By Andrew Macdonald
Last weekend, I reported that Bill MacAvoy, proprietor of Cushman Wakefield Atlantic for the past 15 years, has executed a succession plan that sees him sell equity in the commercial brokerage to two of his long-time staffers.
MacAvoy plans to stick around for the next two to five years at the firm, now owned by millennials James Collins, based in Bedford, and Adam MaGee, in Cushman’s Moncton office. Cushman Wakefield is headquartered in Downtown Halifax, with regional offices in seven markets across Atlantic Canada.
I carry a story elsewhere in this edition about MaGee, and in this story, I write about my recent chat with Collins, who grew up in Wales.
Collins, who is 36, has for the last eight years worked as a commercial agent at the firm. Before entering the commercial real estate brokerage industry in 2016, James founded a successful public relations agency that served 3,500 clients around the world, including the Reagan Presidential family, the Kardashian family, national airlines, and the UK government.
He has been Cushman’s Vice President for the last two years, but a change in title as part of a new co-ownership could unfold over the next year.
“It is a staged process and I can not disclose timelines, it will be a process over a number of years and Bill MacAvoy firmly remains at the helm during that process,” says Collins, referring to the multi-year succession planning program. MacAvoy will keep his title as managing director in the foreseeable future.
“I have been with the firm for eight years, and I think every productive broker and agent in our industry, ultimately at some point considers ownership, and for Adam (MaGee) and I, it is definitely something that has been our mind for a number of years. Ultimately, I am just thrilled Bill asked me and made the offer,” Collins tells The Macdonald Notebook.
“I am thrilled to be entrusted with the firm that he so diligently built,” says Collins. “Adam and I have definitely have a unique challenge ahead of us to preserve the firm’s reputation and trust and service standards. We are certainly thrilled to take up Bill’s offer and to move into ownership.
“It was an easy decision, but I am definitely fully aware of the great responsibility that comes with that into the future,” he says.
This is Collins’s second turnaround on being an entrepreneur.
“I actually ran quite a successful marketing business for eight years, prior to getting into real estate. So, for me, it is not my first step into this world. I think the experience I had running a business before definitely gives me a lot of skills I can transfer and I am also aware the real estate industry is wildly different from the marketing world I was in over a decade ago, which brings some unique challenges with it as well,” Collins tells me.
“I have always been an entrepreneur. Most agents in our industry are because we are running individual books of business. The majority of people are independent contractors to their brokerage, so everybody I find has that entrepreneurial side to them.”
UK import James Collins is a new co-owner of Cushman Wakefield Atlantic, a commercial real estate brokerage firm.
Had MacAvoy not approached Collins, he says he “would have planted the bug in his ear eventually” to acquire the firm.
Collins left the United Kingdom and moved to Canada in 2010. He began divesting his marketing firm when he settled in Halifax.
“I was looking for a change. My wife at that time was working in real estate on the property management side, and I had a fairly good series of connections into the industry through that. And, a prominent local developer who I was talking to said, ‘Call this guy, Bill MacAvoy’. I never heard the name in my life, so I cold-called Bill. And this is actually the story of how a lot of people get into our industry. You do not find children and teenagers wanting to go into commercial real estate brokerage. Most people sort of fall into it and sometimes the strangest of ways,” explains Collins.
“I cold-called Bill and Bill graciously arranged to let me come in to meet him and that got the conversation started. I was very excited by what the industry was,” he says
“To me, it was the ability to continue being an entrepreneur, continuing to run my own business. But, at that point doing it with a brand and company that was bigger than something I built,” he tells me.
“I was sort of tired of being at the top of something and wanted to be a part of a bigger brand so that was what really pulled me into real estate brokerage all those years ago. Now it is ironic I am getting back into the ownership side.”
Collins has been learning from one of the best commercial brokers in the region, Bill MacAvoy, who has mentored both Collins and Adam Magee.
“We’re very lucky (MacAvoy will stay on). Bill has been the best professional mentor I have ever had in my life. And of all the people who have personally mentored me through life events, Bill has been there every single time without fail,” adds Collins.
