CIRC History

Until the early 1970s, most brokers focused on residential real estate, with some occasionally doing commercial real estate sales and leasing transactions. Brokers who knew of commercial and industrial properties that may be available, but not openly listed, would be more likely to talk about it to someone they knew and trusted. Some brokers had the inventory…such as Edd Connor - who would primarily represent building owners as a Landlord Rep - and other brokers were representing Tenants, such as Leigh Johnstone, Phil Hoge, Phil Hansen and several others. And, of course, this also was before the internet made it so much easier to share information about listings. 

The purpose of the group - originally called the "Commercial Industrial Council (C.I.C.)" - was to provide a forum for these individuals to get to know one another better, building confidence and trust, and helping  develop relationships that would fostered better and quicker deal making. The group would invite speakers to the meetings, including developers such as Bill Rouse of the Rouse Corporation.

At the outset, these Founding Members were all members of the Greater Wilmington Board of REALTORS, "but the C.I.C. was not created under its tutelage" said founding member and first President Leigh Johnstone. Later that name was changed to the New Castle County Board of REALTORS® and C.I.C. became the Commercial-Industrial Realty Council of New Castle County, Inc. (CIRC) on October 24, 1978 when it was incorporated as a 501c(6) non-profit organization.

Today, the organization includes members representing all of the various types of businesses that are involved in successful commercial and industrial real estate...from design and development, sales & leasing transactions, through operations.