FREDERICK, MD — Mackintosh Realtors has announced that MacRo, Ltd. and its founder, Earl “Rocky” Mackintosh, are joining Mackintosh Commercial, bringing together two Frederick real estate organizations with common family roots and a real estate history spanning more than a century.

For brothers Jim and Buzz Mackintosh, the combination represents more than an expansion of Mackintosh Commercial. It reunites their brother Rocky with the real estate company he co-founded in Frederick more than 45 years ago.

“This is a special moment for our family,” said Jim Mackintosh. “Rocky helped build Mackintosh Realtors in Frederick, went on to build MacRo into a respected commercial real estate company, and now we have the opportunity to bring that experience and those relationships back together under the Mackintosh name.”

“I am very excited to join my brothers as I step away from the day-to-day management of the very active commercial real estate enterprise I’ve built over the past 34 years,” said Rocky Mackintosh. “This next chapter will allow me to continue working with selected clients, but even more importantly, to work with my family as the next generation of Mackintoshes takes the business to the next level.”

A Real Estate Family Before Mackintosh Realtors

The Mackintosh family’s involvement in real estate began long before Mackintosh Realtors existed and before the family established roots in Frederick.

In 1910, Earl M. Mackintosh Sr., grandfather of Rocky, Jim and Buzz, was working during the summer for Shannon & Luchs, a prominent Washington, D.C. real estate firm. A surviving August 2, 1910 letter from the company described the young Mackintosh as a “bright, active, and honest young man” and strongly recommended him to prospective employers.

What began as a young man’s summer employment became a career in Washington real estate.

By 1938, The Washington Herald featured Earl Sr. in its “Who’s Who in Washington” series, describing a successful real estate professional whose path into the industry had begun almost by chance. The profile noted that he had risen from office boy to vice president of Weaver Bros., Inc., where he would eventually become a partner in the firm.

Real estate continued into the next generation.

Earl Sr.’s son, Earl M. Mackintosh Jr., father of Rocky, Jim and Buzz, followed his father into Weaver Bros., Inc., where he became a vice president and built his own career in the Washington real estate community. A 1958 Washington Evening Star profile reported that Earl Jr. had been in the real estate field for 11 years and was serving as chairman of the 1958 Washington Real Estate Board convention. The profile also reflected a generation shaped by World War II, noting Earl Jr.’s service as a Navy ensign in China before returning home and continuing his real estate career.

Together, Earl Sr. and Earl Jr. established the first two generations of what would eventually become a much larger Mackintosh real estate story.

The Family Comes to Frederick

The family’s Frederick chapter began in earnest in 1980, when a family-owned Mackintosh company acquired the Frederick office of Wolfe, Matan & Sheehan Realty, where Rocky had been a leading sales associate for many years.

At the time, Rocky spoke publicly about the company’s goal of becoming a full-service real estate brokerage serving residential, commercial, farm and land, and property management clients.

Rocky and his late brother Andy Mackintosh together founded what became Mackintosh Realtors, and a 1981 Frederick newspaper photograph captured an important moment in the company’s history: Rocky and Andy physically changing the sign at the West Patrick Street office to the Mackintosh Realtors name.

Rocky later followed his own entrepreneurial path in 1992, when he established MacRo, Ltd., building a reputation in commercial real estate, land, development, property management, and commercial market analysis throughout Frederick County.

Mackintosh Realtors continued growing as well.

Today, the company has approximately 60 real estate professionals, serving Mid-Maryland from its Frederick headquarters and a second office in Hagerstown, with agents also serving Northern Virginia, West Virginia, and Southern Pennsylvania.

Another Generation Enters the Business

The family’s real estate story is now continuing into another generation.

Jim’s son Robbie Mackintosh founded Mackintosh Commercial Construction in 2023, a general contracting company specializing in commercial, industrial, and multifamily construction.

His other son, Zach Mackintosh, joined Mackintosh Commercial as a commercial real estate broker and founded Mackintosh Asset Management, specializing in commercial and industrial property management.

This fourth generation of Mackintoshes in the business also includes Robbie and Zach’s cousins Drew and Wiley, sons of Andy and his late brother Tom, respectively.

Together, the businesses have expanded the family’s capabilities beyond traditional brokerage into commercial construction, asset and property management, development, and advisory services.

The idea of Rocky returning to Mackintosh began not in a business meeting, but at a family gathering late last year.

“Jim pulled me aside that evening and asked whether I would ever consider coming back to Mackintosh,” Rocky said. “I was genuinely surprised—and very flattered—when he told me how much it would mean to him and Buzz if I would give it serious consideration. What started as a private conversation between two brothers gradually evolved over the following months into what we are announcing today. In many ways, it feels like coming home.”

Rocky Comes Full Circle

Rocky will now begin the next chapter of his career as Senior Commercial Advisor with Mackintosh Commercial, continuing to advise long-time clients and participate in selected commercial, land and development transactions while sharing more than five decades of experience with Mackintosh’s clients and the next generation of its professionals.

The transition will also bring continuity for MacRo’s long-time team. General Manager/Property Manager Vickie Major and Senior Associate David Wilkinson will continue working with Rocky and also transition to Mackintosh Commercial. Vice President Ashleigh Rossi, who has played an important role in MacRo’s growth over the past 11 years, will be pursuing a new sales and leasing opportunity with the Baltimore office of Lincoln Property Company.

Rocky will also continue writing and publishing the MacRo Report, which he established in 2009. The long-running blog will continue to provide his independent perspective on local and regional real estate, development, and related issues, now as a publication in association with Mackintosh Commercial.

“More than four decades after Rocky helped put the Mackintosh Realtors name on the door in Frederick, we’re very proud to welcome our brother back,” said Buzz Mackintosh. “We respect what he built with MacRo, and we’re excited about bringing that experience together with what Mackintosh has become today.”

The combination strengthens Mackintosh’s residential, commercial, farms and land, construction and property management capabilities while bringing the family’s real estate experience together under one organization.

For Jim Mackintosh, the significance is both professional and personal.

“Our grandfather started in Washington real estate more than a century ago. Our father carried that tradition forward. Rocky and Andy built Mackintosh Realtors together in Frederick, Andy, Buzz, and I continued building it, and today Robbie and Zach are taking the family into new areas of the industry. Having Rocky come back at this point in our history feels like we’ve come full circle.”

One family. More than a century in real estate. And a new chapter together.