Two of the city's commercial real estate veterans have purchased the Ottawa office of Cushman & Wakefield LePage, following a model used by the global real estate services firm in other similar-sized Canadian markets.

Senior managing director Alain Desmarais, who has led the company's Ottawa operations since January 2008 and was vice-president of office leasing for 16 years, bought the operation with capital market group senior vice-president Nathan Smith, Cushman's longest serving Ottawa broker. The office will begin conducting business as an affiliate operation on July 1.

"In markets that are the size of Ottawa, or smaller, it has been our experience that operations tend to work better and thrive when they are owned and operated independently because you can make your own decisions," says Mr. Desmarais.

Cushman & Wakefield has affiliate operations in Winnipeg, Edmonton and in the Maritimes, whereas its offices in Canada's major cities, such as Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, are corporately owned.

Mr. Desmarais who will be the broker of record of the affiliate operation and is a former OBJ Forty Under 40 award winner, adds the stability of the Ottawa market made the transaction attractive from a business perspective.

"We are already doing well in a down market," he says.

"We saw it as a good opportunity because our office is gaining in strength and the market is likely to do better."

The Ottawa office has 26 employees, says Mr. Desmarais, and as of last fall was the third-largest commercial real estate brokerage firm in the city, by number of local commercial agents, according to OBJ research files.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.