A real estate partnership for the 21st century.

If you were to create a recipe for the full-service real estate company for the next century, you might take one part nationwide brokerage firm with a reputation for comprehensive market research and advanced technological capabilities, and add an established developer, owner and third-party manager, regionally and nationally recognized for hands-on, family-run management operations.

In the case of the recently formed joint venture between CB Commercial and Hampshire Management Company in New Jersey, that's exactly what they did.

CB Commercial, the national real estate services organization, has entered into a joint venture with New Jersey's Hampshire Management Company to form CB Commercial/Hampshire, a full service real estate management company. This New Jersey venture is the first of its kind by CB Commercial and is unprecedented in the company's 88-year history.

Both companies are institutions in their own right. CB Commercial is one of the nation's leading diversified real estate services companies. Hampshire Management Company, a closely held firm owned by the Jon F. Hanson family based in Hackensack, NJ, has more than 70 years of experience owning and operating real estate throughout New Jersey and beyond, managing a portfolio of 8.4 million square feet worth more than $750 million in 27 states.

By combining Hampshire's local property management know-how with the various strengths of the venerable CB Commercial, the new joint venture will offer a higher level of service, integrating all essential aspects of ownership representation under one management structure. CB Commercial/Hampshire will provide a full range of services to institutions, corporations and third party owners in New Jersey, essentially creating a property "team" that the asset manager can oversee. Several of those services will include asset management, leasing, property management, construction supervision and consulting.

"We are combining three generations of Hanson family management know-how with the incomparable local market knowledge of CB Commercial's professionals, " explained James J. Didion, chairman and CEO of CB Commercial Real Estate Group, Inc. "CB Commercial/Hampshire will offer a fully integrated service package to the New Jersey real estate owner.

"The joint venture allows us to combine the 75-year history of the Hampshire Management Co. owning and operating New Jersey real estate with the 88-year history of CB Commercial's leasing experience, market data and research capabilities and leading edge technology," said James E. Hanson II, managing director of CB Commercial/Hampshire and president of Hampshire Management Co. ;We will be able to serve large institutions as well as small property owners with the same full service."

CB Commercial/Hampshire will draw upon the strengths of both companies, making a formidable joint venture in today's competitive marketplace. CB Commercial brings rational and local leasing experience, marketing data and technology, while Hampshire Management Co. owns and operates real estate and has an extensive property management system in New Jersey.

"In addition to providing asset and property management for owners," explained Hanson, "Hampshire Management Co. is a real estate investment and development organization." Hampshire Management Co. focuses both on the acquisition of single tenant retail facilities and the development and sale/leaseback of supermarket-anchored shopping centers. In addition, Hampshire Management Co., through Hampshire Facilities Management Co., provides facility management services for the Teaneck/Hackensack and Florham/Madison campuses of Fairleigh Dickinson University.

CB Commercial Real Estate Group Inc.'s 1994 revenues were in excess of $400 million. In New Jersey, CB Commercial completed over six million square feet of transactions in 1994.

The joint venture was launched in February, after CB Commercial executives made a decision to enhance their management capabilities, which they admit were lacking in New Jersey.

"We wanted to shore up our management capabilities," explains Charles F. Moore, senior vice president of CB Commercial, who together with Hanson is guiding the new joint venture. "We knew that if we could come up with a partner that we could be comfortable with, than that would be a great way to do it. At the time we didn't know that Hampshire was sitting out there."

A meeting for a project in which Hampshire was brought in as a receiver of a foreclosed property and CB Commercial was appointed to lease the property brought executives from both companies together. They soon realized that this "marriage" could work.

"It's very rare that you find a situation where two companies are perfectly poised to be receptive to working together like this, and also the chemistry is very good between Jim and me, and all of the people involved," says Moore. "From day one it was very comfortable and we had the same goal, and that was to deliver the best possible ownership services to our clients."

Right now, the joint venture is concentrating its efforts in the New Jersey market, including office, retail and industrial properties.

CBC/Hampshire has been appointed by Three University Plaza Corp., a subsidiary of Fairleigh Dickinson University, to provide complete ownership services for Three University Plaza, a 210,000square-foot six-story office building located in the heart of Bergen County in Hackensack NJ. The CBC/Hampshire team handling the assignment is S. Harold Appel, David Simmon, Steve Frank and Kevin Welsh.

The building offers a complete roster of corporate services including a full-service cafeteria, banking facilities, newsstand. health club. copy center within the complex, and a 24-hour security system. Due to the unique design of the building, the flexible 36,750 square-foot floors offer as many as 18 corner offices. The building has many prestigious tenants including New York Switch, American Express, Midland Bank & Trust and Computer Leasing.

CBC/Hampshire has also been appointed by IDS Life Insurance Company to provide complete ownership services for 107 Little Falls Road in Fairfield, NJ. "CBC/Hampshire will be providing a fully integrated ownership services program for the property, which is currently a JVC service center," said Hanson. "As part of this program, CBC/Hampshire will provide asset management, leasing, property management, construction supervision and consulting services."

The CBC/Hampshire team handling the assignment is headed by Thomas Mallaney, CB Commercial First Vice President, and Robert Singer, CB Commercial Vice President.

The 63,222 square-foot JVC Service Center has a 43,500 square-foot warehouse area and a 19,700 square-foot office and service area. Constructed in 1989, the one-story building is set on a 10.8 acre tract of land in Essex County.

"We started at zero. They kept what they had and we kept what we had, " says Moore. "And after four months we have about 1.2 million square feet in assignments and proposals out on about 600,000 square feet. I think by the end of our first year are assignments will total 2 or 2.5 million square feet. "

Using full resources of both companies on a project by project basis, the joint venture is unique in that it maintains the distinct identity of both companies, even down to the name. "We'll do whatever the assignment requires," says Moore, adding that currently CB Commercial/Hampshire is operating out of four offices in New Jersey.

"The New Jersey market has been flat the last couple of years, but we see real movement in certain markets," adds Moore. "New Jersey industrial has heated up a great deal. The office market is still sluggish, but we are optimistic about Class A office and industrial properties."

So what makes the CB Commercial/Hampshire venture so special in a decade when more and more companies are looking to mergers and consolidations to cut costs while improving services? "It's a myriad of services from brokerage to asset management to mortgage banking, construction service, building-out tenant space, etc." answers Moore. "We know that a lot of full-service real estate companies sell that, but the reality is, rarely do they really deliver it. This is a joint venture between two companies who are known for two distinct parts of the business in New Jersey - management and brokerage."

"CB Commercial/Hampshire was specifically developed to meet the needs of real estate owners in the 21st century," sums up Moore. "The primary goal of every CB Commercial/Hampshire assignment is to help create and enhance value in a property."