Managing Partner of McColly Bennett Commercial Advantage Jeff Bennett started working in real estate in the early ‘80s in Kankakee County, Ill. and owned a company called Bennett Commercial Real Estate. Although the company worked with commercial real estate, Bennett developed an interest in residential real estate, leading to the creation of a residential division.
In 2009, he met Ron McColly, the president and broker owner of McColly Real Estate. Recognizing that McColly Real Estate had a larger residential presence in real estate, Bennett decided to sell his residential division to McColly Real Estate. With a growing connection between the two businesses, Bennett and McColly decided to merge and establish McColly Bennett Commercial Real Estate. Combining into one group with the creation of McColly Bennett Commercial Real Estate widened Bennett’s footprint in the real estate field, spanning from Bourbonnais, Ill. to Michigan City, Ind.
Even with two great minds behind McColly Bennett Commercial Real Estate, Bennett and McColly did not stop there. After meeting Lori Tubbs of Commercial Advantage at real estate conferences and perceiving the significance of Commercial Advantage’s presence, Bennett and McColly decided to join forces with Tubbs and create McColly Bennett Commercial Advantage five years ago.
The McColly Bennett Commercial Advantage team consists of about 15 specialists and has turned out to be an even greater success than anyone had anticipated.
“We found that we were like-minded and, once in a while, competing for the same business,” Bennett said. “We felt that if we put our experience together, it would be a sort of one plus one equals three scenario and give us great capacity to serve clients in the marketplace. It’s worked out to be everything and more than we might have hoped.”
McColly Bennett Commercial Advantage has been highly active in industrial leasing in East Chicago and is currently designing a building for a trucking company looking to expand in the marketplace. It has also built businesses of varying sizes in La Porte and handled transitional land sales in Chesterton, including 80 acres with the potential for future business developments.
Bennett described McColly Bennett Commercial Advantage as a full-service, geographically based real estate company involved in all sectors of real estate from industrial to retail to office and beyond. Through the years, Bennett has learned the importance of connecting with the communities McColly Bennett Commercial Advantage serves. Bennett and his team have talked to mayors, the Northwest Indiana Forum, La Porte Economic Advantage Partnership, and other people and groups with high influence in the community.
“I think we end up working with common goals to bring investment to Northwest Indiana,” Bennett said.
Of course, to be able to improve its communities with the help of community leaders, McColly Bennett Commercial Advantage must first turn to its own.
“We team up, collaborate, and keep the client’s interest first and foremost,” Bennett said. “That’s really what our business becomes: understanding what a client’s needs are and being out there trying to meet those needs. There are vacant buildings being filled, land is being built on, and the taxes and employment is generated in that type of activity is how we are involved in economic growth on a real-time basis.”
For more information about McColly Bennett Commercial Advantage and its work in your community, visit https://www.mccolly.com/commercial
