Firm More Than Doubles Office Space to 15,000SF; Launches Third-Party Asset Management Division
Commercial real estate firm NAI DESCO is relocating its headquarters within Clayton to greatly expanded offices on the top (19th) floor of the 101 S. Hanley Building. In conjunction with the move, the firm is also launching a third-party asset management division headed by newly recruited industry veteran Mary Ellen Saenz.
“We have been growing across all business lines as a rebounding commercial real estate market fuels client demand for facilities that will help make their companies more efficient and productive,” said NAI DESCO president and CEO Toby Martin. “We simply outgrew our current location – even before factoring the new asset management operation into our space needs equation.”
Currently, NAI DESCO employs 30 people in 7,300 square feet at 8235 Forsyth Blvd. Its new headquarters at 101 S. Hanley, with 15,000 square feet, is more than twice as large.
Third-Party Asset Management Portfolio Opens with 750,000SF
Initially, under the leadership of Saenz, NAI DESCO will service a third-party commercial portfolio of 750,000 square feet – a seamless complement to the 7.75-million-square- foot portfolio managed by a sister company, The DESCO Group.
Prior to joining NAI DESCO, Saenz was vice president of asset management and customer service for Duke Realty where upon her departure she oversaw seven million square feet of commercial space. Before joining NAI DESCO last July (2015), Martin was the St. Louis Business Unit Leader for Duke and a member of its Management Committee.
“We believe the new headquarters will enhance our efforts to attract best-of-class brokers, property managers and support staff as we continue to focus on growing our team,” Martin added.
Cited on the “Largest Commercial Real Estate Firm” list published in January 2016 by the St. Louis Business Journal, NAI DESCO was formed in 2000 as a partnership of The DESCO Group and principals of NAI DESCO. Mark Schnuck serves as chairman of NAI DESCO and president and CEO of The DESCO Group. In 2011, NAI DESCO acquired the St. Louis brokerage division of Coldwell Banker Commercial CRA LLC.
All NAI DESCO contact information, including for the firm’s office in Illinois, will remain the same.
The DESCO Group, which primarily engages in real estate development in the Central, Mid-South, Southwest and Southeast U.S., will continue to be based at 25 N. Brentwood Boulevard in Clayton.
Founded in 2000, NAI DESCO is the local affiliate of NAI Global, a worldwide real estate network with 400 offices spanning the globe.