CBRE Grows Valuation Footprint With SoCal Deal

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CBRE has acquired the Los Angeles and Orange County affiliates of Integra Realty Resources, a nationwide network of commercial real estate valuation, counseling and advisory firms.

IRR-Los Angeles/Orange County provides valuation and advisory services across a broad spectrum of property types, but specializes in right-of-way (ROW) appraisals. The firm has completed about 500 assignments annually for more than 100 regional and national clients.

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With offices in Los Angeles and Irvine, Calif., the new teams will integrate with CBRE’s existing Valuation & Advisory Services (VAS) division. John Ellis and Beth Finestone are the principals of IRR-Los Angeles/Orange County and will continue to run operations in Southern California as executive vice presidents for CBRE.

Tom Edwards, global president of VAS for CBRE, said in a prepared statement that the new team is widely regarded as the leaders in ROW appraisal services in Southern California. Ellis added that ROW valuation has been a core part of IRR-Los Angeles/Orange County’s services since inception in 1996.

CBRE touted the acquisition as complementing its national VAS ROW practice, reportedly the largest of its kind in the United States. Previous additions to the practice included South Carolina–based Clontz Newkirk Real Estate Group in 2022 and a team from Seattle-based ABS Valuation in late 2021.

A bit of a trend

Gary DeClark, senior managing director & principal with Valbridge Property Advisors | Chicago Metro, told Commercial Property Executive that ROW work, “a common way of saying eminent domain work, makes for a very good inclusion to the array of a broad-based book of business in the valuation field.”

He added, however, that “there has been a hesitancy to participate in the past by big firms because ROW work usually involves some sort of litigation support activity. Big firms may shy away from this work due to the requirement for an appraiser’s depositions and testimony to be on the record. This record is added risk to the larger company for fear of inconsistencies across cases, litigants and jurisdictions.”

Nonetheless, DeClark continued, “Some big firms are moving into the ROW arena lately because their traditional valuation work brought about by sale transactions and mortgage lending is way down due to interest rate creep and reduced deal flow.”