One commercial real estate services firm’s loss is another one’s gain. CBRE Group Inc. has lured industry heavy-hitter Louis Christopher away from Cushman & Wakefield Inc., tapping the longtime real estate broker to play a key role in the firm’s tenant representation activities as a vice chairman.

Christopher comes to CBRE not only with nearly 25 years of experience in commercial real estate, but also with a clear-cut set of goals which are, as he explained to Commercial Property Executive, “to challenge myself, my clients and colleagues to always move the bar higher and never stop improving.”

Before joining CBRE, Christopher served as chairman of Cushman & Wakefield’s tenant advisory gGroup, where he was consistently noticed for stellar achievements. He earned the title of the firm’s top producer in the Greater Washington region for four consecutive years until his departure, and held the position as one of its top 10 brokers globally for three of the last four years.

While Christopher now calls CBRE’s Washington, D.C.-area office home base, his presence in the firm will be far-reaching. He will employ his well-honed skills to provide services for the firm’s current and potential real estate users locally, nationally and globally. “The services business is constantly changing,” Christopher noted. “It is trending toward more specialization but also toward more coordination across disciplines. Big is not by itself better, but in this day and age you do need scale to provide all of the resources corporate and law firm clients demand. I am so excited to be able to offer such a broad service offering with a global footprint.”

With Christopher having successfully delivered for clients through any number of real estate cycles — the good, the bad and the ugly — he is well positioned to identify and accommodate clients’ specific needs as the industry begins to recuperate from the ramifications of the Great Recession. “In this economy, nationally and locally, tenants and corporations want to limit capital expenditures and reduce expense,” he explained. “CFOs want to align their real estate portfolios with their business plan. All challenges can be addressed if a proactive strategy with standards, procedures and protocols is implemented.”

In a prepared statement, John Germano, CBRE executive managing director in the Baltimore/Washington market, said of Christopher, “Lou is the consummate professional with a proven track record of excellence and a strong commitment to providing his clients with the best real estate strategies and services.” CBRE sees him as a perfect fit for the firm, and the sentiment goes both ways.

“CBRE understands the service business — specifically where the occupier business stands today and where it is going,” Christopher said. “CBRE understands the multi-disciplined needs of clients and has invested in a robust global service platform. Management has done a great job of incorporating the best practices of Insignia ES Gordon, and Trammel Crow into the CBRE brand. CBRE’s culture is built around ethics and always putting the best team on the field for the client.”

Finn (left) of NAI and Farkas of C-III

In a deal that took six months to finalize, C-III Capital Partners L.L.C. has completed its acquisition of NAI Global, the largest network of independent commercial real estate firms worldwide. Under the arrangement, NAI will continue to operate as a separate company under its current management, including the leadership of president & CEO Jeffrey Finn.

Saying he was “thrilled to be joining forces with C-III,” Finn noted that his firm will use C-III’s “great resources and expertise to help C-III’s clients strategically optimize their commercial real estate assets.”

C-III’s CEO, Andrew Farkas, was had similar sentiments, noting that his firm was “gaining the world’s leading commercial real estate network and a tremendous foundation for future growth.” Farkas was also chairman & CEO of Insignia Financial Group Inc. prior to the firm’s merger with CBRE Group Inc. in 2003.

With C-III’s nearly $150 billion in assets and NAI’s staff of 5,000 employees – as well as a presence is 55 countries – the merger will augment services on both sides. And the merger route is becoming increasingly popular in a crowded CRE environment. In November, four Montana firms combined efforts to create Catalyst, which became an independently owned affiliate of Grubb & Ellis Co. In the same month, L.A.-based Lee & Associates merged with Sierra to open a New York City office.

“There’s growing consolidation in real estate just as there is in corporate America,” Stan Ross, chairman of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, told Commercial Property Executive when the NAI/C-III merger was announced. “Businesses are looking to reduce overhead and become more efficient and more effective, so the real estate industry is doing the same thing.”

“With mergers, you wind up with a stronger balance sheet, so it gives you access to more opportunities, to larger opportunities,” Ross said. “That’s what’s taking place in this country, slow growth but bottom-line earnings. The end result is, across the whole country, we’ll see consolidation — banks, financial institutions and services companies, as well as development companies.”

