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Company History
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Part V — The New Millennium - Present
Our Executive Committee has expanded and our staff has grown to over 140 within six integrated service groups - Brokerage, Capital Markets, Counseling & Valuation, Development & Advisory, Investment Sales and Property & Asset Management, and dedicated professionals in the areas of Information Technology, Marketing & Research and Corporate Management.
In late 2006, we moved to our new offices at 160 Federal Street with state-of-the art systems and work space. In 2007, we became an affiliate of Colliers Macaulay Nicolls (CMN) Inc, the largest member firm of Colliers International, and added Colliers to our name to reflect our new affiliation . Tom Hynes was made Chairman, and Kevin Phelan, who joined the company in 1978 to start the Capital Markets group, was appointed President. Veteran Colliers Meredith & Grew broker Ron Perry assumed leadership of the firm's brokerage group.
In 2008, we began an exciting new chapter in our history as we formally joined Colliers International, a global partnership of independently-owned commercial real estate service firms with over 10,000 employees operating from over 290 offices in 61 countries.
Colliers Meredith & Grew is a very different firm than the small shop established by J. Morris Meredith in 1875. We have survived 28 recessions, the Great Depression, six wars and 25 American presidents. We're proud to have accompanied Boston through the construction of the original Central Artery and the largest highway infrastructure project in the Nation's history to replace it, the Big Dig.
Colliers Meredith & Grew is better positioned than ever before to anticipate and take advantage of the opportunities in today's global real estate and capital markets, and we look forward to serving our clients for the next 130 years.
Part IV — The Roaring 1980's and 1990's
Meredith & Grew joined the Massachusetts markets with its own tremendous growth at the beginning of the 1980s. In 1982, despite the national market conditions, the firm secured over 40 leasing exclusives in Boston and remained active in the investment sales market.
Additionally, Meredith & Grew added two new divisions to its roster. The establishment of the Real Estate Development Services team enabled the firm to offer project services from the earliest stages of planning to leasing and management. Meredith & Grew also created an in-house Research Department to facilitate and expedite the collection and distribution of market information. One final notable addition to the firm during the early 1980s were personal computers.
By 1984, the nation was touting the 'Massachusetts Miracle' with much of this success due to the region's strong emphasis on financial and professional service firms, the state's high technology base and the overall quality of life. Also in 1984, construction added over 4 million square feet of space to the market. Later that year, Meredith & Grew accepted the management assignment for the rehabilitation of the United Shoe Building, one of Boston's largest rehabilitation projects, and was named the exclusive leasing agent for the 150/160 Federal Street complex.
By 1985, Meredith & Grew's brokerage department was outperforming most national markets and was at the forefront of Boston's real estate community. In a precedent setting move, the firm sold 105,000 square feet of office space at 160 Federal Street to Price Waterhouse, establishing the Landmark Building (formerly the United Shoe Building) as one of the city's first major office condominiums.
Meredith & Grew's management capabilities were stepped up with the acquisition of a database management system that provided accounting, lease administration and maintenance programs. Meredith & Grew also expanded its outreach when Vice President Almon Townsend III founded a national division with The Office Network, which later became ONCOR International.
Meredith & Grew continued to flourish in the hot market. In 1987 and the firm purchased condominium space at the Landmark Building and moved its headquarters from its long-time home at The Travelers Building. That same year, The Travelers Building was demolished, and Meredith & Grew managed the development of 125 High Street on the site, completing its full-cycle experience with the parcel.
Meredith & Grew's Appraisal Department and Counseling Department also merged into Counseling & Valuation Services in 1987, creating a single department of greater strength and diversity. One year later, the company began serving as the development consultant for the new Boston Garden mixed-use complex.
The end of the eighties found Boston's real estate market soaring as rents and demand reached all-time highs. Despite a national slowdown, the Greater Boston market remained very strong, maintaining one of the lowest vacancies among U.S. cities throughout the late 1980s. After a twelve-year term as Meredith & Grew's President, George Lovejoy was elected the firm's chairman and Tom Hynes, a 23-year veteran of the firm, was elected Meredith & Grew's sixth president.
However, clouds were looming on the horizon. Greater Boston's inflation rate was 60% above the national average and the state's budget deficit was ominous as cost cutting measures on capital expenditures and reduction of personnel seemed certain. Additionally, over 4 million square feet of space was delivered to the Boston market alone between 1985 and 1989, leaving developers scrambling for tenants to fill their projects. The real estate market was changing and tenants were waiting to see how far the market would drop.
Looking ahead, the firm expressed cautious optimism that the market would rebound. It did not. In 1990, the "Massachusetts Miracle" evaporated. On a combined basis the city and state cut 11,000 jobs. Unemployment jumped five percentage points, moving Massachusetts from the lowest to the highest unemployment rate in the nation's 11 industrial states. Massachusetts also led the country in corporate bankruptcies. Without question, the New England region was the hardest market hit in the nation by the economic downturn.
