First Commercial Realty and Development Co., Inc. was founded by William Watch and Warren Terrace in 1988. Bill was an executive with Rite Aid (formerly Perry Drugs) specializing in corporate real estate and site selection for both the auto parts and drug store divisions. Warren spent eight years at Schostak Bros. as a leasing and property management professional before starting his own real estate company. The two pooled their resources and expertise together and began developing commercial real estate projects including an 18,000 square foot professional building in Rochester Hills, MI, and various freestanding Rite Aid drugstores. From the beginning, the company’s philosophy was to build a commercial real estate portfolio and the services needed to support it.

The company started to provide their services as broker and developer to numerous companies such as Aetna Life Insurance, Rite Aid, McDonald’s, Kroger, Regency Equities, Midland Mutual Insurance Company, Bohnert Construction and Phoenix Realty. Further, they have managed, leased, and sold distressed and under-performing companies and properties for various financial institutions. This early activity propelled the company into a full service real estate firm providing a broad spectrum of services to institutional, corporate and individual property owners. First Commercial continued to build their own portfolio of commercial and office properties.

The company has grown substantially since its inception, having become one of the leading real estate firms in the Metro Detroit area. The key to the company’s success lies in its ability to satisfy the needs of its clients in a professional manner. First Commercial and its staff of brokers and sales associates, concentrate on tenant representation, commercial leasing, and disposition of distressed properties. First Commercial’s sales group has served its customers for over three decades. The construction and development division continues to build and develop new shopping centers. First Commercial’s portfolio now contains 2 million square feet of predominately retail real estate providing a wide variety of value-added services.