Guardian Management to Become Largest  Franchise Owner of Sperry Van Ness Intl.

By Anuradha Kher, Online  News Editor Irvine, Calif.–Guardian Management LLC, through a  newly formed corporation will acquire the southern  California and Arizona offices of Sperry Van Ness. With this acquisition,  Guardian will hold the development and franchise rights for Sperry Van Ness in  Southern California, Arizona and Oregon. Guardian’s president, Tom Brenneke,  will become a member of the Sperry Van Ness board of advisors.   “This move diversifies us geographically and with product types  and will improve our deal flow,” Tom Brenneke, president of Guardian  Management LLC, tells MHN. “While we do some brokerage as a company, this will  really formalize it.” Guardian will continue to operate the brokerage  as an affiliate company under the Sperry Van Ness brand. The purchase includes  seven regional offices in southern California and  one in Phoenix, consisting of 190 commercial real estate advisors. Guardian is  already performing limited brokerage services for clients – a complementary  business function to its core business of property management, syndication,  acquisitions and development.  Guardian will immediately begin to  build upon the existing Sperry Van Ness presence in Oregon. The company will  also look to develop the Sperry Van Ness organization in Arizona, expanding  outside the Phoenix market to include Tucson.“Guardian’s presence and  reputation on the West Coast, strong management team and its multifamily  offerings will reinforce and strengthen our brand and company significantly,”  says Mark Van Ness, CEO and co-founder of Sperry Van Ness.This is the  latest stage of a strategic initiative started by Sperry Van Ness in 2000 with  the goal of evolving into the premier commercial real estate franchise in the  industry. By offering business ownership to brokers, Sperry Van Ness has  attracted hundreds of brokers in the nation over the last several years.   The franchise of the eight remaining company-owned offices will  allow Sperry and Van Ness to move from focusing on the daily operations of the  southern California and Arizona offices to building  the Sperry Van Ness International brand by attracting new franchisees in  untapped markets across the U.S. and world. Most recently, the company  expanded its presence in major markets including Seattle, Chicago and  Washington, D.C.