Cushman & Wakefield Acquires Houston CRE Firm

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In its latest corporate acquisition, Cushman & Wakefield announced it has purchased Colvill Office Properties, a commercial real estate firm in Houston, Texas, that provides office agency leasing services. Representatives from both firms did not disclose financial terms of the deal.

The news comes two weeks after Cushman & Wakefield entered into an agreement to purchase Pinnacle Property Management Services, a Dallas-based multifamily property management firm that is the third-largest in the country, according to recent data from the National Multifamily Housing Council.

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Chip Colvill, founder and former president & CEO of Colvill, will join Cushman & Wakefield as executive vice chairman. Colvill said in prepared remarks that the company was “thrilled” to join Cushman & Wakefield and that by joining the global firm, would be able to take its platform to “the next level.”

Colvill, which specializes in landlord representation, has been overseeing leasing and marketing for 17 million square feet of Class A office space in the Houston area over the last two decades. The firm’s portfolio includes properties in several major office submarkets, including Houston’s central business district, the Galleria area, Westchase, Energy Corridor, Upper Kirby/Greenway and the North Loop/North Belt.

Andrew McDonald, president of Cushman & Wakefield’s West Region, said in prepared remarks that Houston, among the top five largest metros in the country, is a “critically important market” for the firm, and the acquisition of Colvill will expand its investor services platform significantly in Texas.

Market dynamics

Houston’s office market, which encompasses a total of 230.7 million square feet, has about 3 million square feet of office space under construction, according to a Q4 report from Avison Young. The city also has a burgeoning co-working sector, according to a recent report from Colliers International. At the moment, co-working makes up just 1.3 million square feet in the market, but Colliers believes there is a place for co-working in the biggest city in Texas.

“When discussing flex space operators with landlords, we hear that they serve as a valuable building amenity,” wrote Taylor Wright, vice president at Colliers International Houston, in the report.