“Part of the negotiations from Adam’s and my perspective, whereas Bill always wanted this to be a stage process (in executing the succession planning), we made it very clear to Bill that we don’t actually want him to go anywhere.”
Having MacAvoy stick around was important for the future success of the firm.
“We can not do this transition unless we are able to continue leaning on Bill for his expertise and his support, knowledge and connections every day.”
Collins says merger and acquisition deals often see the new owners quickly flush out the former owners, but that is not the case with MacAvoy saying he will stick around for at least two to five years.
“We are looking to hold on to Bill as long as we can. And we are very much looking forward to continuing to learn from him.”
I asked Collins why he immigrated from the UK to Halifax. “For me as a Brit, it is always a job or a spouse. And, for me, it was the latter.
“I was working in the U.S. and met my wife, and we went back to the UK for a couple of years. She is from here, and then 2010 arrived and we were in the middle of the thick of economic issues in the UK as a whole, and we were in our 20s and we saw the bright horizons of Canada. All of our research showed Canada was sailing through the crash a little easier than most Western nations, so we capitalized on that,” adds Collins.
“All these years later, we are extremely happy.”
Collins wants to implement more technology and tap into AI (artificial intelligence) to enhance Cushman’s offering.
“Personally, I have spent a lot of time and money over the last year evaluating the place for artificial intelligence in our industry. This has nothing to do with ChatGPT, which is a consumer product that most people use for fun. I am talking about AI and technology tools that have the potential to cast a net over every process in the brokerage,” he adds.
“Personally, I firmly believe that AI is going to play a very important role in how we (collect) data which is what our industry is built on, how we disseminate data, how we identify and capitalize on trends , and how we create tools to give our clients the edge in their transactions and negotiations,” he says.
“As we move forward with Adam and Melissa (Gilbert), our new chief operating officer, our goal is to really utilize those technologies. I think we can do that. We can be the best equipped and the sharpest brokerage in Atlantic Canada.
“We are an industry that is still very human driven but I think what you will see with Cushman Wakefield Atlantic is that we are not going to shy away from technology to help us produce better results, whether it is a human brain or artificial intelligence. It is the results we achieve for our clients that matter.
“We’ve got some specific changes around AI and technology that we are looking to put the brokerage on steroids.”
At 36, Collins is a millennial-aged member of society, and his new co-parter, Adam MaGee is 32, also a young millennial.
That bodes well for generational change, especially since Statistics Canada recently reported that millennials now are the dominant age group in the country, pushing aside the long-dominant baby boomers.
“I think for Adam and I, the important thing for us is aligning ourselves with people who are our age or younger. So we can move through the same life events as them at the same time. I have always said this to newer people in our industry, ultimately we assist in commercial real estate transactions. If we strip that away and get to the heart of what we do, we help our clients come out on top of major life events, whether it is professionally or personally,” he explains.
“We really enjoy working with people our age or younger because we are just able to take them through events we are also going through at the same time.”
Collins says he likes to work with professional millennials who do legal, financial, insurance, and engineering. “The professional circle of trusted experts I lean on…I am always cognizant they are the same age as me so we can hit those major milestones in life together.
“We are very excited about harnessing young talent.”
Collins did not talk about his equity stake, and whether it is a 50-50 stake.
Collins works out of Bedford offices, in Mod Atlantic Space, a communal office space owned by Scot McCrea. Cushman’s head office is at McCrea’s Queens Marque on Lower Water Street.
Partnership With Adam MaGee.
Collins is keen that his co-owner has been a friend over the last eight years while he has worked for Cushman.
“Adam and I have had a friendship over the last eight years. We worked a lot of files together.
“Bill (MacAvoy) approached people he thought was a good fit. By chance, there is no one else I would have wanted to do this than Adam. I am thrilled at that partnership,” he says.
“We are aware of the delicate nature of personalities and partnerships. We may not agree on things 100 per cent of the time, but Adam and I have dedicated the tools to managing our relationship properly, so we can serve our clients and our staff the best way we can. And, hopefully, have a lot of fun doing it,” he adds.
“I am thrilled, thrilled that Adam is the guy.”
