– Staffing Level Increases 60%; Positions Added in All Departments –
– Acquisitions in 2007 Nearly Double Total Assets Acquired in 2006 –
PHOENIX, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ — In a year mired by a dismal credit market and a less than favorable REIT market, one real estate veteran is finding ways to sustain significant growth. Since January 1, Cole Companies (Cole), a leading commercial retail real estate investment firm with special emphasis on the freestanding, single tenant sector, has increased the size of its staff by 60%. Cole has added more than 50 employees to its roster this year, including key hires in the Capital Markets, Portfolio Management, Asset Management, Structured Finance, Customer Service and Marketing departments.
Phoenix-based Cole attributes the increase in staff to a record-breaking year, in which its affiliated real estate programs have acquired a total of $1.19 billion in assets, nearly double the $540 million in assets they acquired in all of 2006. Cole related entities currently own or manage $2.5 billion of real estate assets and 15.1 million total square feet.
“Cole Companies has been building to this point for several years, so the exceptional growth in 2007 is really planned and controlled growth,” said Chris Cole, president and founder. “As we move forward, it is imperative that we continue to strategically grow our staff and infrastructure in order to maintain the high level of customer service and execution capabilities for which Cole is known.
“We plan to continue to make strategic hires for the foreseeable future, and plan to expand our facilities to include an additional 24,000 square feet of capacity to house additional employees as well as a new, state-of-the-art education and training facility. We believe this opportunistic growth, combined with our sound business strategy, will enable Cole to remain in front of short- and long-term demographic trends and grow for many years to come,” concluded Mr. Cole.
About Cole Companies
Cole Companies is a leading real estate investment management firm that is focused on the acquisition of quality commercial real estate. Primarily, Cole is focused on freestanding, single-tenant properties net leased to high-quality tenants in a variety of retail businesses, but will also consider multi-tenant retail properties and other investments with a retail focus where it believes there are compelling yield and risk/return characteristics. Since 1979, Cole and its related entities have formed and managed over 100 investment programs, owning real estate with a combined acquisition and development cost in excess of $2.5 billion.
SOURCE Cole Capital
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