Venture adds NAI Knoxville

6/28/2011

One of Knoxville's top commercial real estate firms is getting a new partner.

Irving, Texas-based C-III Capital Partners LLC announced that it has inked a deal to acquire NAI Global, a network of firms that includes local heavy-hitter NAI Knoxville.

C-III is led by Andrew Farkas, the former chairman and CEO of Insignia Financial Group, which merged with CB Richard Ellis in 2003. "C-III plans to use its asset base, along with strategic acquisitions such as NAI, to create a fully diversified commercial real estate services company," Farkas said in the release.

NAI Knoxville is owned by Maribel Koella, who said Friday that Farkas will "pump a whole lot of money" into the NAI Global system, boosting its platform and technology for sales, leasing and management of commercial real estate.

Koella is incoming chair of NAI Global's advisory board, and said she just returned from a board meeting in New York. "Everybody there was just enthusiastic and very excited," she said. "To come out of this downturn with something like that is huge."

Source: Knoxville News Sentinel