In today's real estate market of lower prices, longer sales cycles and fewer buyers, it takes a fresh strategy to be successful. Rob Murray III, vice president of R.B. Murray Co., says a long-range plan focused on green building and smart management will keep his family's firm - and Springfield - chugging along.
"In (2008), we have seen drastic changes," Murray says. "In the last (quarter of the year), we have seen the market react in ways my father and uncle - in 40 years of being in the business - have never seen."
Commerically, Murray and company are focusing on existing properties, including bank foreclosures. "We had a couple of big retail projects, but all the large retailers are putting everything on hold for 12 to 24 months," he notes.
Murray works with national retail, restaurant, office and industrial tenants, institutional level investors and developers. In 2005, the company decided to grow R.B. Murray Co.'s boutique brand to include certified public accountants, investment and institutional banking, and specialized markets. The brokerage firm currently manages more than 1 million square feet of commercial property in Springfield. Notable successes include preleasing 80,000 square feet of retail space at Battlefield Market Place, completing a $2 million remodel to the Fremont Center, and brokering 500,000 square feet of retail development on the corner of Chestnut Expressway and Highway 65.
Murray sees green building as the next frontier in commercial real estate, and the company is leading by example. R.B. Murray Co. moved its office in September 2008 to TerraGreen Office Park, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified development created with sustainable design methods.
"Gen X and Y are different than past generations," Murray says. "They expect a work environment that is creative, exciting and green. Without this, we will lose the best employees to markets that embrace LEED and progressive design."
Murray has a history of being a self-starter. Graduating early from high school, he was recruited by the University of Missouri-Columbia on a full-ride golf scholarship. He graduated in 1992 with a degree in finance and real estate and opened R.B. Murray's Branson branch office. For three years, he marketed theaters and restaurants and oversaw the development of the Welk Resort.
In the late 1990s, Murray moved to Crested Butte, Colo., where he operated a commercial printing company and continued to manage R.B. Murray's Web site. He moved back in 2002.[[In-content Ad]]
