Georgia State Properties Commission Selects Cassidy Turley to Provide Full Suite of Corporate Services

ATLANTA, April 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Cassidy Turley, a leading commercial real estate services provider in the U.S., today announced that it has been selected by the Georgia State Properties Commission (SPC) to identify and help drive occupancy savings across the state's real estate holdings for the benefit of Georgia taxpayers. Cassidy Turley will provide an array of corporate services including transaction management, project management, lease administration and portfolio consulting for the State's 195 million-square-foot portfolio of leased and owned real property.

In November 2012, Georgia voters passed Amendment 2, permitting the State to enter into multi-year lease agreements. Amendment 2 opened the door for the State to take a strategic approach to its real estate portfolio and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, cut costs and enhance the State's real estate leverage in market lease negotiations.

"Our collaboration with Cassidy Turley is a transformational step towards lowering real estate costs and saving taxpayer dollars," said Frank Smith, Deputy Executive Director, Georgia State Properties Commission. "Cassidy Turley's vast experience with public and private-sector organizations will help the State of Georgia reap the same savings opportunities traditionally enjoyed by private sector tenants."

As a result of Amendment 2's passage, the SPC initiated a competitive selection process to evaluate commercial real estate services providers' expertise in delivering consistent transaction and project management services across the State. SPC also evaluated firms' demonstrated track record of leveraging real estate technology and driving efficiencies and cost savings across large and complex public sector portfolios. 

"We're proud to serve the State of Georgia as it addresses this important opportunity," said Joseph Stettinius Jr., CEO of Cassidy Turley. "It's a significant step forward for Georgia, and it's also an extremely important partnership for our company as we strive to deliver excellent customer service to each State agency and real value to their stakeholders."

The agreement marks the State of Georgia's first real estate services agreement. Cassidy Turley will provide organizational capacity, transaction resources and market expertise, and SPC has already begun evaluating strategic options including consolidation and disposition of space, potential lease rate reductions and allowances and high-performance workplace strategies to yield more efficient space utilization.  These services will be provided at no cost to the State. Commissions paid to Cassidy Turley by landlords will be based on market commissions, and Cassidy Turley and SPC will enter into a broker agreement to ensure that compliance with all State real estate licensing rules and regulations are met.

"This represents an exciting opportunity to partner with the State of Georgia in its portfolio and workplace optimization efforts and build upon our track record of results for private and public sector occupier clients," said Craig Robinson, President, Corporate Services, at Cassidy Turley. "It's a significant initiative for the state, and we're proud to support its success."

About Georgia State Properties Commission

With the creation of the posi­tion of State Property Officer and the enactment of legislation re­aligning the management of the State's capital assets in 2005, the State Prop­erties Commission (SPC) was desig­nated as Georgia's real estate portfo­lio manager. SPC is responsible for the acquisition and disposition of all State-owned real property and real property interests. Additionally, SPC provides a full array of leas­ing services to State entities in com­mercially leased space. SPC also is equipped to conduct studies, re­search and evaluations and to pro­vide statewide policy leadership and coordinate master planning to guide and implement capital asset management.

From the review of State Facility Strategic Plans, maximizing the value of the State's assets, increas­ing the utilization and efficiency of workplace en­vironments and lease and land transactions, SPC's primary focus is to provide accountability in its stewardship of the State's assets for the taxpayers of Georgia. By creating enterprise-wide leadership and ad­vice for real estate transactions, asset and space manage­ment, SPC is a unified and fully integrated real estate portfolio management office.

SPC is also responsible for the inventory of all State owned and leased real property. BLLIP (Building, Land and Lease Inventory of Property) is an interactive, web-based geographical information system designed to enable users to query, search and generate reports using real time information.

About Cassidy Turley

Cassidy Turley is a leading commercial real estate services provider with more than 3,800 professionals in more than 60 offices nationwide. The company represents a wide range of clients - from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, from local non-profits to major institutions. The firm completed transactions valued at $22 billion in 2012, manages 400 million square feet on behalf of institutional, corporate and private clients and supports more than 23,000 domestic corporate services locations. Cassidy Turley serves owners, investors and tenants with a full spectrum of integrated commercial real estate services - including capital markets, tenant representation, corporate services, project leasing, property management, project and development services, and research and consulting. Cassidy Turley enhances its global service delivery outside North America through a partnership with GVA, giving clients access to commercial real estate professionals in 65 international markets. Please visit www.cassidyturley.com for more information about Cassidy Turley.

SOURCE Cassidy Turley