The Society of Industrial and Office REALTORS (SIOR) is an international professional commercial and industrial real estate association based in Washington, D.C. It offers a professional designation (SIOR) to commercial brokers and other industry professionals. It has 3,400 members in 686 cities and 36 countries. SIOR designees can hold the following specialty designations: industrial, office, sales manager, executive manager, or advisory service. SIOR also includes associate members, who are corporate executives, developers, educators, and other involved in the commercial real estate industry.

Founding

The idea of forming an

organization An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is an legal entity, entity—such as ...

for industrial real estate brokers began in 1939. Despite the continued growth of industrial real estate, its specialists had little representation within the

National Association of Real Estate Boards The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is an American trade association for those who work in the real estate industry. It has over 1.4 million members, making it one of the biggest trade associations in the USA including NAR's institutes, so ...

, the predecessor to today's National Association of RealtorsHistory of the National Association of REALTORS
''History''. National Association of Realtors. Accessed on April 24, 2020. With this in mind and anticipating the increased need for industrial spaces on account of the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, industrial realtors Frank G. Binswanger and David T. Houston, Sr. made an effort to organize and coordinate industrial realtors across the United States and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. They were able to gain sponsorship for the founding of Society of Industrial Realtors, and in the fall of 1940 at NAREB's national convention in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, and the formation of a national body of industrial realtors was approved. One year and two months later, The United States entered World War II. The society was instrumental in locating existing, and immediately available, plant space that could be used for the production of defense, and later, war material. Over 200 brokers from across the United States and Canada surveyed suitable facilities and reported their findings to the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * D ...

(now the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

References

{{real estate designations Real estate industry Professional titles and certifications Professional associations based in the United States Organizations based in Washington, D.C.