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Bill Crean
Bill Crean
Title: Principal, Avison Young
Age: 49
Industry experience: 20 years
After a brief career on Beacon Hill as a legislative aide, Bill Crean transitioned to the private sector representing Construction Industries of Massachusetts during the heyday of the Central Artery Tunnel project. A commercial real estate broker for the past two decades, Crean joined Avision Young in August. Crean fit into Avison’s strategy of recruiting experienced, local industry figures following the merger of CBRE New England and Transwestern’s local offices. Crean has closed more than 400 transactions, totaling over $1 billion, since 2007.
Q: Why was this the right time to change brokerages?
A: I was looking for a new challenge and had been doing a bunch of informational interviews. With [CBRE New England and Transwestern] coming together, it was just a good opportunity to go to Avison Young because it was smaller, very entrepreneurial and with the infrastructure to help me service my clients at the highest levels. Their marketing, their project management and their research: it’s really top-notch.
Q: How is your specialty different at Avison Young?
A: I’m doing more tenant representation now. Before, it really was a balance between landlords and tenants. My expertise is Greater Boston and once I go into Cambridge or the suburbs, I’d work with one of my colleagues.
Q: What did Amazon’s HQ2 decision mean for the area’s prospects for landing corporate headquarters?
A: Regardless of the result, Boston won because [Amazon] made a significant commitment to the area and I would expect them to continue to grow here very significantly. There were a lot of people concerned they could have a dramatic impact on the fabric of Boston and could be disruptive to the smaller startup community. I think we win because they are a large tenant. The reason people come here is because of the highly educated workforce and [the area] being a great place to live, so I’d expect them to grow very rapidly.
Q: With the evaporation of big office availabilities in Boston, how is that influencing tenants’ and landlords’ strategies?
A: Boston’s benefited by managed growth. This will be good for some of the peripheral neighborhoods in the city to be a relief valve for some of the increasing rents because of how well we’ve done. The tightness of the market will encourage developers to find partners where they can build on a speculative basis to be ready for the next tenant. You have people like Millennium Partners and Skanska building on spec now, so there are certain developers who can do that. Corporations have been disciplined about how they manage their real estate, so there’s not a lot of shadow space. That’s why Boston continues to do well. I see more companies exploring open concepts in order to maintain offices with the increasing rents. Companies are getting creative to be efficient.
Q: How does the expansion of coworking space play into tenants’ options?
A: It provides tenants with more choices and different choices. One of the evolutions of coworking is that they’re more focused on enterprise solutions for established companies, whereas in the beginning it felt like it was more for smaller companies. They are competing now with regular landlords for more traditional tenants. There are a number of landlords who are starting their own coworking options and some are building spec suites to attract tenants who need space right away. Boston Properties built out a coworking space in the Prudential Center and a floor at 100 Federal St. Tishman Speyer is building out a coworking floor at 125 High St.
Q: What technological tool is a boost to your productivity?
A: The tool that I use most is LinkedIn, just in terms of eliminating the whole idea of a cold call. I certainly use ViewtheSpace on the landlord side. But in terms of prospecting for clients, LinkedIn has been a tool to connect you through your existing relationships.
Crean’s Five Favorite Movies
- It’s a Wonderful Life
- The Shawshank Redemption
- Spy Game
- Hoosiers
- The Verdict
