Largest Dayton-area real estate firm gets new digs

The largest residential real estate brokerage in the region now has a new home for dozens of agents and its luxury brand.

Coldwell Banker Heritage, which is on pace to hit about $950 million in sales volume overall this year according to the company, opened a new modern office at 8534 Yankee St. that it’s renaming it Coldwell Banker at Yankee Centre.

The Yankee Street office should generate roughly $250 million in sales, and it will be home to its Global Luxury Office for sales, with agents out of the office responsible for many of the top luxury sales in the region.

Managing Partner Ron Sweeney said Coldwell out grew its other two offices near the Dayton Mall and in Centerville, and combined them to the new space that better meets its needs.

“With technology things changed. We needed a little more of a modern facility,” said Sweeney.

RELATED: Local home sales heat up

Sweeney said real estate agents are a mobile workforce who need somewhere with a flexible layout to move around in, and the new Yankee Street office has a mixture of different kinds of work stations like private and semi private offices, drop in offices and open areas. The new office, which can house up to 75 agents, also has all the agents on one floor instead of disconnected across three floors like the previous offices, which were also didn’t have elevator access and were not accessible for aging clients.

As the company grew and technology changed, the Coldwell was in need of a new building with a modern layout. It was difficult to have a mobile workforce when the walls weren’t built for wireless routers to send signals through. The old offices served their purpose well at the time, but Sweeney said it was time for new space.

“Now this building is going to serve our purpose for the next 20 or 30 years as well,” he said.

RELATED: $380 million Springboro development moves ahead

The new facility will also fit with Coldwell’s luxury home sales program. Sweeney said more than half of the top 25 highest priced home sales in the region were coming from his office.

“It has a nice look to match the luxury part of the brand,” he said.

Sweeney said Coldwell’s agent count is up to close to 380, compared to 2011 when the franchise had close to 260 agents. Along with the franchise’s new Yankee Street office, it has sales offices in Troy, Springboro, Springfield, Vandalia, Kettering, Huber Heights and Beavercreek and a home office also in Beavercreek with its corporate functions and training facility.

RELATED: Equifax breach exposes millions

The agency also recently brought on an experienced commercial broker, Ric Moody, to lead Coldwell’s commercial real estate side in the region.

Coldwell’s agent growth is part of a broader trend of brokerages adding to their agent count as the housing market recovers from the recession. The Dayton Area Board of Realtors, which represents Darke, Preble, Montgomery, Greene and Warren counties, said its agent count is up to 2,885 at the end of June, up from 2,200 at the bottom of the market crash around 2012.

“The market is much better than 2010 and ‘11, which naturally draws in newer people but we also recruit experienced agents might want to join,” said Sweeney.

RELATED: Local investor sells Kettering property for $1.1 million

About the Author