CBRE Group buys retail real estate brokerage

CBRE Group Inc. has made a big, local retail play and bought Fameco, a regional firm formed in 1992 by Brandon Famous and Jeffrey Cohen.

Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed. The company will go under the name CBRE | Fameco.

The deal bolsters CBRE’s strength in the retail real estate sector. The transaction gives the firm: 250 shopping centers and retail properties; 20 million square feet to lease; 20 million square feet of property management; and 75 retailers to its tenant roster.

Fameco’s 100 employees will join CBRE and, for now, CBRE | Famco will continue to be based out of Conshohocken, Pa. In all, CBRE will have nine offices throughout the region with the three Fameco locations folded in.

The deal was a deliberate effort by CBRE to gain a stronger retail foothold.

“We are the global leader in real estate services and the leader in the Philadelphia region but candidly, there was a gap in our service line,” said Robert W. Walters, executive managing director of CBRE’s Philadelphia office. “In our mind, clients more and more are looking to work with fewer and fewer service providers and are looking for firms that have a platform and resources across the board to help them. We think this is going to be extremely beneficial to our employees and our clients throughout the tri-state area.”

The deal aims to also help Fameco’s clients that can see some benefits from CBRE’s resources, Walters said.

Famous and Cohen, who will continue on with the firm, weren’t available for comment. However, Walters said that he has had casual conversations on and off with Fameco partners over the years about merging but those talks didn’t get serious until the last few months.

“The timing was right,” he said. “From our standpoint, when we look around at our business and we think about how can we grow not just for the sake of getting bigger and growing but where are the opportunities for CB to grow and what are our clients looking for in a service provider. There was a gap and we wanted to change that.”

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal