Avison Young opens new office in St. Louis, Missouri

Fast-growing commercial real estate services firm opens first office in Missouri; five members join, Tim Convy becomes Managing Director - Brokerage

TORONTO, Oct. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Mark E. Rose, Chair and CEO of Avison Young, the world's fastest-growing commercial real estate services firm, announced today the opening of a newly formed office in St. Louis, Missouri.

The newest American office represents Avison Young's first office in Missouri, 53rd office in the U.S., and an additional step in the firm's ongoing aggressive growth and expansion strategy.

Over the past seven and a half years, Avison Young has grown from 11 to, now, 79 offices in 72 markets and from 300 to more than 2,400 real estate professionals in Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Europe.

Effective immediately, Tim Convy, George Convy, Steve Stradal, Kevin Farrell and Gerard Mudd become Principals of St. Louis Operations. Tim Convy also becomes Managing Director - Brokerage of the new office. Along with George Convy and Stradal, Tim Convy will focus on overseeing the growth and development of Avison Young's presence in the St. Louis region, and servicing new and existing clients by providing a wide range of commercial real estate services, including landlord advisory services, tenant representation, facilities management and property management. Mudd and Farrell will manage the day-to-day operations of the office while also focusing on marketing, tenant representation, and industrial and office transactions.

"With the opening of our St. Louis office, we're increasing our strong presence in the U.S. Midwest and the country as a whole," comments Rose. "The new St. Louis office will complement our burgeoning business in the heart of America, providing strategic advantages for our clients in other Midwest and U.S. markets while fostering more multi-market and cross-border transactions and business relationships. Furthermore, we're thrilled to have such an experienced team leading the way for us in St. Louis. Tim, George, Steve, Kevin and Gerard have established themselves as industry leaders over the past four decades in St. Louis. Their presence will be a tremendous benefit as we recruit top talent, serve clients in all asset classes and expand our footprint in St. Louis and beyond."

Rose continues: "The new members will ensure that our St. Louis location grows organically by drawing on their many years of commercial real estate management and advisory experience. All five will use their many talents, which include well-developed skills in strategic negotiation, in-depth market analysis, asset management and property management, to ensure that we provide the highest possible level of service to clients in each commercial real estate sector."

Tim Convy and George Convy, who have 37 and 45 years of commercial real estate experience, respectively, join Avison Young from CBRE. Stradal, an industry veteran with 25 years of experience, joins Avison Young from Balke Transwestern, where he was Vice-President of sales and leasing. Mudd and Farrell, who have 30 and 38 years of industry experience, respectively, join Avison Young after partnering at Farrell Mudd Development.

Earl Webb, Avison Young's President, U.S. Operations, states: "We're grateful that Tim, George, Steve, Kevin and Gerard have decided to join the Avison Young family. They are exceptional professionals who strive to put the needs of the clients first, take a collaborative approach to all transactions and find ways to come up with unique solutions to transactional or location-related challenges. They will help us deploy St. Louis as a gateway to more Midwest and U.S. expansion for the mutual benefit of our clients, our company and our business partners."

Effective immediately, Avison Young's new St. Louis office will be located at 300 Hunter Avenue, Suite 102 in Clayton, the financial and government center of St. Louis County.

Avison Young opened its first Midwest office in Chicago in January 2009. Since then, the firm has expanded in the region by opening offices in Detroit (October 2012), Columbus (January 2014), Cleveland (September 2014), Minneapolis (March 2015) and Indianapolis (March 2015).

"We are delighted to launch Avison Young's new St. Louis location and first office in Missouri," says Tim Convy. "We appreciate the opportunity to grow the firm's brand in St. Louis while giving our clients the strategic advantage of being connected to a global company with a full-service platform. It was an easy decision for us to join Avison Young given the company's rapid expansion due to its client-centric focus and dedication to collaboration in all transactions. This is a win-win situation in every respect."

