The launch video for City Fringe office agency Compton made a splash in more ways than one.
Of the three founding partners, Shaun Simons is seen falling backwards fully clothed into a swimming pool, while Elliott Stern gallops along a rooftop running track, laptop in hand. Meanwhile, as Michael Raibin puts the finishing touches to an oil painting of the word “lease”, the other two sum up the whole thing. “Is it art?” asks Stern. Simons responds: “I dunno, but I like it.”
The company traces its roots back to independent agency Hatton Real Estate, which Simons (pictured above, right) and Raibin (left) founded in 2010. Stern (centre) was their first employee and later became an equity partner. The business was bought by Colliers International in 2016.
Now, they have struck out on their own again, launching Compton in April this year, with the aim of further harnessing digital marketing strategies and social media to conduct and grow its business.
And it has got off to a flying start, with its launch video going viral – in real estate circles at least.
“I had two or three sleepless nights before that film went out,” admits Stern. “We knew we were going to raise eyebrows, but I think there has been an overwhelming amount of positive feedback.”
Simons adds: “Obviously, there are some haters out there, but we probably would have been upset if there weren’t. Doing that kind of video can either be really tasteful or really cringey, and I feel we flirted with the line between the two. But ultimately we wanted to shake things up.”
They have certainly succeeded in that. Since Compton launched just four months ago, the agency has dominated the City Fringe. According to EG’s on-demand contributor rankings, it had worked on 26 lettings totalling 155,000 sq ft in the submarket by 6 August. In second place was Richard Susskind & Co, with just 11 deals across 63,000 sq ft.
“When we set up Compton, the ambition was to recreate what we did at Hatton – not in terms of how the business operated, but more in terms of the impact we had on the industry,” says Simons. “In 2010 we were among the first agents to embrace the use of social media and video marketing. That was easy back then, but you have to go a step further in 2021 – that video was our way of differentiating ourselves from the competition once more.”
When we set up Compton, the ambition was to recreate what we did at Hatton – not in terms of how the business operated, but more in terms of the impact we had on the industry
Shaun Simons
Appetite for expansion
Since then, Simons, Raibin and Stern have been plotting another way to stand out from the crowd. Situated below their new office at 47 St John’s Square, Clerkenwell, EC1, the agents had initially earmarked the site as a ground-floor coffee shop serving lattes, juices and pastries (“We’re all obsessed with coffee,” says Stern). But the plan has since grown into a fully fledged breakfast, lunch and dinner joint with a 1am alcohol licence. It is due to open later this year.
“This is about brand positioning, rather than making money,” says Simons. “I would like to think Compton will become the go-to City Fringe agent, and we want to have the go-to City Fringe restaurant. Besides, if we sell 100 coffees a day and 50 beers a night, that is potentially 150 occupiers in our district that we are engaging with.”
But in an unforgiving post-Covid economy, might they have bitten off more than they can chew? “We won’t be the ones standing behind the bar making coffees or cooking mackerel with poached eggs for breakfast,” Simons quickly points out. “It’s a shame, I know. But the economics add up, and we have a great operating partner which we’re in the process of getting on board.”
Raibin adds: “As City Fringe agents, some of us have worked around here for 10 or 20 years. We know this is the most important part of the EC1 geography, and one of the most important buildings in it. We believe we have identified a space in the market where we can create something that people around here will really subscribe to.”
We are hard on the view that working from an office will return – we just have to be patient. It is going to be a gradual process
Michael Raibin
The Tech Belt
Promotional videos and restaurants aside, this kind of local expertise, say the trio, has been the key to Compton’s early deal-making success. They have already brokered a major new office HQ deal for online clothing marketplace Depop, while tech giant Snapchat is also believed to be close to signing at HB Reavis’ office scheme Bloom, which Compton is marketing – although the partners refuse to be drawn on this.
The flurry of deals has helped position Compton as a key player in the formation of London’s new Tech Belt, which has seen technology giants and start-ups alike branch out to areas such as Clerkenwell, Farringdon and beyond from their traditional stamping ground of Shoreditch’s Silicon Roundabout.
This is set to continue in the coming months, with social media company TikTok looking to follow up on its 88,000 sq ft March office letting at Helical’s Kaleidoscope building, EC1, with a second major deal in the area.
The influx of big names has been “absolutely epic” for the area, says Simons. “It is not dissimilar to what happened in King’s Cross a few years ago, when the likes of Google and Facebook moved there.”
Stern adds: “It is great in any market, but to see names like that taking space in our district right now is incredible news. Whether we are involved in the deals or not, we are delighted to see it.”
Simons says: “The great thing about this location is that it doesn’t have many big buildings. So even in some of the worst markets we have seen, there has never been an overwhelming amount of supply because most of the buildings are small. It is unlike the City in that respect.”
However, the three are keen to remain grounded on the prospects for the office market. For all its early success, Compton is a boutique agency which leans on a high volume of smaller deals. And unlike the tech giants, smaller occupiers have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels of letting and investment activity.
“That is logical at this stage,” says Raibin. “Experience tells us that when the big companies start doing things, there is always a lag with the smaller companies behind them. But we are hard on the view that working from an office will return – we just have to be patient. Some people expect to snap back immediately, but it is not going to happen like that. It is going to be a gradual process.”
The Compton partners, for their part, have taken a hard line on returning to the office within the organisation. Simons, who posts regularly on LinkedIn about the agency’s deals, accompanies most announcements with the hashtags #getbacktowork and #notworkingfromhome. “I am still flabbergasted at the number of Zoom calls I join where other agents are sitting at home. We are meant to represent owners of real estate of all sectors, and we have got to be the ones leading by example,” he says.
To see [tech giants] taking space in our district right now is incredible news. Whether we are involved in the deals or not, we are delighted to see it
Elliott Stern
Creating in crises
Back in the world of boutiques once more, are the Compton co-founders missing anything about life in a big agency? “Everyone thought we would hate Colliers,” says Simons. “We were in our twenties when we set up Hatton, and we had no business experience whatsoever. It just kind of happened and we muddled through, and it was great. But for me personally, to be in my early 30s, working in a global organisation that employs 17,000 people and being quite senior there, I loved it.”
Moreover, Raibin adds, it is Colliers’ former City Fringe department that makes up most of Compton’s 15 employees. “I’m proud of the culture in the new team that we’ve created. Everyone pulls in the same direction,” he says. “Many of our agents probably get paid as much as people 10 years their senior at bigger companies. That is because we have created a platform for young people to succeed early on.”
Nonetheless, it was not only industry colleagues whose eyebrows were raised at the formation of Compton. “Our wives think we’re mad,” says Simons. “First, we had to tell them we were leaving our secure jobs to set up an office agency when no one was using offices; then we had to tell them we were opening a restaurant when no one was eating out.
“But we do have a record with setting up businesses in difficult times. Hatton was set up in the eye of the financial crisis, and now we have set up Compton in the eye of the Covid crisis. It just feels like it was meant to be.”
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