Colliers Detroit in Royal Oak is part of the fourth-largest commercial real estate business in the world, but it started as a one-man enterprise in 1925 in Detroit. Byron W. Trerice founded Byron W. Trerice Co. during the Roaring Twenties, and over the next several decades he earned a reputation as a trusted broker and provider of advisory services across industrial, office, and retail markets throughout southeast Michigan.
“A lot of these real estate companies started as one-man shops,” says Paul Choukourian, executive managing director and market leader at Colliers Detroit, “and they didn’t realize the company might last for 100 years and the (early) records might have value someday. Byron Trerice was probably more worried about signing the next lease or making the next sale.”
In 1977, Leo Tosto joined the company and ushered in a new era of growth under the name Trerice Tosto Co. The firm continued to evolve through the 1980s and early 1990s, expanding its service lines beyond traditional brokerage to include valuation, consulting, property tax appeal, and property management — an uncommon breadth for a regional firm at the time. The company affiliated with Colliers in 1992, joining an expanding global network of independently owned real estate firms.
Later, in 1998, Trerice Tosto merged with the Colliers Macaulay Nicolls Group (CMN) of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, forming Colliers Trerice Tosto Partners, an equal partnership that marked Detroit’s full integration into the Colliers global platform.
The early 2000s saw major consolidation within Colliers worldwide. In 2004, FirstService Corp. acquired a controlling interest in CMN to unify operations globally, and by 2010, Trerice Tosto sold its remaining stake to Colliers, creating Colliers International Detroit, a fully owned and integrated office. Choukourian took over management of the Detroit office in 2011.
Colliers became a publicly traded company in 2015, reinforcing its position as one of the world’s leading diversified professional services firms. Locally, Colliers Detroit remained a contributor to the brand’s global success, completing transactions across the U.S., Canada, Asia, and Europe, while maintaining deep ties to Michigan.
Today, operating from its downtown Royal Oak headquarters with satellite offices in Ann Arbor and Birmingham, Colliers Detroit provides a full suite of real estate services — brokerage, valuation, consulting, property tax appeals and incentives, property and asset management, and capital markets advisory — and serves clients across the office, industrial, retail, and investment sectors.
“We’re a service provider and a people company,” Choukourian says, explaining the company’s longevity. “I think for 100 years, at least the people I’ve known since I started in the commercial real estate business over 30 years ago, everyone at Colliers has always been very professional and very good at what they do.”
From a one-man operation in 1925, Byron W. Trerice Co. has evolved into an office that’s part of a global enterprise, with 65 brokers, and generates revenue of around $2 billion each year.
The largest deal in the company’s history is a recent nine-figure transaction, covered by a confidentiality agreement. Colliers also was involved in the lease of Renaissance Center Tower 5 to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and the subsequent sale of Tower 5 and RenCen Tower 6.
When asked about the future of Colliers Detroit, Choukourian says the bigger question is what does the commercial real estate industry itself look like down the road?
“Technology has made data much more accessible to everyone in the business,” he says. “Having data used to be a differentiator in the market. Now, you have to reinvent yourself as a commercial real estate broker.
“One of the reasons we’re still here is because we promote culture and collaboration more so than anyone else. We probably have more people in our office on a daily basis than anyone else, and we do more internal deals than anyone else because of that.”
