Todd Smith. Banker & Tradesman file photo
A listing service founded by a Boston real estate and business broker is designed to provide an affordable new model matching buyers and sellers.
The Corbett Hub addresses what founder Todd Corbett Smith describes as a major disconnect in the hospitality brokerage world: the lack of a local clearinghouse that includes both real estate and business listings. Unlike typical commercial real estate transactions, restaurant and retail deals often involve two separate elements: a sale or lease of the real estate, and sale of the business and potentially a liquor license.
“It combines a marketplace for business brokers and commercial real estate brokers who are leasing retail spaces or selling properties,” said Smith, founder and managing partner of Boston-based Corbett Restaurant Group. “Traditionally, those are like leopards and lions, so it’s a way to let the commercial real estate brokers know about the restaurant and retail properties.”
The New England platform recently launched and includes Smith’s company and four other brokerages: United Brokers Group, Conway Commercial, Realty Partners Northeast and CRE Brokerage. Expansion is planned in the New York, southern Florida and San Diego markets.
Smith came up with the idea of the Corbett Hub to offer an alternative financial model to listing services such as CoStar, which charge a monthly subscription fee. Under the Corbett Hub model, brokers will pay a 5 percent fee upon the completion of a transaction.
Smith describes the new service as a combination multiple listing service, broker networking group and advisory service providing unpublished comparable sales data, off-market deals and referrals. The target member is a small brokerage that wants to avoid sizable subscription fees for national listing services.
The platform will offer a co-brokering option, which is uncommon in business brokerage, Smith said.
Smith, a former restaurant owner, founded Boston-based Corbett Restaurant Group in 2005. The company specializes in real estate and business transactions for the hospitality sector.
