Jeff Garibaldi Sr. (left) and Jeff Garibaldi Jr. are CEO and president of The Garibaldi Group, respectively. — Courtesy: TGG
By Joshua Burd
The Garibaldi Group has acquired NAI Summit, the Allentown, Pennsylvania-based real estate services firm, in a move aimed at bolstering its brokerage and property management platforms and expanding its business in the Lehigh Valley region.
The 105-year-old firm, which has long been based in Chatham, said the transaction is several years in the making and part of a plan to grow beyond its roots in corporate office leasing. To that end, it will provide TGG with an established, robust property management team and a group of brokers with vast experience in acquisition, disposition and leasing deals, particularly within the industrial sector.
NAI Summit has built those service lines during more than four decades in the Eastern Pennsylvania real estate market.
“There is nothing not to like about NAI Summit,” said Jeff Garibaldi Sr., the company’s CEO. “It’s built upon similar principals as we are at Garibaldi, the operations are backed by an incredible team of detail-oriented employes, many of whom have been there for decades, and the property management business is second to none in that market for its ability and size.”
Garibaldi noted that the deal “has been a deliberate and considered decision,” while the firm’s initial discussions with longtime NAI Summit Principal Frank Smith predated the COVID pandemic by several years. The talks also coincided with a period of transition for NAI Summit after the death of John Crampsie, another principal and a respected figure in the Lehigh Valley market, which TGG said left a void in the Allentown firm’s brokerage division.
Additionally, Garibaldi’s team recognized the strength of NAI Summit’s property management operations, which it aimed to replicate in New Jersey. It also was a chance for TGG to grow in the Lehigh Valley after launching an office there in 2001, largely to support its work on behalf of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based Arcadia Properties.
Michael Bartolacci, a 30-year veteran and a respected industrial and office broker in the region, leads TGG’s Lehigh Valley office.
“The key initiative we have been trying to follow at Garibaldi for the better part of the last decade is diversification, and creating a property management business was at the top of that priority list,” said Jeffrey Garibaldi Jr., TGG’s president. “Our firm has been so office-leasing-centric for so many years, that we knew change was not going to come easy nor was it going to come overnight. NAI Summit provided us an opportunity to own and operate a prestigious property management business with a significant industrial and medical office portfolio and track record that we could then work to continue to grow in the local market and beyond. It just felt like the perfect fit.”
Garibaldi noted that NAI Summit has been a longtime member of NAI Global, the network of independently owned and operated commercial real estate brokerage firms spanning more than 325 offices across North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific.
“The commercial agents, management team and staff at NAI Summit are some of the most experienced professionals in the industry,” said Jay Olshonsky, CEO and president of NAI Global, “Now combined and strengthened by The Garibaldi Group, they will be a tremendous resource for NAI network clients across the country who are doing business in Lehigh Valley.”
Widely known as the office brokers for the landmark Bell Works campus in Holmdel, TGG has also steadily expanded its corporate services business. That has included managing more than 25 million square feet of office and industrial real estate portfolios on behalf of midmarket corporations such as DRS Technologies, Clopay Building Products and AMES True Temper, while the firm has executed significant industrial deals across the nation and globally.
In 2019, TGG announced its first foray into the coworking business with the debut of The Station at its Chatham headquarters. With two years under its belt in the flexible office arena and 12 months navigating a pandemic, it then made the final decision to move forward with the NAI Summit deal and to double down on the Lehigh Valley market.
“We saw opportunity in the Valley over 20 years ago,” Jeff Garibaldi Sr. said. “Since then, we have been eager to expand our footprint in that market. The Valley’s growth and potential are no longer a secret, and we believe the time has been right for us to expand our presence here.”
NAI Summit’s long-held team, including key industrial broker Mike Adams and rising star Sarah Finney, now figure to play a key role in Garibaldi’s next chapter.
“We strongly believe that aligning our strengths at Garibaldi with the strengths of NAI Summit will provide an enormous boost to both businesses, offering us a glimpse into the future of where this newly diversified business can take us,” Jeffrey Garibaldi Jr. said.
