Avison Young continues aggressive U.S. expansion, opens new office in Irvine, CA

Leading Canadian commercial real estate firm opens its 20th location outside Canada; Alan Pekarcik and Daniel Vittone become Principals

TORONTO, Nov. 19, 2012 /CNW/ - Mark E. Rose, Chair and CEO of Avison Young, Canada's largest independently-owned commercial real estate services company, announced today the opening of a newly-formed office in Irvine, California.

The newest American office marks Avison Young's 20th market outside of Canada and an additional step in the firm's ongoing aggressive growth and expansion strategy.

Over the past three and a half years, Avison Young has grown from 11 to, now, 42 offices in 34 markets and from 300 to more than 1,100 real estate professionals across Canada and the U.S.

Effective immediately, Alan Pekarcik and Daniel Vittone join as Principals and will focus on further expanding Avison Young's brand in the Orange County market. Also joining Avison Young is John Pianta as Senior Financial Analyst.

All three members were most recently with Newport Beach, CA-based Voit Real Estate Services, working out of the company's Irvine, CA office. The full-service real estate firm operates as a real estate owner, operator, broker, property manager, contractor and developer.

"Avison Young's expansion into Orange County is of critical importance to our overall Southern California strategic plan. Orange County is the adjacent county south of Los Angeles County and boasts an office inventory of 84.3 million square feet (msf) and 1,130-plus buildings," comments Rose. "Alan and Dan have a long history of market dominance and leadership throughout Orange County as well as in the national investment sales arena. The respect they have earned in the Southern California real estate community will be of tremendous value to our firm and to our clients."

Rose continues: "We look forward to leveraging this team's long-standing track record as investment sales market leaders to provide best-in-class service delivery to our clients."

Today's announcement comes on the heels of Avison Young opening its fourth Los Angeles office in Downtown L.A. earlier this month with Derrick Moore joining as a Principal. In addition, Avison Young opened offices in Raleigh-Durham, Detroit and South Florida last month, and acquired New Jersey-based project management firm, The Walsh Company, LLC. Since April, Avison Young has also opened new offices in San Francisco, New York, Pittsburgh, Charleston, SC, New Jersey, and another Los Angeles-area office in Santa Monica.

Pekarcik and Vittone have approximately 50 years of combined commercial real estate experience. Together, they have completed in excess of $4.4 billion worth of sale and lease transactions covering approximately 60 msf of commercial properties. Their combined sale and lease activity exceeds 1,100 transactions. Past and current clients include U.S. Bank, TA Associates Realty, Kilroy Realty Corp., Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, G.E. Capital, Cigna, MetLife, Bank of the West, and Wells Fargo.

"Alan and Dan are highly experienced investment sales professionals with deep knowledge of the capital markets, which is especially beneficial to our rapidly growing capital markets and investment sales practice across the U.S.," states Earl Webb, Avison Young's President, U.S. Operations. "We are thrilled to have Alan, Dan and John join our Principal-led organization and the growing team of professionals who have decided over the past year to make Avison Young their home. Alan and Dan's collective background will be invaluable to our organization and our Southern California expansion as we continue to build our business throughout the region and beyond."

Avison Young opened its first Los Angeles office in August 2011 with industry veteran Neil Resnick joining as a Principal, followed by a second Los Angeles office in December 2011 through the acquisition of Ramsey-Shilling Commercial Real Estate Services, Inc. In March 2012, industry leader Christopher Cooper joined as a Principal and Managing Director of the Southern California region. In September, Avison Young acquired Starrpoint Commercial Partners, Inc. and opened a third L.A. office in Santa Monica. Two weeks ago, Avison Young opened its fourth Los Angeles office in Downtown L.A. The new Irvine office will expand Avison Young's Southern California region to five offices and 40 professionals.

"The recipients of numerous top-broker awards throughout Southern California, Alan and Dan have become synonymous with the who's who of Southern California real estate dealmakers," states Cooper. "The Southern California region is a critical growth area for Avison Young. Bringing Alan and Dan and their team on board allows Avison Young to partner with some of the most dominant real estate investment sales players in the Orange County market."

"Given Orange County's diverse and well-balanced market, driven by professional services, education, technology, banking, insurance, manufacturing/office, retail and industrial sectors, it stands to reason that Orange County's diversified economy, skilled workforce, and advantageous geography will sustain growth and drive investment into the region," he adds.

With the opening of numerous Avison Young offices across the U.S. during the past year, the company is establishing its local corporate infrastructure through the assemblage of a hand-selected team of the industry's leading professionals. Recruiting efforts are focused on Avison Young's core business lines, including capital markets/investment sales, asset management, transaction management, leasing, project/construction management, property management, and consulting and advisory services.

Effective immediately, Avison Young's new Irvine office will be located at 2030 Main Street, Suite 1300.

"Avison Young's commitment to its long-term growth strategy and its vision to build the leading global commercial real estate services firm is something I am excited to be a part of," says Pekarcik. "We were impressed with the company's innovative client-service model and high-integrity partnership culture. I look forward to working with my colleagues in Southern California and the international team to provide a fully-integrated service platform for our valuable clients."

