Relocation works well for Colliers.
Colliers International has a southeast Calgary industrial office with 15 staff, with another 111 Calgary employees now all housed downtown in the Royal Bank Building on the Eight Avenue Mall.
All of the 9th and 10th floors, a total of 25,000 square feet, are occupied by Colliers staff in brokerage, valuation and assessment services, investment sales, property management, project management (mhpm) and administration. The 9th floor houses all of the brokerage teams and the rest of the departments are on the 10th.
The relocation is working well. The firm is set for another record year, helped by the synergy of all working closely in a team environment. A good example is a project just completed thanks to the combined efforts of Michael Golightly of investment sales and Aly Lalani and Randy Fennessey of downtown office leasing.
Lalani and Fennessey have been working with Matrix Solutions, a Calgary-based, employee-owned environmental and engineering consulting firm, to find new space. The company was launched in 1984 in around 1,500 square feet, but its current location over the two office floors behind Hotel Arts is not sufficient for its continued growth.
After a lot of research and interviews with a number of building owners the decision was made to relocate in the proposed Prism Development building on 11th Avenue S.W. across from the IBM Campus. Prism was looking for an established development partner and it engaged Golightly. A man with a lot of experience and the contacts to target the right companies to get the job done, he was able to sell the project to Morguard Investments.
It’s a great deal with Graham Construction crews already on the job for the Sahuri + Partners Architecture design of the 11-storey glass and stone structure, and a prime tenant like Maxim with a lease in place for 100,000 of the available 188,000 square feet.
Office leasing has kept the Colliers’ downtown and suburban teams busy, including the exclusive listing for both towers of Eighth Avenue Place that are fully leased, and Lalani sees no slowdown going into the fall.
On the investment sales side, Golightly has begun marketing a significant leaseback for Phoenix Technology Services of its under-construction 120,000 square foot industrial building in Wesview Industrial Park and he has closed on the sale of an 85,000-squarefoot office/warehouse on 12th Street S.E. by Standard Life Investments to LaSalle Investment Management.
The latest news from Colliers is that Golightly and Rob Walker have secured a mandate from Canada Lands to seek a joint venture partner for a planned mixed-use commercial development on a 35-acre parcel of land in Currie Barracks made up primarily of retail and suburban office space with of multi-family residential and a hotel potential.
Canadian Rocky Mountain Resorts has moved its head office to 332 17th Avenue S.W., above its CRMR At Home specialty gourmet store and adjacent to its upscale but casual Cilantro Restaurant.
Next month it owns another piece of the 17th Avenue pie as right next door to Cilantro it will open Bar C, a casual food and drinks establish- ment focusing on game and fish dishes — and fine wines of course.
On Monday, Aug. 20, China is the country featured in the Trico Homes sponsored International Fireworks Festival at Globalfest 2012 and at a luncheon the same day Calgary Economic Development will help celebrate the occasion with a Spotlight on China luncheon at its Global Business Centre.
Sharon Watkins, president and CEO of Sandstone Asset Management will provide insight into Chinese economic growth, and Wenran Jiang, special adviser to the Alberta Department of Energy on Asian market diversification, will then discuss the recent investment into the Canadian oilsands and the current national discourse on energy market diversification.
Alexbruton, Bissett School of Business associate professor at Mount Royal University, has been named the first Educator-in-residence for Trico Charitable Foundation. He will work with the foundation’s network of partners to support the continuing development of a vibrant community of organizations creating social and economic value. DAVID PARKER APPEARS TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. READ HIS COLUMNS ONLINE AT CALGARYHERALD.COM/ BUSINESS. HE CAN BE REACHED AT 403-830-4622 OR E-MAIL INFO@ DAVIDPARKER. CA