Weidell (left) and Ross

NorthMarq Capital has kicked off 2012 with some major changes at the top. The commercial real estate investment banking firm has named Jeff Weidell and William Ross, who had held the respective positions of managing director and executive vice president, as presidents of the company.

The two industry veterans step into the shoes of former president Craig Butchenhart, who retired late last year.

Weidell, who had been a managing director of NorthMarq’s San Francisco office since 2000, has a background spanning more than 20 years in real estate finance at the firm.

Ross came to NorthMarq’s Dallas office from his position as an executive vice president at Capmark Finance in 2009, bringing to the table an approximately 35-year history in mortgage banking.

NorthMarq’s reorganization steps do not extend to the company’s tried-and-true regional office management structure; the major change is the leadership. The two executive vice presidents who manage the firm’s offices covering the western and eastern halves of the country continue to operate in the same manner but are now under the direction of Weidell and Ross, respectively.

“Our mission is and always has been to provide a consistently high level of client service,” Ed Padilla, CEO of NorthMarq, noted in a prepared statement. “The changes we’re making today will contribute to our continued pursuit of that goal.

The New Year has brought additional staff moves at the firm. Mike Myers has been pushed up the ladder from chief administrative officer to chief operating officer.

It’s not just Manhattan that’s attracting investors to New York, and Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services has made a move to expand its services in the state with the opening of a new office in White Plains.

J.D. Parker, a Marcus & Millichap vice president who manages the Manhattan and New Haven, Conn., offices as regional manager, will also oversee the new White Plains office. “We’ve been doing business throughout the Northeast for well over a decade now and White Plains is a logical place to have an office in terms of the amount of transactions that are happening in the marketplace,” Parker told Commercial Property Executive. “There’s just a tremendous amount of product in the marketplace, and we feel like it’s underserved from a brokerage aspect in terms of the services that we provide. None of our major competitors in the region have an office there and we think it’s going to give us a distinct advantage to better serve our clients and add market share to what we’ve already done in the region.”

Marcus & Millichap expects to be very active in a variety of commercial real estate sectors in White Plains, including office and industrial sectors — and then some. “We’ve traditionally had a good amount of apartment business in the region that we’ve been running out of our Manhattan office, and we’ve done a fair amount of retail business as well,” Parker said.

A few major factors have gone a long way in increasing White Plains’ prominence as an investment market. The revitalization of downtown has played a major role, and several new high-profile projects currently in the works will continue to draw attention to the area.

Marcus & Millichap has brought in a local heavy-hitter in to spearhead the growth of the White Plains office. The firm snapped up Joseph C. French, formerly of commercial real estate services firm Sperry Van Ness, to do the job. He brings to the table over 25 years of experience in the industry. “We hired Joe and his whole team,” Parker noted. “He is a very well respected broker in the region, he is a proven top producer and it was a natural fit for us.”

And, of course, French will be part of the bigger picture for the firm. “Looking at the rankings, we finished 2011 as the number one real estate company in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, in terms of total transactions for the year, and certainly Joe French and his team are going to help us in 2012 to retain that title of top broker in the Tri-State area.”

In terms of enlarging its footprint, Marcus & Millichap anticipates setting up shop in other growing markets. Parker said, “We’re looking at other opportunities ongoing to further expand and possibly open another office in the next 12 to 24 months in the region.”

American Realty Capital continues to incorporate the magic produced by top executives at the former Grubb & Ellis Capital Corp. into its broker dealer subsidiary, Realty Capital Securities, with the hiring of Richard Arnitz. The former CEO of Grubb & Ellis Capital and Grubb & Ellis Securities and a visible player in the financial services business for nearly a quarter-century, Arnitz is now RCA’s executive director.

“Rich is a great industry leader,” Nicholas Schorsch, chairman and CEO of ARC, told Commercial Property Executive. “He was president of Cole Capital Markets, he worked at AIG in their distribution business and he worked at Grubb & Ellis as the CEO of its distribution business, so he understands distribution in a very unique way.”

