Local commercial real estate firm Chaney, Brooks & Co. has affiliated itself with an international industry network to help the company and its new partners do more business in the global economy.

The partnership with Princeton, N.J.-based NAI Global is the latest in a trend by most of Hawai'i's large independently owned commercial real estate companies linking themselves with networks of other independent firms around the world to expand resources and reach.

For NAI Global, the partnership establishes a presence in Hawai'i that the company had sought for about 10 years as it expanded around the Asia-Pacific region with 30 offices from Dubai to New Zealand.

For Chaney Brooks, the affiliation strengthens a kama'aina business that used to call itself Hawai'i's largest diversified real estate firm before contracting in recent years amid changes in ownership, leadership and operations.

The new affiliated company has been renamed NAI ChaneyBrooks, but remains locally owned by firm President Steve Sombrero.

"We were convinced this was the right platform for us," he said. "We maintain our independence ... and we retain the Chaney Brooks name."

Other local commercial property firms that in recent years affiliated with larger companies or networks include Monroe & Friedlander that became Colliers Monroe Friedlander in 1998, and CBI Inc. that in 1999 became a franchise of Grubb & Ellis Co. now known as Grubb & Ellis/CBI.

Colliers Monroe Friedlander in June went further by selling majority control to Colliers Macaulay Nicolls Inc., a Seattle-based real estate firm that does business as Colliers International and is owned by Toronto-based FirstService Corp.

"Everybody's trying to brand up," said Steve Sofos, founder and president of local commercial property firm Sofos Realty Corp. "NAI is a good organization. It'll be a good fit for Chaney Brooks."

NAI ChaneyBrooks becomes one of about 170 commercial real estate companies that are members of NAI Global and operate out of 375 offices in 48 states and 55 countries.

David Blanchard, NAI Global executive vice president, said a Hawai'i partner has been a goal for about a decade given the state's geographic and time zone advantages for conducting business between the Mainland and Asia.

"We foresee that NAI ChaneyBrooks will be a major bridge and facilitator of many multinational transactions," he said.

NAI Global was established in 1978 as New America Network Inc., which aimed to create a national commercial property brokerage network. By 1984, the company had 100 members. In 1997, the firm changed its name to NAI (New America International) as it embarked on global expansion, and two years ago became NAI Global.

The company provides technology, marketing, research and corporate services support to its member network with a staff of 70.

Sombrero said his firm decided to seek a global affiliation because of a bigger recent focus on business in the Asia-Pacific region, including work involving development of a 100-acre American-style shopping mall in Japan and the 600-room Outrigger Guam Resort.

The firm continues to have major commercial property brokerage, leasing and management business in Hawai'i, but is a somewhat smaller overall player in the market than it was in the past.

Roots of NAI ChaneyBrooks go back to a residential property management business established by the late Aaron Chaney in 1958 that later diversified with commercial real estate and became the largest property management business in the state.

Chaney, Brooks & Co. was formed in 1981 by Chaney and an old friend and business associate Wendell Brooks Jr. The duo sold the company in 1988 to a subsidiary of Nihon Building Service Co. in Japan.

Chaney Brooks expanded its commercial property business, and in 2000 was managing about 4.2 million square feet of commercial real estate with seven Hawai'i offices on O'ahu, Maui, the Big Island and Kaua'i.

But in 2002, the firm sold its division that managed 15,000 residential units at 152 properties statewide to Honolulu-based Certified Management Inc., and also made executive management changes that included installing a new president, Bill Ramsey, who previously headed his own property management firm.

In 2003, Sombrero replaced Ramsey and re-entered the residential field by establishing a home brokerage affiliate, Chaney Brooks American Homes.

About two years ago, Sombrero acquired ownership of the company from Nihon Building.

Today, NAI ChaneyBrooks employs about 60 people, down from 85 about four years ago, mostly in a Downtown Honolulu office. Earlier this year, the company also opened offices on Kaua'i and Guam.

The company now focuses on brokerage and leasing, but still manages about 3.5 million square feet of Hawai'i commercial property.

Sombrero, a former special liaison for the office of the Guam Economic Development Authority, said the company's new Guam office with 12 agents has listings for property valued at $1.6 billion.

"NAI ChaneyBrooks has become actively involved in Guam, Japan, Korea and China, where our portfolio of business now exceeds ... $2 billion in project assignments," he said.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.