Cushman & Wakefield history

Cushman & Wakefield was started as a property management company in New York City, where it became the managing and leasing agent for a number of the city’s prominent buildings in the 1920s.

The principles of property management to which the founders subscribed were first described by Cushman in a 1922 book titled Management: How Modern Business Buildings Are Operated.

1926 Cushman & Wakefield opens rental office in General Motors building

Having specialized in business buildings in Midtown Manhattan, the company began expanding into the downtown financial district as well when it established a branch office at 30 Broad Street, in the new Continental Bank Building, in 1932.

One of the most noteworthy transactions overseen by the company at this time was the 1946 land assemblage for what became the United Nations complex on First Avenue in Manhattan.

1969 Cushman & Wakefield project developer of Chicago's Sears Tower

In a merger agreement announced in June 1970, Cushman & Wakefield became a wholly owned subsidiary of the RCA Corporation.

Mirante began employment with the firm in 1971 after leaving private law practice.

The firm assembled the site for the new Sears, Roebuck & Co.’s headquarters building in downtown Chicago, to be built by 1973 at a cost of more than $100 million.

1976 RCA Corp. sells its stake to The Rockefeller Group

He was appointed northeast regional director of the firm in 1980 and elected to the board the same year.

In November 1981 Vincent Peters became chairman and was succeeded as president by Stephen Siegel.

The following spring, in May 1982, Vincent Peters chose to resign to start his own business.

Early in 1984 Cushman & Wakefield made its first move into the international market, through a joint venture with a Hong Kong real estate firm.

Following the stock market crash in October 1987, Cushman & Wakefield noted a 25 percent drop in the total of new signed commercial real estate leases below the level in September.

In 1989, Mitsubishi Estate Co.

In 1990, a presence in Europe was established through the acquisition of Healey & Baker.

Fitzgerald, Therese, “Cushman & Wakefield Celebrate 75 Years,” Real Estate Weekly, February 26, 1992.

1993 DTZ brand established European joint ventures with Jean Thouard of France and the Zadelhoff Group in Germany and the Netherlands, creates the DTZ brand

In 1994, C&W worldwide partnership was established with real estate services firms in the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, Mexico, and Canada.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Hong Kong-based joint venture changed its name from Marlin Land to Cushman & Wakefield Asia as part of a dedication to expansion of the firm’s Asian presence, which culminated in the opening of eight new offices in the region in 1997–98.

In September 1998, the firm announced a merger with Healey & Baker, a 178-year-old London-based real estate company.

1999 DTZ extends into Asia with partners CY Leung & Co in China and Edmund Tie & Co in Singapore

Chapman, Parke, “John Cushman Comes Home: Cushman Realty Corporation’s Merger with Cushman & Wakefield,” Real Estate Weekly, December 12, 2001.

In 2002, the Cushman & Wakefield Alliance Program was formed to expand service capabilities for clients in United States markets where owned offices were not maintained.

Further evidence of the firm’s interest in aligning its services in new ways was the establishment, in 2003, of a marketing alliance with Concordis Real Estate, a corporation wholly owned by ten independent minority-and women-owned United States real estate firms.

Misonzhnik, Elaine, “Mosler Takes the Reins at Cushman & Wakefield,” Real Estate Weekly, June 16, 2004.

In 2005, the company oversaw the sale of the MetLife Building in New York for $1.72 billion, at the time the most expensive single-building sale for the city.

IFIL Investments S.p.A., a holding company owned by Italy’s Agnelli family, which controls automaker Fiat S.p.A., acquired a 67.5 percent stake in the firm in 2006, replacing previous majority shareholder Rockefeller Group International Inc., a Mitsubishi Estate Co.

In 2007, the family paid about $565 million for a 67.5 percent stake.

2011 Australian engineering firm UGL acquires DTZ which is integrated with their existing property services operations across the globe under the DTZ brand

2014 UGL sells DTZ to a private equity consortium comprising TPG Capital, PAG Asia Capital and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan

On February 24, 2015, it was confirmed that Exor SpA had approved management's hiring of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley to help look for a buyer for Cushman.

In 2016, the two engaged in more than $191 billion in commercial real estate transactions and approximately 4.3 billion square feet under management.

In October 2017, Chaney Brooks became an alliance partner with Cushman & Wakefield establishing a foothold in the Hawaii & Guam markets by partnering with one of the oldest commercial real estate firms in the islands.

In June 2018, Cushman & Wakefield filed an S-1 form with the Securities & Exchange Commission announcing its intent to be listed on the NYSE. It became listed on the New York Stock Exchange on August 2, 2018.

On 13 November 2020, Cushman & Wakefield confirmed the hiring of Chris Cuff as Regional Executive Director of Commercial Leasing based in Singapore.