CBRE alliance aiming to attract corporate clients.

The two dominant companies in their respective categories--Los Angeles-based CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), the leading commercial real estate services provider, and Dallas-based HQ Global Workplaces, the nation's largest provider of full-service office business centers-announced the formation of a unique strategic alliance that they say will provide clients with the most comprehensive real estate services ever offered.

As the first partnership of its kind in the commercial real estate industry, the new alliance pairs comprehensive real estate portfolio services from CBRE with flexible office and service options from HQ Global.

"For the first time, clients of all sizes will be able to fill virtually all their office needs through the CBRE and HQ Global alliance," said HQ Global CEO Steve McNeely.

"This strategic partnership will create synergies for both companies and for our clients who need cost effective, flexible office solutions. For HQ, this was definitely a timely move because we are aggressively growing our business, looking for opportunities in existing markets as well as in secondary and tertiary markets."

CBRE President of Global Corporate Services Steve Swerdlow said, "HQ is a leader in its field, by far the largest in the office workplace industry, and we are very excited to partner with them in this unique initiative. We believe that, together, we will set a new benchmark for the delivery of real estate services to corporate clients."

Through the alliance, HQ Global and CBRE will develop a joint strategic marketing program to attract office users to HQ Global's work spaces.

CBRE also will provide traditional real estate services, including comprehensive portfolio management, for HQ Global's office business centers. These office centers total more than 4.5 million square feet of premier office space in major markets nationwide.

Clients using the alliance will be able to assemble the most cost effective combination of traditional, long-term leased real estate and flexible office space available today.

HQ's involvement will provide CBRE clients with alternative office space featuring increased flexibility in rental terms, amount of office space used and support services.

The HQ-CBRE program also provides all clients with a single point of contact to access an expanded portfolio of space and service options.

This full spectrum of support is designed to meet clients' real estate requirements at any stage in their business life cycle, whether they are expanding or consolidating operations.

As detailed in a recent industry study involving more than 300 top real estate executives by CoreNet Global, the international association of corporate real estate professionals, and the Gallup Organization, a large majority of those surveyed said the ability to design, implement and manage a robust but flexible infrastructure may be a key source of competitive advantage.

Respondents also predict that there will be substantial increases in the number of employees working virtually by the year 2010 and that assigned office space will be reduced significantly in favor of more flexible space.

Currently, 16 percent of survey respondents said their knowledge workers spend at least 25 percent of their time in unassigned or off-site office space.

By 2010, almost 40 percent of respondents predict their employees will spend more than a quarter of their time in unassigned space, almost a 150 percent increase over current levels.

More information about the CoreNet study is available at www.corenetglobal.com.