlobeSt.com has learned EXCLUSIVELY. As the retail sector continues to grow stronger, this acquisition will enable JLL Retail to respond to rising client demand for national market knowledge and tenant representation. The price of the acquisition was undisclosed.
Surge Retail's co-founders, Steve Ferris and Michael Hirschfeld, will join as SVPs and co-leads of JLL's national retail tenant services practice. They will work to expand the firm's retail tenant representation capabilities, targeting premium and high-end retailers occupying space in enclosed malls, outlet centers and dense, urban retail markets across the United States, as well as international retailers seeking to expand throughout North America.
“As our platform expands nationally, we've hired local market tenant rep experts who can offer their expertise in the local market,” Lew Kornberg, EVP and national practice lead, retail tenant representation, tells GlobeSt.com. “The arrival of Michael and Steve will help us advance our tenant representation business and provide our clients with advisors who understand the need and nuances of a national and international growth strategy.”
The firm is responding to increasing need in the retail sector, he says. “Client demand for national and local retail tenant representation expertise is driving that component of our growth. During the last two years, JLL retail has added more than 30 brokers in major markets, and earlier this year we added GIS expert Michael Startin—who specializes in client support for location advisory consulting, development and dispositions—to our tenant rep group.”
Adds Greg Maloney, CEO and president of Jones Lang LaSalle retail, “Michael and Steve are seasoned veterans who know the nuances specific to main street retail, enclosed mall and outlet center spaces. The addition of this team and their highly specialized expertise allows us to offer our clients the most comprehensive retail platform in the industry.”
Hirschfeld has more than 35 years of experience, specializing in urban retail real estate in major markets throughout the US. He is known for representing retailers such as Barney's, Ben Sherman, Bose, Brioni, Mont Blanc and many others on main street locations, including New York City's Fifth Avenue, Chicago's Michigan Avenue and Los Angeles' Rodeo Drive.
“Over the past few years, Steve and I were approached with a number of extremely appealing merger inquiries, but JLL and JLL Retail, in particular, stood out,” says Hirschfeld. “They just 'get' it. Their worldwide presence, coupled with a group of talented retail specialists, made the decision to join JLL obvious. We look forward to being part of a growing business that is building a retail platform locally, strengthening it nationally and integrating it internationally to benefit our clients.”
Ferris focuses on advocating for high-end retailers in the enclosed mall and outlet sector nationwide. His current clients include ALDO Shoe, Bare Minerals, Bose, Crabtree & Evelyn, Fossil, Groupe Dynamite, Lindt Chocolate and Swarovski. Ferris also has been an integral part in project leasing for several new developments and/or expansions of existing centers.
“Our approach has always been to maximize our clients portfolios,” says Ferris. “We advise on strategy and we work to add value to all of our client's real estate decisions, from expansion and contraction to design and location.”
During the last two years, Jones Lang LaSalle has added more than 30 brokers in major markets including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Florida, Hawaii and Southern California. During the first half of 2013, JLL Retail has added more than 60 new assignments and more than 30 retail clients across the United States.
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
