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When Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT announced its acquisition of the Miller Group Inc. in June, Mickey Miller Jr. recalls several colleagues snickering behind the scenes.
" 'Are you doing an open house this weekend?' " he remembered them asking. "Obviously they didn't have a lot of vision."
But Coldwell Banker Commercial does.
A household name in residential real estate, Coldwell Banker is busy building back its commercial business through a healthy reliance on brand recognition and a hearty appetite for acquisition and mergers.
Locally, Coldwell Banker's growth strategy has made it the largest commercial real estate firm in the Baltimore area with 90 brokers, seven offices and $142 million in transactions last year, according to Business Journal research.
And with the purchase of the Miller Group, Gary Kaukonen, director of Coldwell Banker's commercial services, expects those numbers to spike - awakening what he calls "a sleeping giant."
By the close of 2003, Coldwell Banker Commercial anticipates its roughly 100 brokers in eight offices throughout the area to generate at least $700 million in deals - getting back to the company's roots.
Commercial beginnings
Founded in 1906, Coldwell Banker got its start as a commercial real estate firm, said Tom Stevens, senior vice president for the Mid-Atlantic region of parent company NRT.
That business blossomed until roughly 15 years ago, when management moved to a pure residential practice and decided to put its commercial entity on the market. Coldwell Banker eventually unloaded its commercial unit - one that Stevens said morphed over time and takeovers into CB Richard Ellis Inc.
But close to six years ago, the company shifted gears again, making a conscious decision to win back commercial clients. "We realized it's big business and we had different owners," said Stevens, whose real estate company is owned by stock market titan...