CBRE Group, Inc. announced that it has acquired Forum Analytics, LLC (Forum), a leading provider of sophisticated modeling and mapping solutions that assists retailers and other firms in planning their location strategies on a local, regional and national basis.

Based in Chicago, Forum is led by Paul Sill, who founded the firm in 2001, and employs a staff of more than 20 statisticians, analysts and programmers. It serves leading retailers and restaurants, such as Ace Hardware, Sephora, Verizon Wireless, Domino’s Pizza, Genuine Parts, Carl’s Jr., and many others.  Mr. Sill will remain at the helm of the strategic consulting, management, sales and marketing of Forum’s suite of offerings along with Forum’s dedicated staff to ensure a seamless integration of the firm’s operations.

“More than ever, our clients rely on CBRE for data-based insight in planning and executing consumer-based real estate strategies,” said Anthony Buono, Executive Managing Director, CBRE. “Forum’s sophisticated forecasting solutions, combined with our retail platform and professionals, will help our clients to make better informed, data-driven decisions for location, product assortment and consumer marketing strategies.”

“This is a fabulous opportunity for the industry. Our clients will gain the ability to integrate models in a complete end-to-end real estate management process, and our algorithms and expertise will be available to a new, broader audience,” said Mr. Sill. “We look forward to working with our new CBRE colleagues who share our values of excellence in client service and the highest standards of integrity. Together we will be able to combine our unique data-driven solutions with the unparalleled local market knowledge of CBRE’s 400-plus offices in more than 60 countries.” 

Forum’s proprietary tools include SIMMS Online, a web-based mapping platform that visually represents modeling and analytic exercises, Optimizer, a proprietary market optimization algorithm for estimating total unit growth potential, and Cannibalytics, a proprietary modeling algorithm for estimating sales transfer between existing retail units. 

The Forum acquisition follows CBRE’s earlier acquisitions of three other premier retail real estate service companies: Indianapolis-based Sitehawk Retail Real Estate (November 2015), Dallas-based United Commercial Realty (January 2015) and Philadelphia-based Fameco (September 2013).