After decades of being affiliated with Coldwell Banker, Curtis Tillett is now a broker with The Real Estate Group, effective Feb. 1. His longtime assistant, Lindsey Leonard, also made the transition. However, both will continue working out of their current office, located at 427 E. Monroe in downtown Springfield.

“Rita (Victor) and I bought the first Coldwell franchise in Springfield back in 1987,” said Tillett. “We sold it to Devonshire in 2000.”  Since that time, Tillett has handled commercial real estate transactions as a broker for Coldwell Banker Commercial Devonshire Realty, based out of Champaign. The central Illinois franchise also has brokers based out of the Peoria area. However, the Champaign location is now the only one to have a physical office.

“Coldwell decided to change their method of operation by not having a Springfield office; we would have been licensed under the Champaign office. We felt like it made more sense to be affiliated with a Springfield office, and a strong one,” said Tillett, explaining his decision to join The Group.

“There are other commercial agents there to assists us with the business that we do. It made working sense and financial sense. We’ll be affiliated with an organization that has several good commercial agents, which will hopefully help us and our clients move more property.”