Lee & Associates, one of the largest broker-owned commercial real estate firms in the United States, has announced that it will open a new office in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate (BC) Ltd will be the first office of Lee & Associates outside United States. The new office will be headed by commercial real estate veteran Chris Anderson, the former president at DTZ Vancouver Real Estate Ltd.
"In the last year, we have been talking aggressively with Chris about the possibilities of a Lee office in Canada. When Chris and his partners attended our Broker Summit in October, that was a defining moment in their decision to join our firm," said Jeffrey Rinkov, CEO of Lee & Associates. "We are extremely excited about the talent that Chris and his partners are bringing to our company and what this will mean to our client services."
According to the press release of Lee & Associates in Business Wire, the new office in Vancouver operated as an affiliate of JJ Barnicke, headquartered in Toronto, before joining DTZ as a Canadian affiliate in 2008. As an affiliate of DTZ, the firm grew to 15 offices Canada-wide, and included a mix of both corporately-owned shops and affiliate locations in some key markets.
"With the recent merger of DTZ, Cassidy Turley and Cushman & Wakefield, our affiliate office had been orphaned by the new combined brand. Since we first learned of the pending merger we identified, researched and had discussions with several of the top ranked commercial real estate brands, both in the United States and Canada," said Anderson. "Everything kept pointing back to Lee & Associates as the right fit for our business model and more importantly, our culture."
Lee & Associates is one of the largest broker-owned commercial real estate firms in the country that provides a wide range of specialized commercial real estate services on a local, regional and national level. At present, Lee & Associates has more than 800 brokers nationwide.