In his new role, Arnitz is tasked with managing the strategic sales initiatives for RCA-sponsored offerings American Realty Capital Healthcare Trust and American Realty Capital Retail Centers of America. He brings to the table a history that blends both the healthcare and retail sectors of commercial real estate. “He has great experience in the healthcare space,” Schorsch said. “Between our company and Grubb & Ellis Corp., his former company that is now closed, we raised almost all the capital in the healthcare non-traded REIT space. Combining those teams brings that intellectual capital together in our organization, and it just makes our company better. ”

Ditto for the retail sector. At Cole Capital, Arnitz was heavily involved in distributing Cole Credit Property Trust, Cole Capital’s ’s non-traded REIT focused on high-quality retail properties net leased to creditworthy tenants across the U.S.

But it’s not just Arnitz’s experience in healthcare and retail that registered high on ARC’s radar, it’s his mindset. “Richard has a keen interest in the shareholder,” Schorsch explains. “He focuses on how a product works for the shareholder and that is our fundamental mantra for our business, the shareholder-first philosophy. Rich shares that and that is a key, core cultural fit for him and our organization. With a high-level hire like Rich, it makes a lot of difference that we share the culture.”

For Arnitz, it will be like old home week at ARC, but for the long term. He is now colleagues once again with a hoard of former senior Grubb & Ellis Capital players, including Lavea Thomas and Diana Keary, who have taken on the respective positions of director of national accounts and chief marketing officer for RCS. And the list goes on and on. “Basically, now all the senior people are with us.”

William Polk Carey, founder and chairman of multi-billion-dollar investment management company W. P. Carey & Co., died of natural causes in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Monday, Jan. 2. Carey, a trailblazer in the sale-leaseback arena, was 81 years old.

Read Commercial Property Executive’s original story on Carey here.

“William Polk Carey was a pioneer in sale-leasebacks,” Sidney Domb, president and CEO of United Trust Fund, a leader in the sale and leaseback of corporate real estate, told CPE. “I started in 1972 and there was a W. P. Carey then. He had vision and foresight to explore and go into Europe with sale-leasebacks when no one else chose to enter. He was fearless in his decisions and he will be missed.”

“As an institutional-quality buyer, they’ve been a very reliable, very well-capitalized, very well-managed firm that’s been a significant player in that niche for many, many years,” Jeff Hughes, senior director in investment sales with leading net lease firm Stan Johnson Co., said, speaking to CPE about the firm Carey founded.

With Carey as a driving force, sale-leasebacks became somewhat of a game-changer.

“He started in the industry 40-plus years ago, and prior to that time, corporate America did not have a very good outlet to take real estate assets off their balance sheet and monetize them in the form of a sale-leaseback transaction,” Hughes noted. “So it’s been a very significant financing mechanism that has allowed corporate America to do just that. If you’re in the business of building widgets then arguably you shouldn’t also be in the business of owning your manufacturing facility or your warehousing facility or your retail outlets. Carey pioneered the concept of taking that real estate off the balance sheet — you don’t need to own it, just sell it and lease it back on a long-term basis. It frees up your capital to plow it back into whatever industry you’re in, it allows you to do 100 percent financing of that asset and it still allows you long-term effective control of the asset through that long-term lease.”

Carey applied the sale-leaseback concept to veritably every sector of commercial real estate around the world. Past transactions include the $58.1 million acquisition of a 473,000-square-foot portfolio of boat fabrication and servicing facilities from a premier U.S. yacht builder, and the simultaneous closing of a 25-year lease agreement with the seller. The firm’s deals in the retail sector include the $154 million purchase of a 1.3 million-square-foot portfolio of retail facilities in Germany from do-it-yourself retailer Hellweg Die Profi-Baumärkte GmbH & Co. KG, which subsequently signed a 25-year lease with W. P. Carey for the space.

“Bill Carey was a pioneer in that industry, pioneering a concept that later became very mainstream in the capital-markets world,” Hughes said. “Many other institutions followed that path and mirrored that strategy, but he was a pioneer in making it commonplace and doing it on a very large and very professional scale for many years.”

Pioneer. It is the word that flows from the mouth of many in the commercial real estate business when ruminating about Carey. “Bill was a pioneer in the net-lease industry and those of us who now work exclusively in this niche owe tribute to his early work,” Bruce S. MacDonald, president of Net Lease Capital Advisors, shared with CPE. “He was a generous individual who gave back to the education and business communities he was a part of.  He leaves the legacy of having contributed to the growth of an industry and of having built a respected firm.

