Newly Launched Advisory Services Group to Target Receivership Opportunities

As published in Real Estate Alert by Green Street:

Hiffman Eyes Receivership Expansion

NAI Hiffman’s new Advisory Services group is aimed partly at making the firm a bigger player in the receivership space.

The real estate services shop announced last week that it had formed the group, which officially starts on Jan. 1. The firm plans to use the expanded platform, which sits within its Hiffman National division, to secure more receivership and property management assignments in the 27 states where it operates.

While Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based NAI Hiffman has done receivership and lender-owned property management work in the past, it’s now making a concerted effort to book that business amid an expected uptick in distressed properties over the next year.

“Our whole twist in that business is to not do just the commodity piece,” said executive managing director Bob Assoian, who heads the new Advisory Services group. “But looking strategically at ‘What can we do with the asset?’ ”

Receivers typically are named by courts to manage properties tied up in foreclosure or bankruptcy cases. They manage the property and often are involved in the eventual sale. Rules vary, but most states require no specific qualifications or licenses, so local property managers frequently are tapped for the job. The same rules often apply for bank- or lender-owned assignments.

NAI Hiffman has spent the past five years expanding its property management business and now is pitching itself to owners, courts and others as offering a full suite of advisory services. Receivership falls under the firm’s Lender Services offerings, which are now part of the Advisory Services team.

“It’s no secret that [the receivership] business is going to kick up,” Assoian said. “They’re staffing up on the special-servicer side to handle this anticipated increase in volume. We want to be the company that makes it easy for clients.”

Assoian said NAI Hiffman worked on 70 receivership or lender-owned assignments during the Great Recession. Sixty percent of those assignments involved office properties, with another 30% related to retail space and the remaining 10% tied to industrial buildings. The firm does not work in the multifamily or hotel sectors.

In tow with the Advisory Services launch, NAI Hiffman is promoting president John Heiberger to serve also as chief executive on Jan. 1, while current chief executive Dave Petersen will become chair of the firm’s board of directors. NAI Global operates as independently owned offices, and NAI Hiffman is the Chicagoland brand. Hiffman National is NAI Hiffman’s management and advisory services division.