By Lauren Ratcliffe
lratcliffe@scbiznews.com
Published Feb. 13, 2012
The Charleston commercial real estate firm, Anchor Commercial, has joined Lee and Associates in its attempt to increase its presence in the Southeast.
Bob Nuttall Jr., Milton Thomas III and Reid Davis will continue on as the local leadership of the Charleston office in what the two companies are calling a merger.
“We’ve been talking in earnest since September,” Nuttall said. “Lee has a strong presence in southern California where they were founded, and we are now the 46th location.”
Nuttall said his team was excited about joining Lee because of their national platform, brand and growing network. He stressed that the former Anchor Commercial location will be fully owned by the original partners.
“One huge addition that the Lee brand allows firms to do is in the avenue of recruiting,” he said. “We were able to bring in Thomas Buist and Ryan Welch, two industrial people.”
Buist and Welch bring industrial space knowledge that further rounds out Anchor’s commercial portfolio.
Lee and Associates chose Anchor in part because of its location in the Charleston market. The first South Carolina office opened six months ago in Greenville.
“Charleston obviously is a significant geographical business and commerce force,” said Lee and Associates CEO Ed Indvik. “Its geographical location, the port activity, its blend of cultural and business environments are as good as any I’ve seen in my travels in the United States.”
Lee and Associates has immediate plans for regional expansion with offices to be located in Columbia and Savannah, Ga. within the next four years.
There are no immediate plans for new jobs or layoffs for the Charleston location.
Lee and Associates is hoping to expand its Charleston location by recruiting other brokers already operating in the area — especially in the arena of industrial brokerage.
Indvik cited the upcoming expansion of the Panama Canal as an important factor in choosing to expand in an eastern port city.
“As manufacturing in the Far East is moving to the West — to Singapore — then the products are going to come to the East Coast ports,” he said.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly characterized the business relationship of Lee & Associates and Anchor Commercial. The story above has been updated.
