Global commercial real estate firm enters the Santa Barbara market
For years, Colliers, a global commercial real estate firm, has done business in Santa Barbara.
But they, like many other global real estate firms, never committed to having an actual office on the Central Coast, instead opting to simply conduct business from its Southern California offices.
That all changed on March 4 when Colliers announced it would be opening a Santa Barbara office which is headed by Managing Director Ricardo Pacheco and includes the addition of three local CRE executives: Austin Herlihy, Chris Parker, and Miles Waters.
“Santa Barbara had always been a bit of a hole for us, and really is a hole for all kinds of global and national CRE firms,” Pacheco told the Business Times.
“So we really saw this as a great opportunity to better serve our clients that live or operate up there and bring a full connectivity throughout the Central Coast down to Southern California.”
Herlihy, Parker and Waters all join Colliers after being at local CRE firm, Radius, for years.
Between the three of them, they have more than 40 years of combined industry experience and have “established a reputation as one of the region’s most productive and respected teams,” according to a news release.
The trio has also completed over $2 billion in total transaction value with their expansive portfolio including the sales of the Fairmont Orchid Hotel, the Hotel Californian, the Amazon building on State Street, the QAD Campus, and Funk Zone Bakery Block, according to a news release.
“Starting the office was about finding the right time, but more importantly, the right people, and Austin, Chris and Miles for exactly what we were looking for in terms of the caliber of people and professionals we wanted to bring into Colliers,” Pacheco said.
“They fit our culture, their reputation in the market fits what we’re looking for and their aspirations in terms of growing their business all aligned with how we have been building things throughout the Southern California market and throughout the company as a whole.”
Herlihy will serve as executive vice president while Parker and Waters will serve as vice presidents.
The team will operate from the firm’s new office at 314 E. Carrillo Street.
Colliers is a full-service brokerage shop, meaning they provide real estate services in all areas from leasing and sales to office, industrial and multi-family projects.
The firm also has engineering and investment management teams.
“We saw this market as having a gap in providing a lot of those things, as well as having a network of brokered professionals around the world that can transact in the event that a company or that owner has properties in other markets,” Pacheco said.
“So we really wanted to bring that full-service global firm with all of those capabilities to the folks who live and operate in Santa Barbara.”
Pacheco, who is also the managing director for Collier’s six Los Angeles offices, said the goal right now is “having those boots on the ground” and getting to know the needs of the community and the opportunities that exist throughout the Central Coast before continuing to grow and adding to the team of three.
He added that he believes the Santa Barbara office is the perfect “middle ground” for servicing the entire Central Coast.
“Right now, we are really happy with our coverage with our Woodland Hills office covering all the way up through the Conejo Valley into Ventura County and now having this Santa Barbara office that will allow us to operate north and south of us much easier,” Pacheco said.
Pacheco noted that Santa Barbara’s growing technology scene as well as the growth of UC Santa Barbara creates a noticeable demand for multifamily units, office or light industrial opportunities and so much more.
“We’re in this market because we want to grow with the market as well,” Pacheco said.
“We’re excited about the opportunity of growing into the Santa Barbara market. Everyone does business her, but for us to have a specific team here, I think it really gives us an advantage.”
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