C&W expands alliance program. (Cushman and Wakefield).

Derrick Banks Mashore, head of Cushman & Wakefield's client strategies group, and chairman of the Cushman & Wakefield Alliance, announced the addition of four real estate service firms in the Midwest. The Cushman & Wakefield Alliance is a program that expands C&W's service capabilities and enables C&W to gain market share in select middle markets across the United States.

The latest additions, firms in Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Kansas City and Cincinnati, are part of C&W's Midwest growth strategy and bring the total number of Alliance members to 10, Mashore said. The expansion in the Midwest is part of a stated national strategy of Cushman & Wakefield president of U.S. operations Bruce Mosler to further strengthen the firm's delivery of services throughout the country.

"The expansion of the Alliance program is based on the initial success of the Alliance in the Southeast," said Mosler. "And it's in line with our goal of tapping the best firms in strategic markets to join the C&W service platform."

"The Alliance initiative is aimed at reliably providing our clients with C&W's total real estate solutions capabilities in key markets on a national scale, while enabling us to have direct access to these strategic markets through the best local real estate firms, who also benefit from our multiple services," Mashore added.

Each firm will be contracted and branded as a "Member of the Cushman & Wakefield Alliance."

The four new additions to the C&W Alliance are:

* Northstar Partners (Minneapolis, Minn.)

* Summit Realty Group (Indianapolis, Ind.)

* Kessinger Hunter (Kansas City, Mo.)

* Cincinnati Commercial Realty (Cincinnati, Ohio)

The new firms join the first six Alliance members, which include Commercial Tennessee (Memphis, Tenn.), San Diego Corporate Real Estate Advisors (San Diego, Calif.), Eason Graham & Sandner (Birmingham, Ala.), Commercial Jacksonville (Jacksonville, Fla.), Commercial Carolina (Raleigh, N.C.), and Mission Properties (Brentwood, Tenn.)

Among the other benefits the Alliance provides are:

* Creating new channels for C&W's range of fully integrated real estate services, i.e., advisory, asset, corporate, and international Services, as well as strategic ventures.

* Opportunities to expand our already major presence and visibility in industrial brokerage for specifically targeted markets. The Alliance offices in industrial-transaction dominated regions will allow C&W to enhance our firm's "industrial pipeline" to service clients in the U.S., as well as in Asia and Europe.

* Ability to provide clients in non-C&W markets with the scale and scope of C&W expertise, e.g., C&W's research department producing regional market studies, as well as consultation and resources from the firm's marketing and technology groups.