According to Greg Kraut, Avison Young principal and managing director of the company's local office, valuation expert Steven Kurtz has joined the firm to grow Avison Young's valuation advisory services platform. Effective immediately, Kurtz joins Avison Young as a principal and will be based in the company's local office. An industry veteran with 20 years of experience, Kurtz has completed valuations for more than $12 billion worth of properties throughout his career. Kurtz will focus on building the firm's valuation advisory services in the areas of valuation for financial reporting, litigation support, periodic valuations, portfolio analysis, cost-segregation studies and business combinations, as well as standard appraisals. Most recently the founder and managing director of Kurtz Realty Consulting in New Jersey, Kurtz was responsible for all aspects of business development, client service and deliverables, focusing on valuation for financial reporting. "I am excited to be joining Avison Young as a Principal and look forward to building a robust valuation advisory services platform that capitalizes on the strength of the firm's national and international brand presence," says Kurtz. "Being part of an organization that has achieved such remarkable growth in recent years is rewarding, and I see tremendous opportunity to support my new colleagues in their ability to deliver the most comprehensive solutions to clients' real estate needs." "We continue to make marked progress in building a high-level, full-service platform for our clients, and adding Steven-a seasoned valuation expert-to our team is an important part of further expanding our advisory services capabilities," said Kraut. "As we grow our valuation advisory services platform, we will look to Steven's experience and deep industry relationships to help us build our book of business in this space and in recruiting the appraisal industry's top talent." During his career, Kurtz has worked on a number of high-profile assignments, including the appraisal of Union Station in Washington, DC, Faneuill Hall in Boston and the General Motors legacy portfolio, the latter of which consists of 32 plants across the country with an aggregate size of more than 40 million square feet. In 1998, he received his MAI designation from the Appraisal Institute. Before founding Kurtz Realty Consulting, Kurtz was a Senior Vice-President with Great American Group Real Estate, where he co-founded and directed all business development for the firm's real estate group. He was also previously a Senior Director with the Schonbraun McCann Group, an FTI company, where he created the real estate valuation group; and served as an Associate Director at Integra Realty Resources, where he provided consulting services to corporate clients and institutional investors. Earlier this year, Avison Young opened its first office in New York City to expand the firm's market and business-line coverage in the Tri-State area. Over the past three years, the firm has grown from 11 to 32 offices and from 300 to more than 950 real estate professionals across Canada and the U.S. Founded in 1978, Avison Young is Canada's largest independently-owned commercial real estate services company. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Avison Young is also the largest Canadian-owned, principal-managed commercial real estate brokerage firm in North America. Comprising more than 950 real estate professionals in 32 offices across Canada and the U.S., the full-service commercial real estate company provides value-added, client-centric investment sales, leasing, advisory, management, financing and mortgage placement services to owners and occupiers of office, retail, industrial and multi-residential properties.