At home in the highly competitive real-estate environment, Christiansen & Portela specialize in prime office, industrial, and commercial properties in the Puerto Rico market.

As a niche player, the firm devotes all of its time and energy to creating added value and unique opportunities for its clients. With its profound knowledge of key real-estate players in the local market and the valuable resources resulting from recurring relationships with its clients, Christiansen & Portela (C&P) is ideally placed to meet the real-estate demands of its customers. The company’s services include property acquisition, dispositions, leasing, tenant representations, site selections, and advisory services.

Both Gerald J. Christiansen and Rafael Portela, the firm’s principals, have extensive real-estate experience. Their combined expertise is unique in the Puerto Rico market.

Christiansen, the firm’s managing partner, was born in San Juan and attended Georgetown University School of Business Administration where he graduated in 1976. He has been a licensed real-estate broker in Puerto Rico since 1988 and obtained GRI designation from the National Real Estate Institute. Before this, he had been actively involved in the commercial real-estate brokerage business in Washington, D.C. where he was able to establish valuable working relationships with some of the biggest commercial real-estate firms in the U.S.

Portela is founder and president of Allied Management Group, a local commercial real-estate investment and service company, whose subsidiaries include Allied Management, Lincoln Realty, and Allied Financial. Portela was born in San Juan and studied at University of Wharton School of Pennsylvania’s Finance & Commerce, graduating in 1970. He has been involved in the real-estate business in Puerto Rico for more than a quarter century as a lender, broker, investor, and consultant.

C&P’s defining characteristics include the firm’s ability to capitalize on several areas of expertise when servicing their clients. Christiansen contributes his keen marketing ingenuity while Portela adds an intricate knowledge of the contractual components involved in commercial real-estate transactions. This dynamic duo’s combined knowledge, experience, aggressive sales and marketing, and innovative solutions to real-estate problems have earned them an enviable position within the local commercial real-estate brokerage community.

But C&P is much more than its partners; it is a dedicated group of real-estate professionals including six licensed real-estate agents and brokers, and support staff committed to providing the firm’s clients with viable real-estate solutions.

C&P’s clients include the U.S. Postal Service and Customs Service, J.C. Penney, Walgreens, Puerto Rico Telephone, McDonald’s Corp., Bristol-Meyers, IPR Pharmaceutical, Marrion Merrel International, Kodak International, Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, Ernst & Young, Charles Schwab, Federal Express, and Almacenes Pitusa, to name just a few.

In San Juan, C&P is currently working on the Miramar Capitol Office Building, which has been almost completely leased to clients waiting to move in upon its completion. In addition, Corporate Center at Roosevelt in Puerto Nuevo has just a few thousand square feet left for sale. In Guaynabo, C&P is involved in both an office building and a shopping center that have just started construction. The firm already has begun marketing these projects.

Christiansen & Portela certainly will continue to have an impact on Puerto Rico’s economy by identifying and providing valuable assistance in the development of viable commercial projects. C&P’s proven expertise and excellent track record attest to their ability to identify and define development alternatives in areas whose potential often has been overlooked.