Cushman & Wakefield purchases CWN in Twin Cities

Chicago-headquartered real estate services company Cushman & Wakefield has entered an agreement with Minneapolis-based NorthMarq Cos., a private holding company of the Pohlad family, to purchase full ownership of commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield NorthMarq (CWN) in Minnesota. It will also buy Cushman & Wakefield Commerce (CWC) brokerage operations in Nevada, Utah and Washington.

Since 2011, Cushman & Wakefield and NorthMarq Real Estate Services have partnered to form CWN becoming the region's largest property and facility management firm as well as the region's largest brokerage company. With the acquisition, the NorthMarq name will be phased out as the firm becomes solely under the Cushman & Wakefield umbrella.

Closing is scheduled for the end of the month, according to a Tuesday release. NorthMarq Cos. and its NorthMarq Capital firm are not included in the sale.

"We've been partners for the last six years, and it has been a really great experience I think on both sides," said Mike Ohmes, CWN's executive vice president of transaction and advisory services who after the sale will become the managing principal for Cushman & Wakefield's Minnesota operations. "Now it's a new chapter, a new day. We are going to be able to be part of a global real estate services firm that is on a very exciting growth trajectory and is creating great solutions for their clients."

Cushman & Wakefield, which was founded in 1917, and operates about 300 offices worldwide, has had a presence in Minnesota since 2002. All together, CWN and CWC employ about 750 people and manage nearly 50 million square feet of real estate across 10 offices. There are no immediate plans to make changes to Cushman's Twin Cities offices.

The leadership team will stay in place with some roles being modified such as Jeff Eaton, CWN president who will be taking on a new role to lead Cushman & Wakefield's North Central region with responsibility for Minneapolis, Chicago and Detroit.

CWC, which had been owned by NorthMarq since 2013, will drop the Commerce part of the company's name.

"We believe there is a logical and compelling reason to sell our operations to Cushman & Wakefield at this time," said Eduardo Padilla, chief executive of NorthMarq Cos., in a statement. "Specifically, the industry is consolidating, with sophisticated clients needing a seamless platform irrespective of geography or service. We're incredibly proud of this team's achievements and excited to see them merge into Cushman & Wakefield's operations."