It's Official: Cushman & Wakefield, Cushman Realty Tie the Knot

LOS ANGELES-Real estate giant Cushman & Wakefield officially took control of LA’s Cushman Realty Corp. today, formalizing a merger that GlobeSt.com exclusively reported more than three months ago was destined to occur.

In completing the acquisition, New York-based C&W will absorb Cushman Realty’s 11 offices and about 200 Cushman Realty employees. The acquisition means that C&W will roughly double the number of its Southern California brokers, to 170.

GlobeSt.com reported in early April that C&W had reached an agreement to buy Cushman Realty. Cushman Realty’s top execs first denied that an agreement had been reached, but called GlobeSt.com back a few hours later to instead say that they had “no comment” on the story about to be published.

A formal announcement of the merger deal was released days later and published by other media outlets.

The acquisition of Cushman Realty marks the biggest step yet that C&W has taken to bolster its presence in Southern California, a region where commercial real estate activity remains much stronger than in most other parts of the country. Last December, C&W acquired the 15-broker Matlow-Kennedy Commercial Real Estate Services Co. in LA’s sizzling South Bay market.

LA-based Cushman Realty has established a solid track record over the years, but has lacked the type of global infrastructure that C&W enjoys. It was founded by twin brothers John C. Cushman III and Louis B. Cushman 31 years ago.

Before starting their own firm, the twins both held key management positions at Cushman & Wakefield. C&W was founded by their grandfather, J. Clydedale Cushman, and great-uncle Bernard Wakefield in 1917.

As part of the merger, John Cushman has been named chairman of Cushman & Wakefield. Louis Cushman, who is based in Houston, becomes a vice chair of C&W and a member of the company’s board.