The property-management market has grown extremely competitive, but Trammel Crow boosted its regional portfolio to approximately 3 million square feet when it landed a deal to manage 300 Baker Ave. in Concord.

By its very nature, commercial property management is not conducive to relaxation, and these days the pressures on industry professionals seem even more pronounced.

“The market is very competitive right now,” acknowledged Deborah McGee, New England director of property management for Trammell Crow.”There’s not enough (work) to go around.”

The active investment climate for commercial real estate has created some opportunities as new owners often consider making changes. But a trend towards self-management and Greater Boston’s stable of experienced property management companies ensures a charged bidding environment when pursuing potential assignments. Trammell Crow scored a major coup this fall when it was selected to manage 300 Baker Ave. in Concord, a 408,000-square-foot office property recently purchased by Spear Street Capital.

“It’s a great building,” said McGee, whose firm was also selected as leasing agents. The designation helped boost Trammell Crow’s regional portfolio to about 3 million square feet under management. While focused primarily on the suburban sector, Trammell Crow does manage one prominent office building in Boston’s Financial District, the ornate One Liberty Square. “We’re always looking downtown,” said McGee, although much of the Hub is self-managed by dominant owners such as Equity Office Properties.

The local heavyweight in property management, CBRE/Whittier Partners, has increased its wedge of the pie to about 21 million square feet after adding 4 million square feet in 2004, according to CBRE/Whittier principal Mark Tassinari. “Overall for the year, we’re quite pleased,” he said. “It has exceeded our expectations.” The head of asset services for CBRE/Whittier, Tassinari estimates that the company has averaged between 3 million and 8 million square feet of growth in its property management portfolio annually during the past four years, with the high end of that scale occurring in the go-go days of 2000 and 2001.

CBRE/Whittier saw growth in all areas this year, scoring new property management contracts for office, industrial and retail properties, including the Garden City Center, a 500,000-square-foot shopping plaza in Cranston, R.I., now owned by TA Associates Realty. Several industrial properties were brought into the company’s fold when CBRE/Whittier was selected as property manager for a package of Bay State buildings just acquired by the Denver-based investment firm, Dividend Capital Group. The properties include 19 Technology Drive in Auburn, 82 South St. in Hopkinton, 65 Sunnyslope Ave. in Tewksbury and 14 and 16 Progress Drive in Tewksbury. The total portfolio encompasses more than 400,000 square feet.

Service is Key

Given the region’s deep market slide, property managers are constantly being asked to find new ways to improve building services while keeping costs down. And while it might seem an impossible balancing act in some rights, McGee said that the ability to boost service and contain costs is critical to being an effective property manager. Trammell Crow has established itself nationally for using best practices and employing techniques such as a bulk-buying program that exacts savings on building supplies and utilities, McGee explained.

“Service is the key,” said McGee, who has been in the industry for 20 years, the last 10 with Trammell Crow. The Texas-based firm “has proven itself as the best in the industry” through its attention to detail and commitment to the customer, said McGee. In pitching business to new clients, she said, “it’s a matter of sharing the results and our track record.”

Property managers are also constantly adjusting their focus, with Trammell Crow’s New England group recently turning its attention away from retail to concentrate on Class A office properties. Conversely, as it proved with the Rhode Island assignment, CBRE/Whittier sees retail as an area to expand its property management services, said Tassinari.

“Corporate clients are asking us if we have that capability here in New England,” he explained. That segment could become even more lucrative as institutional owners pour into the retail property market.

To Tassinari, the secret to success in property management is having solid professionals in place to handle the myriad issues involved in keeping a commercial property up and running. “If you don’t have good people on the ground, all the policies and procedures in the world aren’t going to help,” he said. “You have to perform day in and day out Â… that’s really what makes the difference.”

BOMA Honors

Tassinari had plenty of reason to praise CBRE/Whittier for its recent showing during the Building Owners and Managers Association’s annual awards program. Presented earlier this month, CBRE/Whittier won Office Building of the Year for buildings in the 500,000- to 1-million-square-foot category, while Michael Loughlin and Stephen Howard were named property managers of the year for their respective buildings at 10 Post Office Square and 100 Cambridge St., both in Boston.

Tassinari seconded BOMA in recognizing Howard’s expertise as general manager of 100 Cambridge St., citing his strong knowledge of operations as critical in getting the redeveloped property on line. Howard was named Property Manager of the Year for BOMA’s High-Rise category, while Loughlin was named Property Manager of the Year in the Low-Rise category. Among other accomplishments, Loughlin is credited with helping CBRE/Whittier’s leasing team renew 10 Post Office Square’s lead tenant, Boston Private Bank, on a long-term basis.

CBRE/Whittier property manager Dana Warren and his team won BOMA’s Office Building of the Year Award for One Boston Place in the Hub’s Financial District. The management team was honored for its work in keeping the building functioning during a major overhaul, a $3.5-million upgrade that included new mechanical systems and a renovated lobby and elevators.

“When you are replacing building systems of that magnitude, it’s a real challenge to get it done and done quickly, and a lot of (the One Boston Place work) happened without the tenants ever knowing,” Tassinari said.

“We were quite pleased with the performance,” Tassinari said of CBRE/Whittier’s success at the BOMA awards. Other local professionals recognized at the event included Amy Forman of Spaulding & Slye Colliers, who was tabbed as Suburban Property Manager of the Year for her oversight of Westborough Office Park in Westborough, a master-planned, 153-acre complex owned by Windsor Realty Fund IV.

Spaulding & Slye was also honored for its management of 21 Custom House St., which earned BOMA Building of the Year honors for assets in the 100,000- to 200,000-square-foot category. Spaulding & Slye’s Heather Thompson serves as on-site manager of 21 Custom House St.

“Having worked with both Amy Forman and Heather Thompson, I know firsthand the professionalism and client-service ethic they bring to each assignment,” BOMA Boston President Richard Horgan said following the awards ceremony. “Their honors are well-deserved.”

Beyond the brief moments of glory, property managers continue to chase new assets to add to their lists, and there have certainly been plenty of changes to building rosters in recent months. CBRE/Whittier, for example, was selected by Beacon Capital Partners to manage 116 Huntington Ave., a 14-story, 265,000-square-foot office building in Boston’s Back Bay. The contract, awarded in a no-bid situation, seemed to validate CBRE/Whittier’s management results at other Beacon-owned buildings, including Boston’s 501 Boylston St. and the Channel Center. Elsewhere, Finard & Co. of Burlington won a competition for management of 150 Royall St. in Canton, a 286,000-square-foot office building located in the Blue View Corporate Center.