Adds George Convy: "Tim and I have worked with Steve, Kevin and Gerard on many transactions and projects. We're delighted to join Avison Young and be part of its Principal-led structure and ongoing Midwest expansion program. It's nice to be part of the company's historic opening of the St. Louis office. Going forward, we intend to leverage our long history in the St. Louis commercial real estate industry and our well-regarded reputation for the benefit of Avison Young's clients and business partners alike."

Known historically as the Gateway to the West, St. Louis is strategically located for distribution operations as well as serving as the home of many major industries, including bioscience, healthcare, education, manufacturing, retail trade, wholesale trade, tourism, transportation and warehousing, finance and insurance, and professional services. Many of these industries benefit from easy access to St. Louis' air and intermodal transportation hub, including barge, rail and the interstate highway system, which play a leading role in moving goods efficiently throughout the U.S. In addition, St. Louis has approximately 40 colleges, universities and technical schools, including Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis University, Webster University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

St. Louis also serves as the headquarters for a number of Fortune 500 companies. Recent activity has been strong, with the region benefitting from major development projects in the past year that include Boeing, Schnucks, World Wide Technology, GlaxoSmithKline, KPMG, Lockerdome, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and NRGene. St. Louis also has been attracting millennials in recent years with its new technical opportunities and cultural and recreational attractions.

Today's announcement comes on the heels of Avison Young announcing eight new members joining its Mexico City office on September 15, 2016, including new Principals, Rafael Riveroll and Rene Maldonado; and five retail brokers joining Avison Young's Vancouver, BC office on September 19, 2016, including new Principals Daniel Lee and Jason Schouten.

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Biographies

Tim ConvyTim Convy brings 37 years of commercial real estate experience to Avison Young, most recently with CBRE in St. Louis where he worked for 30 years. During his career, he has focused on industrial real estate transactions, including dispositions and leasing. Clients represented while at CBRE included Ford Motor Company, World Wide Technology, Hershey's, Belden, DuPont, Rawlings Sporting Goods, Metro Transit, Panattoni Development and Boeing Corporation.

In addition to being a licensed real estate broker in Missouri and Southern Illinois, Convy has obtained the Certified Property Manager designation from the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM). He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from the University of St. Thomas.

George ConvyGeorge Convy brings more than four decades of commercial real estate experience to Avison Young – the last 21 years with CBRE in St. Louis. During his career, he has specialized in transactions involving office, institutional, health care and educational properties, and life/plant science facilities. The institutional properties have included churches and other structures involving multiple denominations and religious groups. Convy's major clients while at CBRE included Cigna, Concordia Seminary, DuPont, Emerson Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle Company, Novus International, Siemens, Washington University, Metro Transit and Wexford Capital.

Convy holds a Master of Business Administration degree in finance and marketing from the Olin School of Business at Washington University of St. Louis and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame.

Avison Young is the world's fastest-growing commercial real estate services firm. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Avison Young is a collaborative, global firm owned and operated by its principals. Founded in 1978, the company comprises 2,400 real estate professionals in 79 offices, providing value-added, client-centric investment sales, leasing, advisory, management, financing and mortgage placement services to owners and occupiers of office, retail, industrial and multi-family properties.

For further information/comment/photos:

• Sherry Quan, Principal, Global 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
• Tim Convy, Principal of St. Louis Operations and Managing Director - Brokerage, St. Louis, 314.650.6601
• George Convy, Principal of St. Louis Operations, 314.775.8610

Avison Young's new St. Louis office is located at 300 Hunter Avenue, Suite 102, St. Louis, Missouri, 63124, 314.862.5000.

www.avisonyoung.com

Avison Young was a winner of Canada's Best Managed Companies program in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 and requalified in 2015 to maintain its status as a Best Managed Gold company

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• Editors/ReportersPlease click on links to view and download photos Tim Convy and George Convy:http://www.avisonyoung.com/sites/default/files/content-files/Media_Room/Temp/Tim_Convy.jpghttp://www.avisonyoung.com/sites/default/files/content-files/Media_Room/Temp/George_Convy.jpg

SOURCE Avison Young Commercial Real Estate (BC)