Affiliate of NAI Global, founded by 20-year brokerage professional and former NAI KLNB president, to partner with NAI Miami and respond to “emerging real estate opportunities in Tampa, Sarasota, Fort Myers and Naples”
Andy Georgelakos (left) with Brad Berzins
Brad Berzins, SIOR a 20-year industrial and investment sales broker who was formerly a principal with NAI KLNB in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C.-Northern Virginia markets, together with Andy Georgelakos, SIOR a former President of NAI KLNB, have launched the newest NAI Global Office, NAI THOR Commercial Group, a full-service brokerage firm servicing the Gulf Coast sections of Florida, including Tampa, Sarasota, Fort Myers and Naples. NAI Global is a leading global commercial real estate brokerage organization with more than 375 offices strategically located throughout North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific, with 6,000 local market professionals, managing in excess of 1.15 billion square feet of property and facilities.
NAI THOR Commercial Group becomes the 12th NAI affiliate in Florida joining other major market offices in Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale and increasing the number of total Florida offices for NAI Global to 15. Offices are currently opening in Tampa and Fort Myers, with Sarasota and Naples coming online shortly.
NAI THOR Commercial Group has formed a strategic alliance with major market affiliate NAI Miami, led by Jeremy Larkin, allowing the firms to connect and serve Florida’s two largest markets in Tampa and Miami consisting of approximately 10 million people, along with the secondary markets that connect the two.
Berzins, and Georgelakos will inject their business philosophy and major market expertise from their time in the Washington DC market. The combined companies will provide investment sales, landlord and tenant representation services in the industrial, flex, office, health & wellness and retail sectors. The firm will also provide property management, real estate appraisal and debt placement services.
Berzins and Georgelakos real estate careers and background
Berzins, who has worked as an industrial and investment sales broker in the Mid-Atlantic for the past 20 years, has completed transactions valued at more than $1 billion throughout his career. He served on the KLNB Executive Committee and was instrumental in the firm becoming the largest and most profitable independently-owned brokerage company in the Mid-Atlantic region. While President of KLNB from 2000 through 2017, Georgelakos guided the company to record transactional volume and oversaw the expansion of the firm from two to four offices throughout the Baltimore-Washington, D.C.-Northern Virginia region. The firm also grew to more than 80 full-time brokerage professionals.
“Over the past several years, it has become increasingly apparent where the business and real estate growth in the United States is headed, including where clients and people want to be”, Brad Berzins stated. “Andy moved to Ft. Myers several years ago and has been a huge proponent of the market for quite some time, and we have mutual clients in Florida that we have consulted with for years. We have complete confidence that there remains room to build a best-in-class, privately-held brokerage company where we can attract top-tier talent serving local, mid-market, and institutional clients. With Tampa, Sarasota, Ft. Myers, and Naples, we are going to build something special, with scale.”
NAI Thor aggressively targeting top brokerage talent in ramp-up
“The NAI Florida group, which consists of 12 firms and was originally spearheaded by Jeremy Larkin of NAI Miami, is a remarkable group of firms that share a lot of cohesiveness and clients,” Andy Georgelakos stated, “and we intend to join together and collaborate with them. Our research and instincts have pointed us to this section of the country and we firmly believe economic, infrastructure and societal forces have aligned to bring unprecedented growth to this region. We intend to be extremely aggressive in attracting the top brokerage talent to our team and quickly mobilizing to capitalize upon emerging real estate opportunities.”
Berzins explains the partners are “meeting with the right talent in each market that will bring local knowledge and market expertise along with an entrepreneurial and collaborative attitude and approach.” “We are looking for proven producers who wish to be engaged with a brokerage company offering opportunities to earn and become an owner in the brokerage company, which is among the clear differentiating points that made NAI KLNB successful. We intend to structure a similar model that financially rewards our team for their contributions,” he added.
This includes the recruitment of Kevin Fitzgerald, the former head of NAI Southwest Florida and a veteran of the NAI network and a professional with more than 35 years of diverse commercial real estate experience who will assist with the growth of the Fort Myers and Naples offices.
“Andy has been among my key mentors throughout my career, and it is very valuable to have his leadership and presence as we roll this out,” Berzins added. “The opportunity for the two of us to partner with Jeremy Larkin and NAI Miami will create an even greater impact to the market and the clients that we serve. We intend to employ the same business philosophies that have proven successful for us in our careers, with a focus on personalized service and presenting timely real estate solutions for our clients.”
“Brad and Andy identified a need in the south Florida marketplace to establish a NAI presence and take advantage of expected business growth and expansion,” stated Jay Olshonsky, President and CEO of NAI Global. “Brad has the temperament, business acumen and relationships needed to make a meaningful impact in the region and we intend to offer every resource to assure his success,” he added. ‘With Andy, we have a familiar face as he participated on the NAI Global Leadership Board for more than 15 years. He is a staple in the platform and extremely well regarded.”
About NAI THOR Commercial Group
NAI THOR Commercial Group is operating offices in Tampa and Fort Myers presently and anticipates announcing the location of the Sarasota and Naples sites in the very near future. “A major emphasis in our selection criteria is to establish offices within close proximity to major airports and access to the appropriate arteries for the economic advantages and to facilitate visitations from our out-of-town business representatives and clients,” Berzins explained.
For additional information about NAI THOR Commercial Group, please visit www.thorcommercialgroup.com.
About NAI Global
NAI Global is a leading global commercial real estate brokerage firm. NAI Global offices are leaders in their local markets and work in unison to provide clients with exceptional solutions to their commercial real estate needs. NAI Global has more than 375 offices strategically located throughout North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific, with 6,000 local market professionals, managing in excess of 1.15 billion square feet of property and facilities. Annually, NAI Global completes in excess of $20 billion in commercial real estate transactions throughout the world.
NAI Global provides a complete range of corporate and institutional real estate services, including brokerage and leasing, property and facilities management, real estate investment and capital market services, due diligence, global supply chain and logistics consulting and related advisory services. To learn more, visit www.naiglobal.com.
