Lawrence’s largest real estate company is about to get bigger.

Coldwell Banker McGrew Real Estate has reached a deal to buy TeamOne Real Estate, officials with both companies confirmed Tuesday.

TeamOne president and founder Cheri Drake and three other employees will begin working for Coldwell Banker McGrew next week. The deal will be official Dec. 1.

Gary Nuzum, managing broker for Coldwell Banker McGrew, said his company was taking over the operations of TeamOne because it had a strong presence in the single-family construction market. TeamOne is the primary listing agency for two west Lawrence developments. They are:

• Ironwood, a 178-unit townhome development west of 15th Street and Wakarusa Drive.
• Park West, an 84-unit single, family development near Queens Road and Wakarusa Drive.

“It really will increase our inventory and our market exposure in the new construction market,” Nuzum said. “We’ve always had a strong presence in new construction, but we did not have a strong presence in the two market ranges where (Team One) has a good inventory of product. It helps fill some voids for us.”

Gary Nuzum, of Coldwell Banker McGrew Real Estate, and Cheri Drake, of TeamOne Real Estate, have joined forces. Coldwell Banker McGrew Real Estate announced Tuesday that it would take over TeamOne's operations on Dec. 1. Nuzum and Drake were in a model home at TeamOne's Ironwood development on Tuesday.

Drake said she decided to sell the business because she needed to be part of an organization with a larger sales force to keep up with the increasing number of listings Ironwood, Park West and other developments were expected to generate.

“Honestly, we have grown so fast that we couldn’t quite keep up,” said Drake, who started TeamOne fours years ago. “The big benefit for us is that they have a sales force like no other.”

After the deal is completed, Coldwell Banker McGrew will have 74 sales agents. TeamOne had two agents, including Drake.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Drake said her company would add about $12 million in annual sales to the approximately $70 million Coldwell Banker McGrew has annually.

Other Lawrence real estate professionals said they didn’t expect the deal to significantly alter the competitive landscape among agencies in the city.

Mark Buhler, sales manager with Stephens Real Estate, said the deal would result in more listings for McGrew. But he said the merger wouldn’t make it more difficult for others to compete because most real estate transactions still include two agents: one representing the seller and one representing the buyer.

“They’ll have more listings than they do today, but we’ll still have the opportunity to go take care of the other end of the deal,” Buhler said.

With 55 agents, Stephens Real Estate is the city’s second-largest real estate firm.

Jo Barnes, broker/owner of Reece & Nichols Acres Realtors, said she didn’t expect the deal to affect smaller agencies, either.

“It probably doesn’t change anything from my perspective,” Barnes said. “The Lawrence real estate market is still very healthy. We wouldn’t be having so many banks come to town if it wasn’t.”

The deal does not include TeamOne’s office building at 5200 W. 15th St. Drake said the building would continue to be used as office space for Highland Construction, which is owned by her brother Tim Stultz, and Mallard Homes, which is owned by her husband, Kelly Drake.

Coldwell Banker McGrew Real Estate’s name will not change.