NEWS - Commercial Real Estate

By Lou Phelps

Feb 20, 2012 - An announcement this week may mean that the big players can smell an upturn ahead in the commercial real estate business.  Anchor Commercial Real Estate Services, one of South Carolina’s top full-service commercial real estate firms, has merged with Lee & Associates, one of the largest full-service commercial real estate firms in the country.

Lee & Associates Charleston, located at 126 Seven Farms, Suite 110, in Charleston will give the firm an important gateway for its Southeast and national outreach; and the company has announced expansion plans which include coming into Savannah with a commercial real estate office and team.  

Lee Charleston is headed by principals Robert H. Nuttall, Jr., R. Milton Thomas, III and Reid P. Davis. Combined, with 50 years of combined commercial real estate and property management experience.  

“When Milton and I founded Anchor Commercial 13 years ago, we had a vision to build a successful, full-service brokerage company that would be well known for the highest level of values and service,” said Nuttall.  “We believe we accomplished that with Anchor and now we plan to expand this vision with Lee & Associates. The excitement this union of Anchor Commercial with Lee & Associates brings to our brokers and clients is significant. We also believe the reputation we established with Anchor Commercial will help firmly establish Lee in South Carolina and the mid-Atlantic or Southeast coast with future office openings planned for Columbia, SC and Savannah, GA.”

This office comes on the heels of Lee office openings in New York City and Naples/Ft Myers, FL  and recent significant office openings in Atlanta, Indianapolis, and Kansas City, Kan. Lee’s other office in South Carolina, which opened in May of last year, is located in Greenville at 101 W. Court St., Suite A, in the central business district.

Lee Charleston currently has an agent roster of 14 agents, including the recent hire of Thomas G. Buist, Jr., a noted industrial broker from the region who will help take this already full-service powerhouse to the next level. Formerly with NAI where he was a senior broker and industrial specialist, Buist Jr., also spent 17 years with Grubb & Ellis as a senior vice president of industrial services. Also joining the team is Ryan Welch, a six-year veteran at NAI, where he specialized in land and the industrial market.

“The opportunity to work with this team and Lee & Associates was something I could not pass up,” said Buist. “Anchor Commercial’s reputation stands on its own, and now that they are with Lee, it can only be described as perfect timing to make a move.”

Lee Charleston, which becomes the firm’s 46th office nationwide, works in the industrial, office, retail and investment markets as well as property management and with development clients.

 “Our continued focus on prime brokerage offices in key regions in the Southeast makes the addition of Lee Charleston a premier location for our national broker and client platform,” said Edward Indvik, CEO of Lee & Associates.