Colliers International has appointed Andrew Hiskens to lead its Auckland investment sales division, based at the agency’s head office on Queen Street.
The team, which was previously known as Auckland metro sales, has recently been re-named. Peter Herdson remains national director of corporate and institutional sales (previously known as investment sales).
Hiskens moves to the CBD following 11 successful years as head of Colliers International’s North Shore franchise. He remains a shareholder and director of the North Shore operation.
Jimmy O’Brien has been promoted to general manager of Colliers International North Shore and is responsible for day-to-day leadership of the franchise.
Charles Cooper, Auckland managing director at Colliers International, says that during Hiskens’ 10 years as head of the North Shore office, he built an industry-leading sales and leasing business as well as a highly respected personal track record in the North Shore market.
He says Hiskens’ appointment will help Colliers International achieve its goal of becoming the preferred supplier of services to the Auckland investment property sales sector.
“We see the opportunity to provide this market with the same high level of expert service we currently provide our corporate and institutional clients. We look forward to Andrew replicating the success he has demonstrated with the North Shore franchise and building a market-leading investment sales division.”
The Auckland investment market is large and very active, with an average of 390 sub-$5 million sales concluded every year across the office and retail sectors, Cooper says. “With Andrew providing strategic direction and experience based upon his very successful career on the North Shore, we believe we are well placed to step up our presence in this important market.”
Hiskens says increasing the number of properties Colliers International takes to auction in Auckland is an important area of focus in his new role. “We embraced the auction process several years ago as a key method of selling commercial property on the North Shore, and last year held 57 auctions with a success rate of 83% of properties sold under the hammer,” he says.
“One of my aims for the Auckland investment sales team is to entrench the auction methodology, with the help of our auctioneer John Bowring, aiming to take more properties to auction and gaining a higher success rate – and better sale prices – for our clients.”
Recruitment will be another of Hiskens’ areas of focus, with a view to growing the team to around 20 professionals, covering a geographical area from Silverdale to Drury. “We’re actively seeking high calibre people to join our team,” he says.
North Shore leadership
Jimmy O’Brien is in his sixth year with Colliers North Shore and is a regular member of Colliers’ ‘high performers club’ of top producers nationwide. He has led the North Shore industrial team since early 2008, notching up a successful track record which includes the sale of 10-12 Rothwell Ave, Albany, for $13.9m – the largest industrial sale on the North Shore last year.
“With his experience as head of industrial in our North Shore office, Jimmy is well placed to continue to drive our unrivalled sales and leasing operations across North Shore industrial, office and retail property,” says Cooper.
Prior to joining Colliers International, O’Brien had a successful career in sales, marketing and manufacturing. As a director of his own business for 22 years, he built up a vast network of contacts in the property industry.
Colliers International’s strong-performing North Shore franchise is a recent winner of Franchise of the Year in Colliers International’s annual awards.
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