CBRE/New England To Fully Integrate Into CBRE

New England’s largest commercial real estate brokerage firm is getting absorbed by its national parent. 

CB Richard Ellis-N.E. Partners, better known as CBRE/New England, has been a joint venture between Los Angeles-based CBRE Group and Boston-based Whittier Partners Group since 1997. CBRE Group has fully acquired the New England firm but, while the entire CBRE/New England team will join CBRE immediately, the CBRE/New England moniker won’t go away until the end of 2018, the company announced Tuesday.

“We are very excited to fully integrate our market-leading regional platform into CBRE, the industry’s leader in commercial real estate services,” CBRE/New England President and co-Managing Partner Andy Hoar said in a prepared statement. “We felt the timing was right for this transition to better serve our clients and our employees.”

The move is the second high-profile employment development for the Boston office this year, after CBRE lured a 48-person team led by Steve Purpura from Transwestern RBJ in February. Bisnow exclusively reported at the time the move was expected to eventually lead to CBRE/New England fully integrating into the global brand. 

Purpura, Hoar and CBRE/New England Chief Financial Officer and co-Managing Partner Kevin Doyle are all expected to remain with the company, a CBRE spokesman told Bisnow Tuesday. 

“Boston is a gateway city and one of the most important real estate markets in the world. Integrating CBRE/New England officially into the CBRE business is the right move for our company, our clients and all our employees in New England,” CBRE Global Chief Operating Officer Jack Durburg said in a prepared statement. “Andy Hoar, Kevin Doyle, Steve Purpura and the rest of our leadership team couldn’t be more excited about what is ahead of us.”

CBRE/New England employs over 1,200 people and has seven offices across New England. The company completed 12.3M SF of Massachusetts leasing transactions in 2017, ranking the company first in regional commercial real estate operations. Purpura’s team that moved to CBRE from Transwestern RBJ completed over 9.1M SF of Massachusetts leasing transactions in the same timeframe.