New name for veteran firm

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This article was published 27/07/2015 (3953 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The distinctive green signs of CBRE are about to disappear from Winnipeg’s commercial real estate scene — for now.

That’s because the Toronto-based company has a new global mandate to own all of its shops. The local office in Winnipeg has been owned by the Chartier family for the last 14 years.

Derrick Chartier, president of CBRE Winnipeg, said his Portage Avenue headquarters will be rebranded Capital Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. effective Aug. 1.

Once the new name goes above the door, however, his team will continue to operate as they always have.

“We’ve remained the only wholly owned (independent) CBRE affiliate in Canada. We have maintained all of our employees and sales agents (for a total of 20 staff),” he said.

Chartier said his group will continue to offer brokerage and property management services of retail, office and industrial properties, as well as investment properties and apartments.

“We have contacted a lot of our key clients, and the feedback we have received has been extremely positive. Our industry is all about the people and the relationship with our clients,” he said.

The Winnipeg operations were started by Chartier’s father, Marcel, who founded Chartier & Associates Inc. in 1984.

Moving forward, Capital Commercial will be owned by Chartier, his father, Marcel, his brother, Carey, and longtime associates Rennie Zegalski and Trevor Clay.

Zegalski said the new company will blanket the city with more than 150 signs on its first day of operations.

“Our industry isn’t that big, but it touches a lot of different sectors, like legal and architectural. The majority of people probably won’t pay attention to the new signs, but they’ll drive by them. It’s a small city when it comes to doing deals,” he said.

Without getting into a full industry forecast, Zegalski predicted the leasing business will continue to be strong in Winnipeg, thanks in large part to the high — and rising — cost of construction.

“You can lease space for a quarter the cost (of building),” he said.

‘Our industry isn’t that big, but it touches a lot of different sectors, like legal and architectural… It’s a small city when it comes to doing deals’

— Rennie Zegalski

But the CBRE banner won’t be gone forever.

Mark Renzoni, president and chief executive officer of CBRE Canada, said he hopes to announce his firm’s re-entry into Winnipeg sometime this fall.

“CBRE will continue to work with (the Chartier group) in the short term. Our brand is highly visible as a global company. Our formal launch of the new brand will take 30 to 90 days,” he said.

The local CBRE office has worked on a number of high-profile projects over the years, including the Seasons of Tuxedo, featuring IKEA.

A number of new retailers are expected to be announced on the site within the next month or so. Chartier and his team are also working on the sale of 444 St. Mary Ave., a 250,000-square-foot building, home to some of Great-West Life’s operations.

CBRE has 2,000 employees in 22 offices across eight provinces and more than $10.5 billion in annual transactional volume.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca