Cushman & Wakefield Hires New People In Moncton to Meet Growing Market Demand
MONCTON – Cushman & Wakefield Atlantic has made two new hires at its Moncton office to meet the market demands of a city in growth mode.
Raoul Robichaud and Sandra Paquette have joined the team, increasing the headcount to six people. Robichaud will focus on investments, while Paquette will focus on the leasing side.
The new team members are bilingual, allowing the firm to better serve clients in Francophone communities like Dieppe, Bathurst and Caraquet, among others.
Bill MacAvoy, Cushman & Wakefield Atlantic’s managing director, said the company is always seeking to add talent to its team, but the hiring also reflects market demand.
“What we have found is Moncton has been very brisk in terms of our service provision in the marketplace, probably for the last 18 months. This decision is partially in response to that,” he said in a phone interview. “There are some specific sectors that we’d like to have more depth in and cover.”
Based out of Halifax, Cushman & Wakefield Atlantic is an alliance partner of the global Cushman & Wakefield, the third largest property brokerage in the world.
This means while it operates independently, it’s still closely tied to the umbrella organization. In Atlantic Canada, the firm focuses on conventional commercial real estate assets, such as offices, and retail and industrial spaces, among others.
MacAvoy says the Greater Moncton Area is growing because more businesses are establishing offices and starting operations. Earlier this year, Statistics Canada reported a $163.9 million was spent on non-residential building constructions in Greater Moncton for the first half of 2017, including private developments. This surpassed similar spending in Halifax and St. John’s.
However, he also sees that the area is undergoing urbanization.
“Certain areas are seeing this shift, which to be honest, Moncton is quite late in the game, but it’s ahead of some other cities in North America,” he said. “Millennials, and also Baby Boomers, are looking to have their services in a more compact area.”
MacAvoy said the growth in Moncton is linked to the $100-million downtown entertainment centre that’s being built.
“Having an entertainment centre downtown means your day can flow better. People can finish off work, run errands and go see a show, rather than drive out to the coliseum to see one show and drive back home. It could make more people stay in downtown too,” he said.
“It will attract things that you don’t traditionally have in Moncton.”