David Fitzgerald
David Fitzgerald
Title: Vice Chairman/Partner, CBRE/New England
Age: 58
Experience: 35 years
David Fitzgerald is the 2016 president of the Commercial Brokers’ Association, the commercial real estate arm of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board. The group represents more than 400 brokers at more than 4,000 real estate companies in Massachusetts, sponsoring educational forums and networking events. Fitzgerald started his real estate career at Leggat McCall & Werner and joined CBRE in 1996, where he’s specialized in brokerage and advisory services for law firms. An avid skier, Fitzgerald is president of the Franconia Ski Club and chairs a $4 million project and capital campaign developing a new Alpine race and training venue at Mittersill/Cannon Mountain ski area in Franconia, New Hampshire.
Q: How do you pick the topics for the CBA’s forums?
A: The topics are dictated by the state, but they’ve given us a lot of leeway about structuring courses. The most popular courses are always when we get the best speakers and the best moderators doing them. We’re beginning to roll out this year a new online opportunity for our members. We’re going to videotape presentations and begin to create an (online) library of courses for the members.
Q: How is technology changing hiring patterns in commercial real estate?
A: It’s a lot like what’s happening in the legal business. It used to be one administrative assistant per senior executive. Now in the urban group, we have a team of 20 people supported by one and a half administrators. It’s just a very different model. The younger brokers we’re bringing in are self-sufficient. They’re tech-savvy. It’s just easier for them to produce the documents themselves.
The business used to have the traditional pyramid shape; it’s more diamond-shaped now. You have more people who are client-facing. The turnaround and expectations by everybody, the brokers today, because of the technology, are much more productive. Our clients are expecting more from us. Faster response times. A 24-hour turnaround was acceptable 10 years ago. 24 minutes is expected now.
Q: One of your specialties has been representing law firms. Has the legal industry’s consolidation leveled off?
A: There’s more consolidation happening now and it’s going to continue. The law firms are doing well but they don’t need the space that they did before. They’re right-sizing their offices. Law firms used to apportion space at 800, 900 or 1,000 square feet per lawyer. Now they’re pushing to design the space for 500 square feet per lawyer.
Q: Will tech demand continue to offset the legal and financial industry consolidation?
A: In Boston it’s been the tech companies coming in. And they’ve been coming in and say, “I need space quickly.” Even with some of the larger corporations that are coming in, it’s all labor driven. They feel to be able to attract the employee they have to be in Boston. They would like to be in Cambridge, probably, but that’s not going to happen. I don’t think we’re seeing Cambridge firms looking in Back Bay much, because they’re Red Line-driven.
Q: What’s driving the rising vacancy rate on the upper floors of office towers?
A: It’s unusual that there is as much high-rise space available as there is. But the tech companies that have come into town want to be on Summer Street or Congress Street, but they don’t have the blocks of space that they need anymore. And the tech companies have not embraced high-rise space. It’s a value play to be in the low-rise space.
Q: What’s the effect of the new wave of institutional ownership in Boston commercial real estate?
A: There’s been a consolidation into a handful of owners in Boston. You have landlords who have significant resources and are sophisticated and can withstand the downturns. We have a disciplined landlord ownership now so from that standpoint, it could change the marketplace and reduce leverage of tenants because there’s not going to be landlords who crack and say, “I’ve got to do this (deal) or I’m going to lose my building.” They don’t have big debt situations. But it does put pressure on them because they have to deliver now in terms of the services if they’re going to produce amenities. If they mess up on one building, they’re going to mess up on all 10 of them in terms of the market perception of them. So it’s holding them to a higher standard, too.
Fitzgerald’s Top Five Favorite Ski Racers:
- Mikaela Shiffrin
- Ted Ligety
- Bode Miller
- Julia Ford
- Siggy Fitzgerald
