Ram Harnden prepares for closure
Mark Malone is fully aware, even excited, that his commercial real estate firm is absorbing its former competitor, Ram Harnden. But when he sees one-time rival Jim Harnden milling around Malone Commercial Brokers' Old Port office, he says his gut reaction is this: "Quick! Cover everything up!"
He's got about another week to get used to the idea. Ram Harnden will soon close after nearly 25 years in business, with President Jim Harnden and broker Matt Barney expected to officially join Malone by early next week. Roxane Cole, the third broker at Ram and a principal, is striking out on her own.
"The timing of this felt really right," Harnden says, sitting in Malone's Moulton Street office. The firms had pondered teaming up over the years, but today's market and the opportunity to blend their expertise made the present seem ripe, he says. "The whole was greater than the sum of the parts, at the end of the day." The move brings together two longtime fixtures in Portland's commercial real estate scene, with Malone also boasting a quarter century in the business.
Harnden's experience with tenant representation fit well with Malone's landlord work, and though the firms have competed for listings, their client bases differ enough to make joining forces a wise move, Harnden says. "We don't seem to have a lot of the same clients, so we could come together and not step on each others' toes too much."
Harnden and Barney will officially join Malone's 12-person staff -- Harnden as a partner and Barney as a broker -- next Monday, bringing a portfolio of tenant representation work and adding another 15 listings to Malone's 185.
Meanwhile, Cole is transitioning to a new venture of her own.
Cole, an equal partner with Harnden at Ram, will serve as managing member of Roxane Cole Commercial Real Estate LLC. She'll be making the same deals she always has, but with a new energy and focus, which includes freeing herself, and her clients, of the traditional "trappings" of a real estate brokerage, including a brick-and-mortar office, she says. "It's really about one-on-one conversations" and spending her time in the field, Cole says. As her clients increasingly work from their cars and coffee shops, converting to a virtual office makes sense, she says. "I'm not going to get an office just to have an office."
Cole, whose entrepreneurial past includes a chain of bed and bath retail stores and a cordwood cutting business, has transferred all of her listings from Ram to her new firm and already is prospecting for new clients, she says. Though she's eager for the next step, Cole says she recalls her 23 years at Ram with fondness. "We've had a great run."
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