In conjunction with the hiring of veteran commercial office broker Chris O’Callaghan, RM Friedland announced on Sept. 21 it has formed an office brokerage div

HARRISON—In conjunction with the hiring of veteran commercial office broker Chris O’Callaghan, RM Friedland announced on Sept. 21 it has formed an office brokerage division.

O’Callaghan joins Harrison-based RM Friedland after serving as Managing Director for Jones Lang LaSalle since 2013 where he was responsible for the Westchester County market for the commercial brokerage firm. Prior to joining JLL, O’Callaghan, who has 30 years’ experience in the commercial office market, served as a senior director with Cushman & Wakefield.

“We are thrilled to have Chris O’Callaghan joining our team. He brings a wealth of expertise and market knowledge as one of the region’s premier commercial brokers,” said Sarah Jones-Maturo, president of RM Friedland.

She added, “We’ve been looking to start an office division for some time, but I wasn’t willing to settle for anyone to lead it other than Chris, a highly regarded and experienced real estate professional with an unmatched record of success. We are confident that the suburban office market will recover, and we see this as an opportune time to bring on board someone of Chris O’Callaghan’s caliber to lead our new Office Brokerage Division.”

O’Callaghan, a resident of Rye, has negotiated lease and sale transactions valued at approximately $750 million involving more than 17 million square feet of space.

Some of his more significant commercial real estate transactions in the region include: Morgan Stanley (750,000-square-foot purchase of former Texaco Headquarters in Purchase), Prodigy Services (340,000-square-foot lease at 445 Hamilton Ave., White Plains) Atlas Air (120,000-square-foot lease at 2000 Westchester Ave., Purchase) Cadbury Schweppes (135,000-square-foot lease at 900 King St., Rye Brook) and Greenwich Hospital (75,000-square-foot lease at 900 King St., Rye Brook).

“I am very excited to be joining Sarah and her outstanding brokerage team. What I really like about RM Friedland is that they have all the disciplines covered under one roof—office, industrial, investment and retail. They are nimble and flexible so they can quickly respond to today’s rapidly changing commercial market,” said O’Callaghan, managing director at RM Friedland. “This is an opportune time to be engaged in the office sector which is so unsettled. There are companies all over the region that are going to need advice on their new footprint. How are they going to operate? How many people are going to work remotely? What is their work-at-home policy?” he added.

O’Callaghan said the need for office space will continue regardless of the growing work-at-home trend. “Despite the reduced cost and the flexibility that working from home offers, productivity and true innovation depends on the ability of people to collaborate face to face in the workplace. Growth depends on innovation, and that’s fueled when creative people come together to collaborate in an environment that can’t be replicated in virtual meetings,” he said.

Well-known in the Westchester County business community, O’Callaghan has served as chairman of the Board of the Business Council of Westchester and chairman of the Westchester Economic Development Business Coalition. He has also served on the boards of a host of not-for-profit organizations including Food Bank of Westchester (now Feeding Westchester), the American Red Cross, Greenwich Hospital and United Hospital Medical Center.

He also served as president of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick of Westchester and is a member of the Westchester Country Club in Rye. He is a member of REFA (The Real Estate Finance Association) and served on the board of NAIOP (National Association of Industrial and Office Parks).

RM Friedland, which has been in operation for 50 years, specializes in industrial, investment, retail and now office brokerage in the New York metro area.