Lee & Associates Houston Merges With CRC

The commercial real estate services firm Lee & Associates – Houston has acquired Commercial Resources Capital. The mortgage banking and real estate investment services company is also Houston-based.

The merger will allow Lee & Associates to provide a wider variety of services, such as debt and equity placement, investment sales and structured finance, according to prepared statements from Mike Spears, Lee & Associates managing principal. The acquisition will expand this commercial real estate brokerage company‘s footprint and its market presence by serving a wider range of clients.

CRC has been active in the industry for more than 50 years and has worked with insurance company investors throughout North America. The company provides capital solutions for various transactions which included construction loans, fixed and adjustable-rate financing, mezzanine and secondary financing structure and equity investments, among others.

Prior to the merger, Richard Glass joined Lee & Associates as Principal in July last year. Glass was one of the founders of CRC and has dealt with development sales and leasing in the Greater Houston area for 15 years at the company.

Founded in 2015, Lee & Associates is part of a network of brokers in more than 80 offices located throughout North America. In Commercial Property Executive’s recent ranking of the top real estate brokerage companies, Lee & Associates clocked in on the eighth spot with $7.6 billion total sales investment volume as of 2023.

Recently, the company provided leasing and marketing services to Midway Commerce Center in Chandler, Ariz., which sold for $57 million. The firm also represented Alterra IOS in the purchase of three industrial outdoor storage properties totaling 28 acres in the Atlanta metro area.

Solid outlook for M&A deals

Last year, a number of high-profile M&A deals took shape, and the trend appears to be on par this year as well. In May, Northmarq announced its merger with Morrison Street Capital, allowing the firm to expand its services into the investment management and advisory sectors. In that same deal, Northmarq also acquired NBS Real Estate Consulting, an affiliate of Morrison Street Capital.

According to Tim Bodner, global real estate deals leader at PwC, there is a trend in the brokerage space toward consolidation of a very fragmented ecosystem. The most important factors driving this trend are the scale of the firm and its product offerings, diversity of product mix and scope, along with filling geographic gaps, Bodner told CPE last year.

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