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Dennis Huspeni
Reporter – Denver Business Journal
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Apparently the Grubb Ellis Co.
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brokerage office in Denver is still open, but just barely.
Managing Director Mark Ballenger, executive vice president, was let go Tuesday, according to sources close to the office who asked not to be identified.
Meanwhile the Denver Newmark Knight Frank Frederick Ross (NKFFR) office picked up Grubb’s last broker team, the industrial group lead by Mike Wafer, executive managing director.
Since the beginning of the year, NKFFR has hired 18 brokers and other employees from Grubb.
“We could not be more excited having them over,” said Kevin McCabe, NKFFR’s, executive vice president. “It makes us even more of a force in the industrial field.”
The other members of the industrial team are Tim D’Angelo, senior managing director; Bruce Mawhinney, associate director; Steve Fletcher, associate, and Russell Gruber, associate.
All that’s left at the Grubb office, according to its website Friday, is about 23 employees covering the property management and appraisal/valuation departments. A local Grubb official referred all calls to the national headquarters. A call was not immediately returned Friday.
Any day, courts are expected to finalize BGC Partners Inc.’s buyout of the troubled brokerage firm and speculation abounds whether BGC will keep the Grubb name, the Newmark brand or a combination of both.
McCabe referred all questions on that matter to a national spokeswoman, who declined comment late Thursday.
The CoStar Group reported Wednesday a U.S. bankruptcy court judge dismissed several objections over unpaid broker commissions and “approved changes to the transition plan addressing post-sale financial obligations for the prospective buyer.”
Several brokers who left the Denver Grubb office have said they haven’t been paid on commissions for deals under contract at the time they left Grubb, but that closed while at a competing firm. They declined to go on the record or reveal specifics.
Dennis Huspeni covers real estate and retail for the Denver Business Journal and writes for the “Real Deals” blog.
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Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2012/04/13/denvers-grubb-ellis-office-a-shell.html
