The Ottawa commercial real estate business witnessed a major shake-up this week as five members of the Colliers International sales team joined Cushman & Wakefield.

“We got the interest of some of the team members and, when it came down to it, they were very much in favour of moving as a unit as opposed to just some of the pieces,” said Alain Desmarais, senior managing director of Cushman & Wakefield Ottawa, of discussions he said took place over the past couple of years.

“Because they’re such a great team and so successful, we did everything we could to try to make that happen.”

 Experience, energy, drive and relationships

Doug Tilley and Paul Bennett now have the job title of senior vice-president, broker for Cushman & Wakefiled, while Kimberley Hall is associate VP, sales representative and Brittany Wilson and Jason Tilley are both sales representatives. They started their new jobs on Jan. 19.

“Paul Bennett and Doug Tilley each have over 30 years of experience in the business and have trained a lot of the successful brokers in commercial real estate in Ottawa over the years,” said Desmarais of the two senior team members, while praising all five newcomers.

“What they bring to us is a great client list and a proven track record that we know will continue and be improved upon. They also bring energy and drive with them that’s quite impressive. They have a high volume of deals and they have excellent relationships with both landlords and tenants across the region. Their relationships will follow them and that will benefit us all.”

While the new employees are expected to land new listings right away, Cushman & Wakefield is already involved in the leasing and sales of several prominent Ottawa area properties. (Doug Tilley is shown on the left in the image above and Paul Bennett is on the right.)

Cushman & Wakefield leasing and sales listings

Cushman & Wakefield is seeking companies to lease space at 270 Albert Street, Place Bell Canada, the Chambers Building, The Central Chambers and the Richelieu Building in Gatineau.

“We don’t do any work representing the feds in terms of leasing because they have Public Works as their leasing agents, but we have been involved in many, many deals with the federal government on the landlord side of things,” said Desmarais. “If we have a listing or we’re working with a landlord who is trying to tender something for Public Works, we can provide expertise to help them land government tenancies.”

Cushman & Wakefield Ottawa sales listings include a 38,615-square-foot office property at 2733 Lancaster Rd., 10.7 acres of development land at 720 Silver Seven Rd., 1.33 acres of development land at 1420 Richmond Rd., 0.84 acres of development land at 3802-3812 Greenbank Rd. and industrial space on Saunders Drive in Cornwall.