South Bend real estate firm launches local office

A South Bend-based real estate company has opened a local office to compete for brokerage and property management services and has hired an industry veteran to lead it.

Bradley Co. entered the metropolitan market in June by bringing on board David Reed, who launched another firm’s office in Indianapolis before it became part of a large multi-brokerage acquisition.

David Reed

A former managing director of CBRE’s local office, Reed joined DTZ in April 2014 to grow its local presence. But he left after Texas-based private equity firm TPG Capital agreed to buy both DTZ and Cassidy Turley, the second-largest brokerage in the city based on number of brokers.

Cassidy Turley became DTZ after the sale closed at the end of last year.

“When I started [at DTZ], we had about five people; now there are 205 people,” he said. “So it’s kind of mission accomplished. With Bradley Co., I have the opportunity to do what I was in the process of doing at DTZ.”

Assisting Reed at Bradley is Jeff Norris, senior vice president of commercial asset services. He previously was manager of real estate and workplace services.at Defender Direct.

He’s also a veteran of the local real estate industry, with previous stops at Lauth as well as the local offices of Jones Lang LaSalle and Colliers International.

Bradley Co. is a family-owned business that was founded as Real Estate Management Corp. in 1978 in Plymouth, Indiana, by CEO Brad Toothaker’s father, Bob.

A graduate of UCLA, Brad Toothaker remained in Los Angeles and went to work for Trammel Crow, one of the nation’s largest real estate development companies. He returned to Indiana in 1996 to work for his father and purchased the business in 2003.

Meanwhile, Bradley inked a deal to become an affiliate of CBRE. That relationship ended in 2013, but that’s how Toothaker met Reed, who seemed to be the logical choice to launch Bradley’s Indianapolis office.

Indianapolis is “obviously the epicenter of business in the state, and in many respects, the region,” Toothaker said. “We have business requirements that come from Indianapolis, so there’s a logical synergy there. It’s filling in the map for us, so to speak.”

Bradley also has outposts in Elkhart, Fort Wayne, Merrillville and Warsaw, in addition to Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Cleveland.

The company employs about 50 brokers and manages 7.5 million square feet of commercial space, as well as 2,400 apartment units.

Reed is confident the Indianapolis area can support another real estate firm.

“The market is robust,” he said. “We’ll grow organically, and I’m sure we’ll have folks join us.”

Bradley put down stakes in the Parkwood Crossing office park along 96th Street in Carmel.