New commercial real estate firm launches in Bentonville

While employed by separate companies, Patrick Byrd and Butch Gurganus worked together for the past decade to finalize several commercial real estate deals throughout Northwest Arkansas.

They are still working together, only now for their company — Focus Commercial Real Estate. Byrd (CEO) and Gurganus (president) are the co-founders of the new venture, which formally launched a few weeks ago, with an office inside Beau Terre Office Park, off northbound Interstate 49 in Bentonville. Limited liability companies that include Byrd paid $24.4 million four years ago for the 35-building, 383,000-square-foot office park, which represents just more than half of the office space in Focus’ portfolio. It was one of the deals Gurganus and Byrd worked on together.

Focus is a full-service commercial real estate firm specializing in investment sales, tenant and landlord representation and property management.

Byrd, a Fort Smith native, is a co-founder and CEO of 1912 Walton, a retail services firm launched in 2014 in Bentonville. He’s also been an active investment sales broker and a licensed real estate agent for 20 years. He also manages and invests in an extensive real estate portfolio for several groups of people who own storage facilities, offices and duplexes.

“Butch and I have worked together for a long time and stayed in touch through the years,” Byrd said. “I think he is the best office guy out there.”

Gurganus is the company’s managing director and focuses on tenant representation and investment for investment groups. He also manages Focus’ leasing efforts for a 600,000-square-foot office portfolio.

An Oklahoma native, Gurganus spent the past 15 years working for Colliers International Arkansas. A principal and executive vice president, he managed the firm’s office team at the Northwest Arkansas office in Rogers.

From 2005 to 2020, Gurganus estimates he completed more than 1,000 landlord and tenant rep transactions. He completed more than 700 leasing and sales transactions during the past decade with a total volume of $510 million.

“I wasn’t looking for somewhere to go,” Gurganus said. “I thought I’d be [at Colliers] another 15 years doing the same thing, but this was different and seemed exciting. Without the large corporate environment, we have the latitude and structure to do things as we want.”

Focus will start with four staff members. Also on board are two others from Colliers International — Lindy Janes (director of property management) and Oksana DeMaris (brokerage associate).

Like Gurganus, Janes spent the past 15 years at Colliers. She started as the Northwest Arkansas office’s marketing manager before transitioning to the property management division. For the past five years, she was the senior property manager, managing the Beau Terre Office Park.

DeMaris started at Colliers as an intern while studying at the University of Arkansas. She began working full-time in 2018 after graduating.

Byrd said Focus is still hiring and has job openings in marketing and accounting.

“We’ll be looking for some brokers, too,” he said. “We’re not looking for a lot, but for some excellent, standout brokers.”