ChaneyBrooks joins global network
ChaneyBrooks, a management, leasing and brokerage firm with more than 50 years' experience in the Hawaii market, yesterday announced that it has joined NAI Global, a commercial real estate network, to support and grow its $2 billion Asia-Pacific portfolio.
The company's new name, NAI ChaneyBrooks, reflects that it is a licensed member of Princeton, N.J.-based NAI Global, which manages a network of 8,000 professionals and 375 offices in 55 countries. In 2006, NAI offices completed over $40 billion in transactions.
"NAI ChaneyBrooks has become actively involved in Guam, Japan, Korea and China, where our portfolio of business now exceeds over $2 billion in project assignments," said Steve Sombrero, president and owner of NAI ChaneyBrooks. "This rapid international expansion has created the need for an affiliation with a powerful platform such as NAI Global."
By joining the NAI Global network, NAI ChaneyBrooks will have exclusive access to international property development concepts as well as a network of business professionals who are in place to handle transactions around the globe.
"We have more offices in more markets than any other commercial real estate organization in the world," said Edward Finn, NAI Global's senior vice president and general counsel.
This is the first formal entry into Hawaii for NAI Global, which sees the venture as a means to capitalize on Hawaii's geographic and time-zone advantages to Asia and the Pacific Rim.
"We foresee that NAI ChaneyBrooks will be a major bridge and facilitator of many multinational transactions," said David Blanchard, NAI Global's executive vice president.
China and Korea's growth, combined with the lifting of bank restrictions will make it more attractive for investors in those countries to diversify by taking money abroad, said Steve Atherton, NAI Global's Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific managing director. These developments also have increased the possibility of Hawaii businesses and investors doing deals both here and overseas, Atherton said.
"The securities companies in Korea are raising large funds and looking strongly in China and other emerging markets. They are also studying the U.S. for the right opportunities," he said.
The islands also have a competitive advantage over other destinations because of long-standing relationships with Asian investors, greater cultural sensitivity to Asia and Pacific Rim countries, strong tourism infrastructure and business transparency, Finn said.
"Mainland Chinese investors are paying the highest prices for penthouses in Hong Kong and now they are looking for more places to take their money," he said.
NAI ChaneyBrooks has already begun moving into the Guam market to capitalize on the planned movement of some 30,000 military servicemembers and their families by 2015. The company also has launched operations in Tokyo, engaging in landlord-tenant representation assignments for U.S. retailers entering the Japan-Asia markets, he said.