Coldwell Banker Tomlinson and Coldwell Banker Northwest Group, both prominent Spokane-area real estate companies that formerly operated separately, have combined forces within a newly created company and have consolidated their operations in two Spokane offices.

The new company operates under the Coldwell Banker Tomlinson name, although principals of both brokerages own it, says Bob Tomlinson, the company's namesake and CEO.

"We thought it was confusing to the public as to who really was the brand, so we consolidated them into one company," Tomlinson says.

The combined ownership group includes Tomlinson, Mike Hume, and Fred Meyers from the Tomlinson side, and siblings Eric Johnson, Neil Johnson, and Melinda Denton, of the former Northwest Group.

Neil Johnson is now the chief financial officer for Coldwell Banker Tomlinson.

Coldwell Banker Tomlinson operates out of its 12,000-square-foot office in the Regal Place professional building at 4102 S. Regal, on Spokane's South Hill, and out of a similar-sized space at 8205 N. Division, on the North Side.

Agents and support staff from the Northwest Group have moved into the Tomlinson offices from Northwest Group's former locations at 1403 S. Grand, on the South Hill, and at 6519 N. Maple, on the North Side.

The new company will have more than 200 agents, and a support staff of 14, Tomlinson says. The consolidation will increase Coldwell Banker Tomlinson's market share and make it one of the largest single real estate companies in the Spokane area, he says.

"The whole idea is to take four offices and combine them into two," Tomlinson says. "It fills up these buildings, and it results in more agents working together and talking about buyers and sellers."

Coldwell Banker Tomlinson will continue to focus heavily on residential real estate, although it also has divisions that handle commercial real estate, acreage properties, and agricultural land, Tomlinson says.

Coldwell Banker Tomlinson is a subsidiary of Coeur d'Alene-based Tomlinson Real Estate Group LLC, which operates 14 Coldwell Banker and two Sotheby's International Realty offices in Washington and Idaho.

In early 2010, Tomlinson Real Estate Group aligned its Spokane-area offices with Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC, a Parsippany, N.J.-based real estate network with 3,600 affiliate offices worldwide.

The company plans to open an office in the Spokane Valley as the real estate market improves, Tomlinson says.