New York-based The Rockefeller Group International Inc. has set up a West Coast operation based in Newport Beach.
Rockefeller opened its office in the county last month at 4695 MacArthur Court and another in downtown Los Angeles. Rockefeller, a real estate owner, developer, brokerage and management company,
is a unit of Japan’s Mitsubishi Estate Co.
Rockefeller hasn’t had a strong presence in California since it was in the hands of the Rockefeller family during the 1980s.
The Rockefellers built Embarcadero Center’s five office towers in San Francisco in phases from 1968 to 1983.
Thomas McCormick is set to oversee the company’s expansion in Southern California from his Newport Beach base.
In January, Rockefeller lured him from Panattoni Development Co. in Sacramento, where he was chief operating officer.
McCormick, 58, is set to focus on industrial development as well as projects that mix condominiums with shops.
He said the company will put up office buildings as the market improves.
“If you bet on just office development right now, it’s a long time between deals,” McCormick said.
Rockefeller is set to target Orange, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, he said.
The company is in escrow on land in the Inland Empire and has offers out on other sites inland and in L.A.’s South Bay, he said.
The company’s sole property in OC is Rockefeller Group Gateway Solutions in Irvine.
Two Rockefeller units already have a sizeable presence in the county.
Rockefeller owns brokerage Cushman & Wakefield Inc., which has an office in Irvine, and CommonWealth Partners LLC, an investor and developer that owns four office buildings in Costa Mesa near South Coast Plaza.
Rockefeller has a strong footprint in New York, New Jersey and Florida, he said.
McCormick plans to target Chicago as well, but will look at other markets later.
McCormick doesn’t plan on growing too fast. He expects to hire about 10 employees in Newport Beach during the next few years.
Before joining Panattoni, McCormick headed Colliers Macaulay Nicolls, a unit of brokerage Colliers Seeley International Inc. He oversaw 35 offices at Colliers, he said.
His past experience with brokers is key, McCormick said.
“The brokers are the ones who find the deals,” he said.
Despite Rockefeller’s local units and well-known name, it could face something of an uphill battle here, real estate executives said.
“A lot of our business is relationships,” said James Camp, senior vice president of development in the Newport Beach office of Voit Development Co. “It will take them a while to develop relationships. When brokers are working on an acquisition or development opportunity they tend to present it to the developers, owners, and advisers that they know and trust.”
Camp said having a relationship with Cush-man & Wakefield could be a limited asset to Rockefeller.
He said his operation,Voit Develop-ment,doesn’t get pref-erential treatment from sister company Voit Commercial Brokerage LP.
“We want to work with all brokers,” Camp said. “If the market thought Voit Development was getting the first look at every Voit Brokerage deal, it would hurt us and hurt the brokerage company.”
Rockefeller recognizes that Southern California is one of the most “dynamic” markets in the country, said Joseph Vargas, who manages Cushman’s operation here.
“They will utilize other real estate service providers as well,” Vargas said. “Obviously, we do business with them. We have done business with them in the past.”