The real estate markets were devastated by Massachusetts' tremendous economic slide. In 1990, 2 million additional square feet were delivered to the Boston market, but were not able to be filled. The seven-year construction boom in the nation had created dramatic oversupply expansion ceased and space was abandoned. In 1991, with 150,000 jobs having been lost in a 12-month period, consumer confidence in New England was well below that for any other region in the country. Massachusetts was one of only three states with a declining population.
By the end of 1992, the clouds began to thin as the supply/demand statistics improved. Massachusetts' per capita income rose by 3% and home sales were on the rise. The unemployment rate, though still higher than the rest of the nation, was sinking, and job losses slowed. The real estate world recognized it had gotten itself into trouble with oversupply, but things were turning around.
The market had undoubtedly rallied by 1993. Back Bay enjoyed one of the lowest vacancy rates in the country and Cambridge experienced strong absorption, significantly lower vacancies and rising rents. Tenants facing higher rents again sought space in the lower priced suburbs, erasing an enormous oversupply in those markets. In 1994, the market expressed restrained enthusiasm as a waning supply of space and increasing rental rates became the story.
Meredith & Grew weathered the storm and saw a tremendous increase in leasing activity. Boston's real estate market was finally recognized as fully recovered. The occasion was coincidentally marked by the groundbreaking of the 525,000-square-foot 10 St. James Avenue, the first tower to be built in the city since the economic slide at the beginning of the decade. Meredith & Grew was named the exclusive leasing agent of the property, pushing the firm to blaze a trail to the new millennium.
Part III — The Post-War Boom - 1970's
The greatest expansion of industry in Massachusetts’ history quickly gathered momentum following World War II. Office buildings, land, leases, industrial buildings, build and leasebacks and the rehabilitation of mill properties allowed the firm to substantially enlarge its staff of experienced brokers.
With increased redevelopment and construction in Boston, Meredith & Grew went through many changes in a short 10-year period including Mr. Horan's move to the firm's management following the unexpected death of the firm's Vice President and Treasurer Alfred Beck. Additionally, John Grew was elected president in 1952, eventually retiring in 1960.
Throughout the remainder of the 1960s, Meredith & Grew continued to grow feverishly. Due to the strong work ethic of Tom Horan, Meredith & Grew became the exclusive leasing agent for Boston's newest and tallest building - the John Hancock Tower. The firm grew to 36 employees, one of Boston's largest real estate brokerages specializing in commercial and industrial real estate. Its client list represented a major segment of Boston's cultural business, educational and religious institutions.
The 1970s were a difficult and tumultuous time for the nation's economy. An oil embargo and subsequent energy crisis prompted great concern for U.S. consumers, and by the end of the decade, the economic climate had deeply affected the Northeast. Massachusetts experienced the highest unemployment rate of any of the nation's eleven industrial states. In 1978, then-president Tom Horan retired and George Lovejoy, a six-year Meredith & Grew veteran, was elected the firm's fifth president and the firm added a dedicated Capital Markets group.
Part II — 1930 - 1945
The 1930s were lean real estate years for everyone, and our offices were no exception. It was not uncommon during this time for senior members of the firm to take cuts in salary to assure full pay for younger employees with families. Meredith & Grew was able to stay in business and solidify its position by relying on existing building management contracts, working with financial institutions on the foreclosure and liquidation of real estate holdings and servicing family trusts. In 1931, Edward Wigglesworth Grew became our first president, and in 1939, another young broker, Tom Horan joined the firm and Meredith & Grew moved into Boston's industrial market.
In 1942, Meredith & Grew suffered the loss of Edward Wigglesworth Grew, president and founder of the firm. Following the war, Meredith & Grew remained heavily involved in residential real estate opening two additional satellite offices in Scituate and Needham. The Boston office moved to 19 Congress Street where it remained for the next 14 years.
Part I — 1875 - 1929
On April 1, 1875, four days before his 25th birthday, J. Morris Meredith opened his own real estate company at 4 Exchange Place from which he leased and sold residential, retail and office space. Boston at this time had just undergone a dramatic upheaval. The Great Fire of 1872 began at the corner of Summer and Kingston Streets and raged north to State Street and east from Washington Street to the water's edge, destroying everything in its path. Much of the Back Bay had already been filled as the city expanded westward, and the last of Boston's prominent small hills, Fort Hill, had been leveled to rid the city of waterfront shacks and to provide fill for the new Atlantic Avenue.
It wasn't until 1891 that 21-year-old Edward Wigglesworth Grew partnered with Meredith to form Meredith & Grew. New offices were established at 15 Congress Street and the firm added the management of real estate property and trusts to its repertoire. The business thrived and several new members joined the firm including Henry Whitmore, Sr., Alfred Beck and Arthur Brooks.
Significant events in the firm's early years include its involvement in the development and construction of the Copley Plaza Hotel, the expansion and move of Boston College, the opening of our first suburban office in Manchester, and Mr. Meredith's retirement in 1925.
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