Brian Lynch
By Joshua Burd
Lee & Associates has tapped the president of the firm’s New Jersey office to lead a strategic expansion of its footprint on the East Coast.
The firm, which has offices in Elmwood Park and Edison, recently named Brian Lynch its chief strategy officer in charge of East Coast expansion. The industry veteran will oversee a push that will be focused on the Boston, Washington D.C., Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham and Miami markets.
Lee & Associates, the largest broker-owned commercial real estate firm in North America, expects to add 10 to 12 markets in the next two years.
“After continued successful U.S. expansion and growth into Canada and Europe, Lee & Associates is committing additional resources to continue expanding our East Coast presence,” Jeffrey Rinkov, CEO of Lee & Associates, said in a prepared statement. “Brian brings an excellent understanding of the landscape and a keen eye on the dynamics of this broker market. We are excited to have him lead our expansion efforts.”
Prior to joining Lee & Associates in 2009, Lynch founded Commercial Realty Associates in 1995 and provided landlord representation, property management and construction management services to small and midsized companies, according to a news release. He later expanded his services to his clients, founding CRA Architecture and Design in 2007.
“Since joining Lee, I now service clients on a national and international basis,” Lynch said. “Many of the clients I now have would never be my clients before I had the Lee platform. I simply could not have serviced their needs the way I can now.”
Lynch said the revenue generated by Lee & Associates New Jersey is up more than 1,000 percent from eight years ago, with a staff that has increased from four people to more than 50. That includes nearly 30 agents doing business all over the country.
“Lee & Associates provides the best of all worlds by allowing me to operate a brokerage firm without bureaucracy, but still provides me the infrastructure and network to service client needs,” Lynch said. “And because of our unique business model, which provides a platform of which each office is (100 percent) broker-owned and managed, Lee is a model that has proven itself over and over again.”
In the last two years, Lee & Associates has opened offices in Minneapolis, Cleveland, Houston and Seattle, along with new locations in Walnut Creek, California; Pasadena, California; Vancouver, British Columbia; Eastern Pennsylvania and Columbus, Ohio.