Five Questions With: Matt Fair

MATT FAIR, a partner at Hayes & Sherry Real Estate Services, joined two other partners to buy the well-established Providence commercial real estate brokerage firm. / COURTESY HAYES & SHERRY REAL ESTATE

In 2007, Matt Fair accepted a job as a commercial real estate broker at Hayes & Sherry Real Estate Services, eventually rising to become a partner at the Providence firm. Fifteen years later, Fair along with longtime partners Bill Greene and David Lucivero purchased the full-service commercial real estate brokerage from its founders Pete Hayes and Karl Sherry.

Founded in 1990, the company has a portfolio of 10 million square feet of property and clients throughout the country, providing services such as commercial leasing, tenant representation, investment sales, property investment analysis, land development and retail consultation.

PBN: What is the future going to be like for Hayes & Sherry as a result of you and your partners coming together to purchase the company after it has been serving clients in this region for three decades? What will it mean for your clients and services?

FAIR: I think we’re all excited about the future of Hayes & Sherry, and most importantly for what it’ll mean for our clients and their success. Pete Hayes and Karl Sherry built a tremendous firm with a great foundation, and we want to take it even further. We plan to double-down on our existing service lines in the sectors of office, retail, medical and industrial, and bolster our recently established multifamily investment sales team.

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We also see a lot of opportunity to leverage our Cushman & Wakefield platform to service clients wherever they may need a strategic plan to manage their real estate. Specifically, we want to focus on expanding our Global Occupier Services line that already includes several of Rhode Island’s largest corporate users such as CVS [Health Corp.] and Citizens Bank.

We’re also looking to add talent to the firm and are interested in both new and seasoned brokers who are eager to learn and grow.

PBN: What’s your point of view of the company’s place in the local real estate industry, given your insight as a partner there?

FAIR: Rhode Island has a healthy commercial real estate industry, and we’re fortunate to occupy a significant footprint. We consistently rank among the leading firms in the state, including on PBN’s annual Book of Lists ranking.

We’re particularly proud to offer a comprehensive specialist platform with teams that cover every major market sector locally and globally. Our partnership with Cushman & Wakefield really helps to differentiate us, as it allows us to provide national exposure for listings and leverage national expertise for projects requiring specialty service. The C&W platform helps us see trends and activity from every angle, allowing us unique insights into the current state of what is an ever-changing market.

PBN: How has Rhode Island’s commercial real estate landscape changed in the past two years in terms of demand?

FAIR: No question it has been a dynamic landscape over the last couple of years, with strong swings both up and down depending on the sector. Overall, we saw sales volume spike as we came through the pandemic – the result of record-low interest rates and the impact of the many COVID-related federal support programs that injected significant liquidity into the market. Medical office, industrial and multifamily are all areas that have flourished, while the traditional office and hospitality sectors were less fortunate.

We’ve also seen more and more investors enter the market from other areas of the country. This is incredibly important to the health of the ecosystem here in Rhode Island in terms of delivering top-quality projects to the market. As an example, the commitment that Wexford and Ventas have made and continue to make in the Jewelry District – with projects such as 3 Davol Square and 225 Dyer St. – is extraordinary and will no doubt be a competitive advantage for Providence for decades to come.

PBN: How will the demand and use of commercial real estate in Rhode Island change heading into 2023 and beyond?

FAIR: The two biggest factors are interest rates and construction pricing. We’ve already seen huge increases in both, and we expect this to persist until the broader economy and labor market cools down.

Shifts in demand are also happening for other reasons. In the office market, we are seeing more decisions being made around corporate workspace strategies, resulting in more leasing activity than we have since COVID but often with smaller footprint needs.

The cost savings being achieved by reducing office square footage is allowing tenants to consider locating to nicer buildings while keeping their budgets intact. There is a flight to quality happening as executives look for ways to attract workers back to the office by offering more amenities such as on-site fitness centers, dining options, enhanced meeting space and HVAC [heating, ventilating and air conditioning] quality.

PBN: What do you think about the state of downtown Providence in terms of commercial real estate and the level of activity we are seeing there now, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 shutdowns that left many storefronts shuttered?

FAIR: Prior to any of us ever hearing the word “coronavirus” back at this time in 2019, I had never seen downtown more vibrant in the nearly 20 years I’ve worked in Providence. Foot traffic was strong and there were a number of cranes in the sky.

There’s no question that the pandemic hit downtown particularly hard, decimating the daytime population as office workers stayed home. But as a result of the investments made throughout Providence over the past several years (many that continue today), the number of beds in the city has nearly tripled and we’ve seen the creation of some great community spaces.

There is no doubt in my mind that Providence will reemerge stronger than before, and we look forward to being a part of that comeback story.

Marc Larocque is a PBN contributing writer. 

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