"The Orange County market, I believe, will be a tremendous opportunity for a firm that is well-capitalized and in a position to take advantage of the current market dynamics," adds Vittone. "Avison Young has assembled a remarkable management and collaborative capital markets team, and we are looking forward to being a part of the company's growth and contributing to its continued success."

Orange County's economy is performing at a high level in comparison with other recovering U.S. regions. The population of Orange County is expected to rise to 3.15 million in 2015 from 3.09 million in 2010. The region has a higher percentage of college graduates (35.7) than the U.S. national average (26.7) (based on 2010 figures). Unemployment, a key real estate market indicator, is on the decline in the region. According to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), Orange County has the lowest unemployment in Southern California. Another group projects the county's unemployment rate will fall to 9.3% in 2015 from 11.2% in 2010. Leading industry sectors include health services, life science and manufacturing. As a result, the commercial real estate market is showing signs of recovery. Accordingly, LAEDC predicts Orange County personal income will rise by 3.1% in 2012 and an even stronger 4.1% in 2013.

Biographies

Alan Pekarcik
Alan Pekarcik has more than three decades of real estate industry experience in California. Prior to joining Avison Young, Pekarcik served as Executive Vice-President, Investment Sales for Voit Real Estate Services, managing and co-ordinating all investment sales transactions. Earlier in his career with Voit, he held the position of Senior Vice-President, Industrial and Investment Sales from 1988 to 1997. Pekarcik also spent a year and a half (1997-1998) as Senior Vice-President, Acquisitions for Kilroy Realty, where he was responsible for acquiring more than $600 million of office, industrial and R&D properties. Previous roles included working for DAUM-Johnson American (1984-1988) and Business Properties (1979-1983).

Since launching his career, Pekarcik has completed more than 1,100 industrial and office investment sales and user transactions totaling 54 msf and valued in excess of $3.5 billion. He was consistently a Voit Top 5 Producer (as well as the Top Producer companywide on multiple occasions), and earned such other honors as CoStar Orange County Power Broker (multiple years);  Top Dealmaker ― California Real Estate Journal (2008); and Top Broker ― Real Estate Forum (2009). Pekarcik has been an active member of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) since 1996, and is also a current member of the Association of Industrial Realtors (AIR) and NAIOP. He holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration from the University of Southern California.

Dan Vittone
Dan Vittone has been a licensed commercial real estate broker in California for 16 years. Prior to joining Avison Young, he served as Senior Vice-President, Investment Sales for Voit Real Estate Services for 11 years. Before moving to Voit in 2001, he held investment sales, finance manager, acquisitions and development, and financial analyst positions with the company now known as Cushman & Wakefield, Kilroy Realty, and CBRE. Vittone has completed institutional industrial and office investment sales and user transactions totaling in excess of 28 msf and valued at $3.2 billion.

Vittone was consistently a Voit Top 10 Producer (and Top 5 in California). Other achievements have included Top Deal Maker ― California Real Estate Journal (2008); Top Broker (2009) and Tomorrow's Newsmakers (2007) ― Real Estate Forum; and Top 40 Under 40 ― Orange County Metro Business (2008). He is also a three-time recipient (2004, 2006, 2007) of the CoStar Power Broker award. Vittone is an active member of AIR, SIOR and NAIOP, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics-business from the University of California-Los Angeles.

In February, Avison Young was named a winner of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies program for 2011, sponsored by Deloitte, CIBC, National Post and Queen's School of Business.

Founded in 1978, Avison Young is Canada's largest independently-owned commercial real estate services company. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Avison Young is also the largest Canadian-owned, principal-managed commercial real estate brokerage firm in North America. Comprising more than 1,100 real estate professionals in 42 offices across Canada and the U.S., the full-service commercial real estate company provides value-added, client-centric investment sales, leasing, advisory, management, financing and mortgage placement services to owners and occupiers of office, retail, industrial and multi-residential properties.

•Editors/Reporters: please click on links to view and download photos of Alan Pekarcik and Daniel Vittone
http://www.avisonyoung.com/sites/default/files/content-files/Media_Room/Temp/Alan_Pekarcik.jpg
http://www.avisonyoung.com/sites/default/files/content-files/Media_Room/Temp/Daniel_Vittone.jpg

For further information/comment/photos:

• Sherry Quan, National Director of Communications & Media Relations, Avison Young: [phone]; cell: [phone]

• Mark Rose, Chair and CEO, Avison Young: [phone]

• Earl Webb, President, U.S. Operations, Avison Young: [phone]

• Christopher Cooper, Principal and Managing Director, Southern California Region, Avison Young: [phone]

• Alan Pekarcik, Principal, Avison Young: [phone]

• Daniel Vittone, Principal, Avison Young: [phone]

Avison Young's new Irvine, CA office will be located at: 2030 Main Street, Suite 1300, Irvine, California, 92614

www.avisonyoung.com

Avison Young is a winner of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies program for 2011, sponsored by Deloitte, CIBC, National Post and Queen's School of Business

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SOURCE: Avison Young Commercial Real Estate (BC)

Media Relations:
Sherry Quan
[phone] or [phone] cell
email: [email protected]