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The Chicago office is squarely set on doing deals of at least 100,000 square feet - a market of Chicago's size can sustain that kind of activity and takes on only four to five projects at a time, according to Shaw, A retainer and pledge of exclusive assignment is a trade-off for the team's focus, Shaw said. "That's our gamble ... but the client appreciates that more than anyone."

"Standard brokerage firms are always willing to spec their time to get in, and we just won't do that," Broaddus said. "Once they see the level of commitment that we make ... they understand very well why we need to be retained for this."

The Chicago office is seeing its capital markets and acquisitions strategy expertise grow in demand and has witnessed increased business in corporate consolidations and right-sizing, build-to-suits, acquisitions and sale-leasebacks.

The Chicago office has also begun specializing in what it calls crisis management. "We started to see companies go into bankruptcy," Shaw noted, situations in which real estate is often put up for auction because the proceeds are needed immediately. Take the case of client Ben Franklin Stores. "We said, 'Time out. Let us contact these companies, these creditors and trustees ... We implemented this accelerated disposition process where we would take a 12 month process (and complete it) within one month's time," he claimed.

In the case of Ben Franklin, Shaw continued, the 600,000xsquarexfoot Seymour, Ind., warehouse that needed to be disposed of was under contract within 45 days. Three months after that, Shaw continued, Lexmark International Inc. which had been approached about possibly buying the asset but could not act so quickly, leased the entire building through Alliance Commercial for 15 years. The firm made well over $1 million in fees on that one building, Shaw said.

The Dallas office also focuses on fewer, larger deals, said Buell, although the numbers may be smaller compared to Chicago, a reflection of the difference in the markets' size. The Southwest region is also seeing more acquisition activity and build-to-suit business.

Meanwhile, the Miami office is also focused on user-oriented real estate, but Cambo said he is getting more involved in the investment community as well. Cambo's office has done some speculative development; for example, it now has under way the 600,000 square-foot Doral eCommerce Park in Miami, a joint venture between it and Douglas Development Group. In September, the first 200,000 square-foot building at Doral was in the process of being built out for telecom use.

Also, since deals in the market tend to be smaller. Cambo said his bread-and-butter deals are in the 50,000 square foot range the Miami office will take on more at one time, he said.

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