JLL acquires Cresa South Florida

Cresa and JLL from left: John Marshall, Matthew Cheezem, Alan Kleber, Charlie Barton, Barbara Liberatore Black, David Prevé, Matthew Goodman, Doug Irmscher (JLL), Don Cartwright (JLL), and Glenn Olson.

JLL has acquired Cresa South Florida, in a deal geared to double JLL’s local brokerage team and enhance its strength in tenant representation and project management, the firms announced on Monday.

Cresa South Florida, a tenant-focused commercial real estate firm created in 1998, has clients in finance and banking, law, healthcare, education, tourism and professional services. “They are the market leader in tenant representation in South Florida, so by combining the firm with the JLL platform, and their leadership and tenant representation in South Florida, it significantly enhances what we bring to the table,” JLL Florida Market Director Doug Irmscher told The Real Deal.

Doug Irmscher

The acquisition, 18 months in the making, closed late Friday, Irmscher said. “It’s been a long process,” he added, declining to disclose the purchase price.

Overall, Cresa has more 50 offices worldwide and more than $290 million in 2014 revenue.

South Florida principals David Prevé, Barbara Liberatore Black, Charlie Barton, John Marshall, Matthew Cheezem, Glenn Olson, Matthew Goodman and Alan Kleber will be joining JLL. In all, JLL will be adding Cresa’s 30 employees, including 22 brokers, three project managers and five support staff. The integration, which is still to be worked out, will nearly double JLL’s number of brokers, Irmscher said.

Alan Kleber

“For us, it provides an opportunity for our staff to be part of a company recognized in the industry, and to join what many consider to be the gold standard, a great global brand, a growth oriented company,” Kleber told TRD. It also gives the firm a “greater depth of resources to optimize results for our clients,” he said. Among Cresa’s clients are Royal Caribbean International, Modernizing Medicine and several major professional services firms.

JLL, one of the largest full-service commercial real estate firms in the state, has 650 employees statewide in offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville. The Chicago-based firm provides landlord and tenant representation, capital markets, project and development services, corporate solutions and property management, serving the office, retail, industrial, hospitality and multifamily markets. 

The firm’s leasing and management portfolio in Florida totals more than 28.6 million square feet. On the landlord side, JLL’s South Florida clients include Teachers Insurance at 701 Brickell Avenue, JPMorgan at Southeast Financial Center, Equity Office Properties and LaSalle Investment Managment at 1221 Brickell Avenue, Irmscher said. 

By adding Cresa, he said, “on the tenant side, it definitely more than doubles our revenue.”