Karyn McFarland and Matthew Twombly join Avison Young in Boston

Highly regarded team to grow company's Downtown Boston presence; McFarland becomes Principal

BOSTON, MA, March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - John Fenton, Avison Young Principal and Managing Director of the company's Boston office, announced today that commercial real estate brokers Karyn McFarland and Matthew Twombly have joined Avison Young's brokerage operations in Boston.

Effective immediately, McFarland joins Avison Young as a Principal, continuing her successful practice representing both tenants and landlords in the Downtown Boston office market, while Twombly joins as a Vice-President in the Boston office. They were most recently with Grubb & Ellis in Boston.

"We are very pleased to welcome another top-notch team to the Avison Young organization, and one that focuses on the Downtown market," comments Fenton. "Karyn and Matt have a great track record and a solid partnership. Their background and professionalism will blend perfectly with our company's partnership culture. Their coming on board is a significant first step in helping us build a noteworthy presence in the Downtown Boston office market."

During her 32-year commercial real estate career, McFarland has completed more than $700 million in lease transactions and brokered more than $200 million in investment sales. She has a well-established expertise in the North Station, where she has a leading market share of landlord listings.

While at Grubb & Ellis, McFarland served as a Senior Vice-President and Co-Manager of the Downtown Boston brokerage team. She was the team's top producer and achieved the company's Circle of Excellence designation, a distinction awarded to brokers producing in the top 10% nationwide.

McFarland began her real estate career at Spaulding & Slye and then founded McFarland & Finch, Boston's first female-owned commercial brokerage company, which she operated for 15 years. McFarland is also a leader in the region's real estate community, recently accepting an appointment on the Board of Directors of the Commercial Brokers Association.

Twombly, a six-year veteran of the industry, joins Avison Young after a steady ascension working with McFarland, first at McFarland & Finch and then as a Senior Associate at Grubb & Ellis, where he earned the Rookie of the Year Award for the firm's Boston office in 2007. Twombly also ranked among the top 25% of Grubb & Ellis' brokers nationally and has completed more than $100 million in lease transactions.

"I was very impressed by Avison Young's senior leadership and its unique strategy," says McFarland. "Collectively, the members have successfully led the largest real estate firms in the world. Now, they have taken their experience and created a partnership of specialists at Avison Young, collaborating to deliver superior client service. Their vision to build the leading global real estate solutions company is embraced by more than 900 real estate professionals across the U.S. and Canada. I'm thrilled to now be continuing my career at Avison Young."

"I don't think there is another brokerage firm in Boston where the opportunity exists for someone like me, at this stage of my career, to have a defined path to partnership," adds Twombly. "And more importantly, Avison Young's principal-led model is a new innovation in the commercial real estate industry that ultimately puts clients at the core of how services are delivered. The benefits to both the company and our clients are clear and inextricable."

Over the past three years, Avison Young has grown from 11 to 28 offices and from 300 to more than 900 real estate professionals across Canada and the U.S.

Today's announcement comes on the heels of Avison Young opening new offices in Reno, NV and Bethesda, MD earlier this week.

Last month, Avison Young was named a winner of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies program for 2011, sponsored by Deloitte, CIBC, National Post and Queen's School of Business.

Founded in 1978, Avison Young is Canada's largest independently-owned commercial real estate services company. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Avison Young is also the largest Canadian-owned, principal-managed commercial real estate brokerage firm in North America. Comprising more than 900 real estate professionals in 28 offices across Canada and the U.S., the full-service commercial real estate company provides value-added, client-centric investment sales, leasing, advisory, management, financing and mortgage placement services to owners and occupiers of office, retail, industrial and multi-residential properties.

Avison Young is a winner of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies program for 2011, sponsored by Deloitte, CIBC, National Post and Queen's School of Business

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• Editors/Reporters: please click on links to view and download photos of Karyn McFarland and Matthew Twombly
http://www.avisonyoung.com/sites/default/files/content-files/Media_Room/Temp/McFarland_Karyn.jpg
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SOURCE Avison Young (Canada) Inc.