FirstService hires three ex-GVA Advantis brokers

The fallout from GVA Advantis closing its local office continues.

FirstService Real Estate Advisors, a commercial real estate firm that is part of Toronto-based FirstService Corp., has hired three former GVA Advantis brokers to open a Richmond-area office and increase business here.

Vance Spilman, Andrew Ferguson and Muscoe Garnett are all directors of the local FirstService office in Henrico County. As part of a Global Workplace Solutions division, Spilman, Ferguson and Garnett will work with regional and national clients.

The Richmond area is attractive because it is a top U.S. city for business and a destination for Fortune 500 companies, said Dylan Taylor, president of U.S. operations for FirstService Real Estate Advisors, which is based in Seattle and recently opened an office in the District of Columbia.

Washington-based GVA Advantis recently closed six of its 16 offices in the Southeast.

Richmond, one of its highest-performing offices, was not supposed to be among them. But key brokers left, forcing the closing.

Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle started commercial brokerage services in the Richmond region in July. The company has hired 14 people to its local team -- all formerly with GVA Advantis. -- Carol Hazard