It may be 125 years old, but these days, Meredith & Grew is acting more like a spring chicken.

Despite the continued migration of national players into the Boston market, the venerable company continues to thrive as one of the Bay State’s leading real estate services firms, scoring several recent coups on the leasing and investment front, as well as successfully luring top professionals away from its local competitors.

“Believe me, they are more than holding their own,” said Leonard C. Owens, chairman of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board’s Commercial Leasing and Investment Committee. “There isn’t going to be any problem with that company surviving in this marketplace.”

Last week, for example, M&G officials acknowledged the hiring of three veteran brokers from rival Spaulding & Slye, including Roy L. Hirshland, a Cambridge leasing specialist, as well as Gregory Hoffmeister and Mark D. Cote. Those moves followed the arrival in late 1999 of CB Richard Ellis/Whittier Partners star Ronald K. Perry to head up M&G’s Downtown Leasing Group. While M&G did recently lose broker James J. Adams to Insignia/ESG, the firm overall has fared well in the escalating talent wars.

M&G Executive Vice President Kevin C. Phelan said he believes the hires will help bolster the company’s stable of leasing specialists, calling Perry “an incredible catch.” Hirshland, whom observers say will help M&G in the tenant representation side, will head up the firm’s new Technology Practice Group.

“I think we’ve some bright, young people and some mature people whose reputation is highly respected in the business,” Phelan told Banker & Tradesman last week. “It’s a nice mix.”

Whatever the situation, M&G certainly has been on a roll of late, with President Thomas J. Hynes himself joining broker Robert B. Cleary Jr. in last year’s mega-lease at Landmark Center in Boston’s Fenway District, at which Blue Cross & Blue Shield agreed to a deal that has expanded to 500,000 square feet. Hynes also handled Arthur D. Little’s 350,000-square-foot lease at the Arsenal on the Charles in Watertown, while the firm has been active in leasing up the 10 St. James Ave. office building now under construction in Boston’s Back Bay. The firm also represented Stone & Webster in the recent $187 million sale of its 245 Summer St. headquarters in Boston.

Room to Compete
In the latest victory, M&G reportedly has been selected to sell a 700-acre swath of raw land in Marlborough owned by MetLife Real Estate Investments. Although it is not entirely contiguous, the property is expected to generate considerable interest from both developers and users when the marketing campaign begins. David Pergola Sr. and James McCaffrey are heading up the sales effort, according to sources. They did not return phone calls by press time, but sources said M&G beat out three national companies for the assignment.

Owens acknowledged an industry theory that M&G-sized firms are dinosaurs whose days are numbered by the onset of national operations, but the veteran broker – who once worked for CB – disputes that notion. In real estate, local knowledge is still a critical ingredient to success, Owens said, and a firm such as M&G that concentrates on one region can have an advantage in that regard.

“This business, especially in Boston, is all about relationships, and that is where they are going to continue to be successful,” Owens said. “I really do think there is room in this area for the small, the medium and the large companies to compete.”

Phelan concurred with that sentiment, and noted that the national firms that have come in have relied heavily on the homegrown talent they have acquired to work the local market. M&G’s roster includes such veterans as Pergola, Hynes, Joseph Flaherty, James McCaffrey and James Elcock, while it also has an active financing department headed up by Phelan and rising star David M. Douvadjian. Phelan also noted that even the senior executives are still in the office early every day and toiling late most every night.

“We’re not going to roll over just because the nationals have arrived,” Phelan said. “We haven’t lost the fire one bit.”

Besides continuing to serve longtime clients, companies must be aware of the changes taking place in their industry and the business world at large, Hynes said. He delivered that message to more than 1,000 people who turned out for M&G’s recent annual market overview, noting that between March and December of last year, four leading Massachusetts companies dropped out of the top 10 in terms of market capitalization. Such staples as Raytheon, the TJX Cos. and Boston Scientific were replaced by technology start-ups that included Akamai Technologies, CMGI and Sycamore Networks. Gillette Corp. was ousted from the top spot by EMC Corp. of Hopkinton.

“The world has changed and has changed very rapidly,” Hynes said.

Market fundamentals are also constantly evolving, Hynes said, pointing out how radically the Hub’s office market has turned since the depths of the 1990 recession. He recounted how Fleet Bank had four downtown Boston options totaling more than two million square feet when it launched a space search for 350,000 square feet in 1992. Not only was an agreement inked in the low-$20-per-square-foot range, Hynes said rent escalation amounted to just $1.50 per square foot annually, while the tenant also won $60-per-square-foot tenant improvements and three years of free rent.

“In today’s world, that is the real estate equivalent of the ice age,” Hynes said of the lease.

The fast-moving economy seen today is unprecedented, Hynes said, but he also took time to heed a few warnings. The fiscal problems dogging the state’s health care industry should be a concern for all, he said, adding that he also believes several pending ballot initiatives to cut taxes might damage the state’s financial condition. And while most of the Greater Boston area is booming, Hynes said conditions are less halcyon in such cities as New Bedford, Fall River and Springfield.

Nonetheless, Hynes’ message was generally upbeat, with the industry veteran maintaining that the region’s technology base and other pluses should help the area for the immediate future and beyond.

“Think not only of the extraordinary activity of 1999 and the momentum for 2000, think also of what this city will look like in another 10 years,” he said. “We think there are very exciting times ahead.”

At this point, M&G is still finalizing its 125th anniversary plans, Phelan said, but he explained it will be a general effort to honor both its own employees and loyal clients, as well as the Greater Boston community.

“The 125th anniversary gives you some time to sit down and reflect, and part of that is in offering thanks and appreciation to those who helped get you there,” he said. “As the year plays out, you’ll see us thank the first two – employees and customers – and then we want to thank the community by doing something significant for them as well.”

At Ripe Old Age of 125, M&G Remains Fast and Nimble

by Banker & Tradesman time to read: 5 min
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