NEWS - Commercial Real Estate

By Lou Phelps, SBJ Staff

Jan 16, 2012 -  CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, and the world’s largest commercial real estate services, has expanded to Savannah.

Last week, the company announced the hiring of Bill Sparks, SIOR, as First Vice President and William Lattimore III as Associate to open CBRE’s new office Savannah which will be a satellite office extension of the company’s Atlanta office.   

They are initially renting office space at Thinc Savannah at 35 Barnard Street, Savannah. “It offers us flexibility right now and speed to market,” explained Sparks, but in the future, they will expand to more tradition office space. 

Both Sparks and Lattimore join CBRE from Gilbert & Lattimore, a Cushman & Wakefield Alliance member company, in Savannah. 

The fourth generation Savannah natives will draw upon their comprehensive commercial real estate and research capacities to spearhead CBRE’s presence in the greater Savannah region from Hilton Head to Brunswick, according to the company.

“We look forward to leveraging the CBRE resources and network to enhance the service we provide in Savannah, and empower our clients,” said Sparks. 

Prior to moving back to Savannah in 2008 and co-founding Gilbert & Lattimore, Sparks spent 10 years with GVA Advantis in Atlanta where he provided strategic advisory and brokerage services to a variety of clientele. During his 14-year commercial real estate career, he has completed over 300 commercial brokerage transactions in office, industrial, retail and land services. He is a graduate of UGA, and is a licensed Broker in Georgia and South Carolina.

Lattimore spent the last year with Gilbert & Lattimore, and for six years, he served as Manager of Coastal Market Graphics, LLC (CMG), a real estate market research company and affiliate of The Lattimore Company, tracking over 1,800 residential developments on the Georgia and South Carolina coasts. Through CMG, he has served and advised over 65 clients including national, regional and local developers, banks and builders, national retailers, investment firms, hospitals and municipalities. He earned his B.S. from The University of Alabama and is a licensed sales associate in Georgia and South Carolina.

 “Bill and William bring extensive real estate and research background to CBRE,” commented John Ferguson, CBRE’s Executive Managing Director, Southeast. “As we continue our East Coast Port growth strategy, I am confident in their ability to lead CBRE’s efforts in greater Savannah which is now the 4th largest container Port in the U.S.”

Update on the Gilbert & Lattimore firm

Gilbert & Lattimore, founded in 2008, with offices at 104 W. State Street, Suite 220, in Savannah’s historic district, will remain unchanged and their alliance with Cushman & Wakefield is also unchanged, according to Harvey Gilbert, Managing Partner and Broker-in-Charge. 

“The decision by my partner William Lattimore, Jr. to retire from commercial real estate brokerage, opened up opportunities for Bill Sparks and for Bill’s son, William, and this change is very amicable,” said Gilbert.

Gilbert & Lattimore has closed over $100 million in transactions in the first two years of the firm’s alliance with Cushman & Wakefield, another of the U.S.’s largest commercial real estate leaders, Gilbert said.  

“The decision by CBRE to enter the Savannah market is a reaffirmation to us,” said Gilbert, “that the major players are attracted to the Savannah market.”  To support this, he adds the decision by Colliers to affiliate with Savannah’s Neely Dales several years ago, also a significant local commercial real estate player.  

“The port, in particular, has attracted the interest of the major players,” explained Gilbert.  “In many ways, the Savannah market is a second or third-tier player, but out port is a first tier player.”

Founded in 1917, Cushman & Wakefield is an international powerhouse in commercial real estate and construction project management, with more than 215 offices in 56 countries, and 12,000 employees on six continents.