By Thor Kamban Biberman

As published in The Daily Transcript, December 16, 1999

Five veteran commercial brokers left long-time positions at CB Richard Ellis and Colliers International to join the recently opened North County office of Coldwell Banker Commercial - Almar Real Estate Group. The brokers include Lannie Allee, David Onosko and Douglass Simpson, all formerly with CB Richard Ellis, and Ronald King and Charles McNary, both previously of Colliers International.

Alan Scott, president of Coldwell Baker Commercial - Almar Real Estate Group, said he has known and worked with these brokers for as long as 26 years.

"This is a unique opportunity to come together," Scott said.

Scott said the five brokers, who were in meetings Thursday and could not be reached for comment, represent a force that will be hard to beat in the commercial brokerage industry here. He said his new partners "are unmatched in industrial/R&D space in the North County marketplace."

Allee, who had been employed at CB Richard Ellis since 1982, was responsible for raw and finished land transactions totaling more than 700 acres. He also was involved in the sale and lease of about 5 million square feet of industrial space. Allee worked extensively on the marketing of the Carlsbad Research Center.

King specialized in industrial and research and development leasing in North County during his past 13 years at Colliers International. King has represented a wide range of investors and developers, including Mitsui Fudosan, Aetna Investment Group, CitiCorp Real Estate, Bedford Property Investors, Metropolitan Life, Wells Fargo, McMorgan & Co., Legacy Partners and Koll Development Co.

McNary served as an industrial, R&D and investment specialist at Colliers since 1985. Prior to Colliers, he was an associate vice president at Coldwell Banker Commercial Real Estate Services where he was employed from 1973 to 1985. McNary has leased or sold more than 5.75 million square feet of space in the North County. Major projects he represented include the 600-acre Carlsbad Airport Centre, 330-acre Carlsbad Oaks Business Center, 560-acre Carlsbad Research Center and the 690-acre Rancho Del Oro Technology Park in Oceanside. McNary is currently marketing the Legacy North Point project, which has more than 200,000 square feet left to lease.

Onosko was previously first vice president in the Carlsbad office of CB Richard Ellis, and he was originally hired there by Scott in 1990. While at Ellis, Onosko was involved in more than 360 sales transactions involving more than 250 acres of finished and unimproved lots. He leased or sold more than 2.5 million square feet of commercial and industrial space representing in excess of $45 million. Prior to his tenure at CB Richard Ellis, Onosko spent 10 years in the medical sales and marketing industry with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and IVAC Corp./Eli Lilly.

Simpson, a 20-year veteran of the industry, most recently was a senior vice president of the Carlsbad office of CB Richard Ellis, where he had been since 1981. He has been involved in the sale of raw and finished land totaling more than 700 acres. Like Allee, Simpson was involved in the marketing of the 560-acre Carlsbad Research Center.

Currently, the Almar Group has 22 employees in two offices in Carlsbad and Temecula. Those offices are projected to generate about $5.5 million in combined revenues in the year 2000.

While some brokers are coming on board who worked at the old Coldwell Banker Commercial, the old brokerage is not to be confused with the new one. The new Coldwell Commercial, which after a little more than three years has about 400 offices across the country, is as subsidiary of the Cendant group of companies which also owns Coldwell Banker Residential, Century 21, Howard Johnson's, Ramada and Avis.