Giving clients what they need.

Brian Dugan knows a lot about corporate down-sizing. During a 20-year career with the Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO), Brian spearheaded the organization's diversification in the early 1970s, setting up their Long Island headquarters and later overseeing the acquisition of properties throughout the northeast as the company experienced phenomenal growth. Then came the Arab oil embargo in 1976, which severely affected GEICO and caused a massive down-sizing. It was then that Brian learned the importance of exit strategies.

Later, acting as a consultant for EBASCO Services when they were deciding whether or not to leave the World Trade Center, Brian suggested they look at a newly developed site owned by Colgate in Jersey City. It was there that he met John Cushman, and although that deal was never consummated, Cushman was impressed by Dugan's handling of the deal and hired him.

In the mid-1970s, the firm established by John Cushman's father and grandfather, Cushman & Wakefield, was sold to Rockefeller Center and the Japanese, and the Peters family assumed control of the company. John Cushman, who was third in command of the company at the time of the sale, started a new company, Cushman Realty Corporation, with his twin brother Lou.

The company quickly became a major force on the West Coast, with John operating out of California and Lou out of Texas, completing most of the large block transactions in Los Angeles. However, Cushman Realty remained active in New York, even without an office here, arranging such deals as four million square feet for Merrill Lynch and Drexel Bernham at the World Trade Center.

Cushman had established a New York office when Colgate hired the firm to design, implement and market the plan for the development of a 44-acre tract of land in Jersey City. However, the market crash of 1989 stopped the development of a master plan for 8 million square feet of commercial and retail space and 1,000 residential units with a marina and hotel after the first 1.2 million square-foot building at 191 Hudson Street was completed.

After that development came to a halt, Cushman looked to the New York market to see what kind of revenues could be generated, and Dugan was able to convince Cushman through some major deals that the New York office should be expanded.

"Real estate is a cost-control issue," says Dugan, "It's also about building relationships." The national companies headquartered in New York generate national business for the company.

Cushman Realty's New York office has already hired several people this year and is looking will soon be hiring several more as business grows. This growth has been accomplished with little outward searching for clients, as many companies have called upon Cushman, based on their reputation, to act as an extension of their corporate arm in fulfilling their real estate needs.

"The philosophy is to service accounts well, and let the last job you send out the door get you your next job," says Dugan. "Often clients don't know what they need."

Dugan says that the landlord is a key factor in selecting space for his corporate clients. He looks for stability and financial strength. Will the owner flip a building? What if a tenant outgrows his space? Does the landlord have other space and options?

"The big problem is that companies get locked into big projects without exit strategies," says Dugan. "The only time to discuss this with landlords is when discussing expansion. We want to be able to expand by 25 percent and contract by 25 percent."

Thus far, the strategy has brought success for the New York office. In 1993 they arranged the surrender of 43,000 square feet on the 90th floor of Two World Trade Center by EBASCO to the Port Authority, which was able to release the space to Fiduciary Trust. EBASCO still has nine floors available at Two World Trade Center.

Cushman Realty also arranged over 165,000 square feet in leases for EBASCO in New Jersey, Maine, Pennsylvania, Washington and Georgia; a 105,000 square-foot processing center and 35,000 square-foot sorting center for Publishers Clearing House in Syosset; 44,000 square feet for HIP in Hollywood, Florida; and a 20,000 square-foot lease expansion and 10-year extension for Korn Ferry in Midtown.

"To be successful, you have to deliver what the client needs," says Dugan. "The last customer is the best salesperson."