Avison Young opens new office in Charlotte, North Carolina

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Avison Young Commercial Real Estate (BC)

May 15, 2013, 09:00 ET

Leading Canadian commercial real estate firm opens its 31st office outside Canada and third office in North Carolina; Christopher Skibinski becomes Principal

TORONTO, May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - Mark E. Rose, Chair and CEO of Avison Young, Canada's largest independently-owned commercial real estate services company, announced today the opening of a new office in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The newest American office represents Avison Young's 31st office outside of Canada, the company's third office in North Carolina, and an additional step in the firm's ongoing aggressive growth and expansion strategy.

Over the past four years, Avison Young has grown from 11 to, now, 46 offices in 37 markets and from 300 to more than 1,200 real estate professionals across Canada and the U.S.

Effective immediately, Christopher Skibinski joins Avison Young as a Principal. He will be responsible for helping to grow the Charlotte office and will lead all industrial transactions in North Carolina. Skibinski was most recently President of Charlotte-based The Skibinski Company and, prior to that, was a Managing Director at Jones Lang LaSalle in Charlotte.

"Charlotte is a major commercial hub in the Southeast U.S. and we have a number of key clients who are either there already or have a desire to expand into that market," comments Rose. "Since establishing our presence in Raleigh-Durham in October 2012, we have been working on expanding into Charlotte. We couldn't be more pleased to be bringing on board someone of Chris' caliber. This expansion will help us further grow our business throughout the important markets in North Carolina where many strategic occupiers and global investors are headquartered."

"We are excited to have Chris join our rapidly growing U.S. platform as he has demonstrated success at every step along his career," adds Earl Webb, Avison Young's President, U.S. Operations. "Chris has worked with some of the best firms in our business and has a very impressive list of long-term clients. His experience will be invaluable in helping us build a meaningful business in Charlotte and throughout the Southeast U.S. We look forward to continuing to expand the Avison Young brand and our client-specific, holistic-based solutions approach in North Carolina."

Avison Young opened its first offices in North Carolina in October 2012 in Raleigh and Chapel Hill when the company acquired Raleigh-based Thomas Linderman Graham Inc. The acquisition added 60 employees to Avison Young's operations, with John Linderman joining as a Principal and Managing Director of the Raleigh-Durham offices. He will continue to oversee the growth and development of Avison Young's presence in North Carolina.

"We have worked hard to find the right person to partner with in the Charlotte market, and are excited that Chris has chosen to join our Principal-led organization to provide leadership to our overall efforts in North Carolina and the Southeast U.S.," says Linderman. "Chris is a proven professional with more than 20 years of experience in commercial real estate in North and South Carolina. He is consistently ranked as one of the top industrial professionals in the Charlotte market and he has always assumed leadership roles with the firms he has been associated with. We look forward to introducing him and his expertise to our clients."

Skibinski brings to Avison Young 23 years of experience with industrial transactions. During his career, he has successfully negotiated in excess of $800 million worth of transactions on manufacturing, research and development, and distribution facilities throughout the U.S. He has worked in all facets of the industrial sector including large-scale pharmaceutical facilities, fully-automated distribution centers, complex land dispositions and build-to-suits.

Most recently, Skibinski assisted New Belgium Brewery in the location of its 150,000-square-foot (sf) East Coast brewery in Asheville, NC, as well as TBC Corporation's 1.2-msf distribution center in Charleston, South Carolina. He also assisted Pfizer in the sale of its 2.2-msf research and development campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Dick's Sporting Goods in the site selection and lease of its 650,000-sf distribution center in Atlanta, Georgia.

"I joined Avison Young based on its outstanding leadership and people, and the company's client-centric culture," says Skibinski. "The company presented an outstanding opportunity to grow and be part of an exciting enterprise. Moreover, the firm's aggressive expansion plans matched the goals for my business. Opening a new office in Charlotte will complement the company's existing activities in Raleigh-Durham, and I look forward to providing our clients with the full suite of services offered from the Avison Young platform."

Skibinski holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in real estate from the University of Georgia. He is a member of the Charlotte Commercial Board of Realtors, achieving the $10 Million Club every year since 2001 and earning Industrial Top Producer status in 2003, 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2012. Skibinski has been a member of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors since 1998, winning the award for Largest Single Industrial Transaction in 2003. While at Jones Lang LaSalle, he won the Top Gun Award in 2005 and 2010, and served as President of the Industrial Council in 2006 and Co-Chair in 2012. He was also named the JLL Carolinas Top Producer in 2003, 2005, 2010 and 2011.

With a population of 750,000, Charlotte is the largest city in North Carolina and the 19th largest city in the U.S. Of the major metropolitan centers in the Southeast U.S., Charlotte has 7.3 million people living within a 100-mile radius compared with Atlanta, which has 8.3 million, and Miami with 6 million. Charlotte is home to the world headquarters of nine Fortune 500 companies. With more than $2.3 trillion in assets, the city is the second largest financial center in the U.S., behind only New York.

Today's announcement comes on the heels of Avison Young opening an office in Columbia, SC last month. The company opened its first office in South Carolina in May 2012 in Charleston.

Founded in 1978, Avison Young is Canada's largest independently-owned commercial real estate services company. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Avison Young is also the largest Canadian-owned, principal-managed commercial real estate brokerage firm in North America. Comprising more than 1,200 real estate professionals in 46 offices across Canada and the U.S., the full-service commercial real estate company provides value-added, client-centric investment sales, leasing, advisory, management, financing and mortgage placement services to owners and occupiers of office, retail, industrial and multi-residential properties.

For further information/comment/photos:

• Sherry Quan, National Director of Communications & Media Relations, Avison Young: (604) 647-5098; cell: (604) 726-0959

• Mark Rose, Chair and CEO, Avison Young: (416) 673-4028

• Earl Webb, President, U.S. Operations, Avison Young: (312) 957-7610

• John Linderman, Principal and Managing Director, North Carolina, Avison Young: (919) 420- 1559; cell: (919) 612-3000

• Christopher Skibinski, Principal, Avison Young: (704) 226-5990

www.avisonyoung.com

Avison Young was a winner of Canada's Best Managed Companies program in 2011 and requalified in 2012 to maintain its status as a Best Managed company.

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SOURCE Avison Young Commercial Real Estate (BC)