Competition increases among property managers: Cushman & Wakefield of California takes top spot.L.A. County's biggest property management firms have seen plenty of profit-threatening changes in their industry's environment over the last few years. And the substantial changes in their rankings on this week's List illustrate burgeoning competitive pressures from growing "institutional" service firms -- primarily those affiliated with big life insurers -- in addition to idled development organizations. "The property management market is more competitive today than ever before," said industry veteran Walter Conn, director of property management at No. 2 Charles Dunn Co. "We used to make presentations and know we were up against a handful of other 'fee' managers. Now we're facing new competition from insurance companies and developers -- and profit margins have come down," Conn said. The changes also reflect a new ranking system emphasizing office and retail assignments over industrial and residential sectors and "third-party" over "in-house" contracts. Dunn, The List's perennial perennial, any plant that under natural conditions lives for several to many growing seasons, as contrasted to an annual or a biennial. Botanically, the term perennial No. 1 with just under 10 million square feet of industrial space buoying its 22 million-square-foot L.A. County management portfolio, was bumped down a notch notch (noch) incisure; an indentation on the edge of a bone or other organ. aortic notch dicrotic n. cardiac notch 1. by former No. 5 Cushman & Wakefield of California Inc. as a result of the new system. Rankings of industrial heavyweights such as Trammell Crow F. Trammell Crow (born June 11, 1914, in Dallas, Texas) is an American property developer who created several famous projects, including Dallas Market Center, Peachtree Center (Atlanta, Georgia), and San Francisco's Embarcadero Center. Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, Inc., which fell from No. 2 to No. 19, and Prentiss Properties Limited Inc., which dropped from No. 7 to No. 25, also suffer under the new system. Conversely con·verse 1 intr.v. con·versed, con·vers·ing, con·vers·es 1. To engage in a spoken exchange of thoughts, ideas, or feelings; talk. See Synonyms at speak. 2. , certain office and retail specialists made significant jumps as a result of the altered ranking system -- as well as portfolio growth. Allegiance allegiance, in political terms, the tie that binds an individual to another individual or institution. The term usually refers to a person's legal obligation of obedience to a government in return for the protection of that government, although it may have reference Realty realty n. a short form of "real estate." (See: real estate) REALTY. An abstract of real, as distinguished from personalty. Realty relates to lands and tenements, rents or other hereditaments. Vide Real Property. Group, formerly Tishman West Cos., has been rebuilding its shrunken shrunk·en v. A past participle of shrink. shrunken Verb a past participle of shrink Adjective reduced in size Adj. 1. local office portfolio and climbed from No. 24 a year ago all the way to No. 6. Retail specialist Centers Business Management and office specialist Tooley & Co., Nos. 9 and 10 a year ago, have moved into the No. 3 and No. 4 slots, respectively. Two growth-oriented management firms boasting boast 1 v. boast·ed, boast·ing, boasts v.intr. To glorify oneself in speech; talk in a self-admiring way. v.tr. 1. To speak of with excessive pride. 2. huge nationwide portfolios also made big moves on this year's List. Publicly traded Koll Management Services jumped from No. 14 to No. 5, while aggressive PM Realty Group moved up from No. 19 to No. 8. Strong growth by institutional affiliates can be seen in this year's debuts of No. 16 MS Management Services and No. 20 Compass Management & Leasing. MS is affiliated with the Metropolitan Structures development firm, which is part-owned by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. MS has taken over downtown L.A.'s 1.4 million-square-foot Security Pacific Plaza -- owned by MetLife -- upping its local management portfolio to 3.9 million square feet. Compass is affiliated with Equitable Real Estate, the property investment-management wing of Equitable Life Equitable Life may refer to:
No. 7 Premisys Real Estate Services Inc., affiliated with Prudential Insurance Co.'s Prudential Realty Group, remains the biggest of the institutionally connected fee-management firms with 6.5 million square feet of L.A. County office space and more than 1.5 million industrial under management. Bill Durslag, the new director of C&W's management services division, noted that survival under the ultra-competitive conditions is a matter of "holding onto what you have" and targeting additional clients as a new group of investors continues acquiring local commercial properties. And realizing these goals simply entails servicing clients better, he added. "What owners want most from their property managers is to retain existing tenants and keep operational costs at a minimum," Durslag noted. |
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