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Joe Fallon
Joe Fallon
Title: Executive Managing Director and New England Market Leader, Cushman & Wakefield
Age: 58
Experience: 33 years
After majoring in economics at Holy Cross College, Joe Fallon started out his career as an accountant for Arthur Andersen. Two college friends, however, had gone into commercial real estate, and Fallon, who was handling their tax returns, saw they were making a lot more money than he was. It prompted a change of career. Over the last three decades, Fallon has been a fixture in Boston’s commercial real estate scene at Spaulding & Slye, Trammell Crow Co., FHO Partners and Cassidy Turley. He’s changed business cards frequently in the past year as Cassidy Turley was acquired by DTZ, which in turn merged with Cushman & Wakefield in September. In October, Fallon was named executive managing director and New England market leader for Cushman & Wakefield, overseeing its offices in Boston, Hartford and Nashua, New Hampshire.
Q: What makes a productive commercial broker?
A: In today’s world, you have to really be a strategic adviser to your clients, not a transaction person. You have to be really well organized, you have to think creatively and strategically, you’ve got to be a good problem solver, you’ve got to be a people person, and whether you represent a landlord or tenant, you’ve got to find common ground. And in relation to how we do things here, you’ve got to be a good team player, surround yourself with talented people to service your client. In today’s day and age, the transaction junkies from 20 years ago are not successful. Clients want more services, and the more services you can provide, the better you’re going to do keeping that customer happy.
Q: What service lines have grown and would you like to expand?
A: We’ve gone through some changes here in the past 12 months, from our company Cassidy Turley becoming DTZ and transitioning to Cushman & Wakefield. As Cassidy Turley here in Boston we had a lot of services built around corporate customers, specifically lease administration, lease audit services, strategic consulting and project and development services. As a result of the integration with Cushman & Wakefield, we picked up a lot of other good services that allow us to better serve our investor clients, specifically property management, valuation and advisory services and our debt-equity finance team as well. We had a really good strong machine 12 months ago and with the integration of Cushman & Wakefield we have more tools in our toolbox to service customers and go out and win new business.
Q: What’s the current brokerage headcount in the New England region?
A: In Boston, we have 50 to 52 brokers. Including Manchester and Hartford, it’s 65 to 70. I don’t really have a target on a number of brokers, but certainly in Boston we will be adding [personnel] over the next 12 to 24 months. We’ve already had several people call us. We’re going to make an offer to someone later this week. The whole integration thing has been very exciting for us.
Q: In your career in Boston, have you seen an era that compares with this one in terms of investment and development activity?
A: The only timeframe that really is comparable is the Internet boom from 1998 to 2000, when there was a tremendous amount of capital available and new construction in Greater Boston. Now we’re seeing a lot of residential construction, apartments and condos, but we’ve also seen a lot of build-to-suit projects on the commercial side. Boston Properties starting out construction of 888 Boylston St. on spec. You look at the recent acquisitions of Northpoint (in Cambridge) by DivcoWest, or in the Seaport by WS Development. There’s still a tremendous amount of capital. Boston is always a top three to top five city in the country in terms of investment.
Q: If this market was a baseball game, what inning would we be in?
A: My hope is we are in the third inning, so we’ve got a long game to play. But if I had to guess I’d say fifth or sixth. We all know real estate runs in cycles. In 30 years I’ve seen some up cycles and down cycles. We’ve had a good run on the up side, but all trees don’t grow to the sky. I hope if we have a down side it isn’t as severe as some of the previous ones.
Q: What are the warning signs that the market is peaking?
A: It’s all about hiring. It’s that simple. If you start seeing major layoff announcements, people cut back on their hiring, start to see a lot of sublease space come on the market because they’ve got too much space, if you start to see investment in technology companies whether it’s NIH funding or venture capital investments decline, those are warning signs. The other one would be the interest rate environment. If interest rates doubled, that would have a big impact on development and returns.
Fallon’s Top Five Favorite Golf Courses:
- Pebble Beach Golf Links, California
- Old Head Golf Links, Ireland
- Charles River Country Club, Newton
- Vineyard Golf Club, Edgartown
- Pinehurst No. 2, North Carolina
