Commercial real estate brokerage firm Richards Barry Joyce & Partners, which has its headquarters at 53 State St. in Boston (pictured above and also known as Exchange Place), is rumored to be in merger negotiations with Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle.
Trying to reinvigorate its Massachusetts presence, Jones Lang LaSalle is reportedly targeting local commercial real estate companies for acquisition, with industry sources claiming last week that the Chicago-based firm is making a hard charge at Richards Barry Joyce & Partners. Now approaching its fifth year in business, RBJ has quickly emerged as one of the area’s top commercial brokers, sporting a bevy of diverse talent and market coverage throughout the region.
RBJ and JLL officials did not respond to inquiries by Banker & Tradesman’s press deadline last week, but sources insisted that officials from the two entities have been in negotiations. “I can guarantee that they have had discussions about it,” one industry source said, while another claimed some RBJ staffers have indicated as much in recent days. It is unclear whether any formal agreement has been struck, but the second source insisted “there’s interest on both sides” to consummate a deal.
Sources spoken with could not provide any insight on the price it would take to complete such a takeover, but similar incidents during the past decade have reaped substantial profits for the sellers, headlined by the May 1998 purchase of Fallon Hines & O’Connor by Trammell Crow Co. Based on firm revenues and other operational factors, FH&O principals reportedly reaped close to $50 million by the time the payouts ended. Observers said they doubt a deal involving RBJ would ever approach that level, but some maintained the high-flying company would carry a significant price tag. “They’ve got some real horses there, and that’s what [JLL] needs,” said one source.
JLL has been operating in the area for several years, but its presence has been diminishing in the face of stiff competition. Earlier this year, however, the firm announced it was opening an office at Boston’s International Place and brought in two brokers from outside the market to assist veteran staffer John Linnell. Those actions coincided with persistent rumors that JLL was interested in acquiring a firm to further beef up its regional office, with another report claiming that the company has been angling to steal Cushman & Wakefield of Massachusetts’ investment sales group.
On the latter issue, C&W President Robert E. Griffin Jr., who heads up the firm’s Financial Services Group, denied any such attempt has occurred to date. “I’ve heard it two or three times, but there’s absolutely nothing to it,” Griffin told Banker & Tradesman last week of the rumor. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Griffin’s team, which includes longtime colleagues Edward C. Maher Jr. and Marci Griffith Loeber, did leave Trammell Crow Co. en masse in 2001 for Cushman & Wakefield, but Griffin said there is no wanderlust remaining. Another source maintained that the team’s principals are “tied up tight” at Cushman & Wakefield, making it unlikely any such deal would transpire. Asked if his Boston-based real estate services firm had been approached by JLL, Codman Co. President Robert B. Cleary Jr. would not comment.
RBJ was formed in June 2001 when several top brokers came together from various local operations, including Trammell Crow and Cushman & Wakefield. Today, the RBJ partnership includes downtown leasing aces Michael J. Joyce and John P. Barry, Cambridge specialists Robert B. Richards and Stephen M. Purpura and suburban brokers Brian M. McKenzie, Jonathan M. Varholak and John C. Wilson. Other partners are Michael R. Frisoli and John M. Lashar, while the firm also has a cadre of real estate professionals on board as well.
RBJ has secured several major leasing assignments since its inception, helping the Bulfinch Cos. market its Discovery Park complex in Cambridge and becoming among the first third-party brokers ever used by Equity Office Properties after being hired to market 245 First St. in Cambridge. Barry, meanwhile, has handled leasing duties in downtown Boston on such core assets as 200 State St. and One Lincoln St.
While the sale of FH&O to Trammell Crow may have been the priciest takeover of a Hub real estate firm, it has hardly been the only incident, with the trend actually hearkening back to the late 1980s when Grubb & Ellis established its beachhead in the city by purchasing Leggat McCall & Warner.