Since his passing, W. P. Carey’s board of directors unanimously elected Benjamin H. Griswold IV, a director with the firm since 2006, as non-executive chairman of the board. “A significant component of Bill’s legacy is the balanced strength of this organization and the quality of our people at all levels, which is consistent with the gold standard he set for himself and others,” Griswold said of the late Carey. “The depth and breadth of the talent within the firm and their dedication to its core beliefs position us well to continue our success and maintain the tradition of excellence that has been emblematic of W. P. Carey throughout its history.”

When Wm. Polk Carey passed away yesterday, he left behind a legacy. The 81-year-old founder & chairman of multibillion-dollar investment management company W. P. Carey & Co. was a trailblazer in the sale-leaseback arena.

A direct descendant of President James K. Polk, Carey, who passed away of natural causes in West Palm Beach, Fla., had leadership in his blood. Armed with a background as a leader in corporate finance, he founded W. P. Carey in 1973 and became one of the founding fathers of the sale-leaseback strategy, molding the company into a top force in long-term sale-leaseback and build-to-suit financing in the commercial real estate industry. The company now boasts a global investment portfolio valued at roughly $11.8 billion.

Among notable transactions, under Carey’s guidance, the company closed a $225 million mega-deal in which it acquired 21 floors of the New York Times Building in Manhattan while simultaneously signing a deal with the newspaper to remain in the space under a 15-year contract.

In addition to his role as a vanguard in commercial real estate, Carey will be remembered as an altruistic individual who was well known in charitable circles. He established the W. P. Carey Foundation in 1988 to support educational opportunities at such colleges as Arizona State University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland. Carey ensured that his generosity would outlive him by naming the foundation as the primary beneficiary of his common stock in W. P. Carey.

Taken as a whole, 2011 was something of a tumultuous year: There was a rally in the summer when the economy looked to get back on track, then the events of the fall–after a debt crisis in Europe as well as re-rising unemployment and the Congressional debt debate domestically–slowed that train. Either way, it was an interesting time for commercial real estate. Here are our top 11 stories from 2011:

Highland Fairview Breaks Ground on Future Skechers Home
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger presided over the groundbreaking of Highland Fairview Corporate Park in Rancho Belago, Calif., which developer Highland Fairview says will be the largest green building of its kind in the United States.

Revel Secures $1.2B for Stalled Casino Project
The entertainment firm has closed on a financing package for the 6.2 million-square-foot Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. Money issues brought most construction activity at the $2.4 billion beachfront entertainment resort to a halt in January 2009, leaving the project half finished.

Philadelphia’s High-Rise Drought Eased by 34-Story Apartment Project
The $104 million project would be the first high-rise in any property category to get underway in the city since the 2008 opening of Comcast Center.

Renaissance Man: As Starwood Capital Turns 20, Founder Barry Sternlicht Explores New Paths
If the commercial real estate industry held a decathlon for executives, Barry Sternlicht would be a serious threat to run off with the trophy, and not just because Starwood Capital Group’s chairman & CEO looks as fit as the tennis player he was at Brown University 30 years ago.

Behind PNC’s Acquisition of RBC Bank USA
RBC has been a major player in the commercial real estate lending sector, and the transaction will now add to PNC’s commercial real estate portfolio.

Facebook Leases New 1 MSF HQ
The nine-building campus, located at 1601 Willow Road about 30 miles south of San Francisco in San Mateo County, materialized over a two-year period commencing in 1993. Oracle came into possession of the asset in January 2010, when it officially completed its $7.4 billion buyout of Sun Microsystems.

Grubb & Ellis in Exclusive Talks with C-III Capital & Colony Capital
The service firm is getting a major infusion of capital from two new stakeholders in a move that could point to a sale or other large strategic investment.

Why Blackstone’s $1.1B Bet Goes Against the Grain
The Blackstone Group’s $1.1 billion acquisition last week of a suburban office portfolio from Duke Realty Corp. challenges conventional wisdom on multiple fronts–and departs from the standard approach of grabbing core office product in a handful of markets.

Health Care REIT Buys Genesis for $2.4B
The sales transaction frenzy in the healthcare real estate sector continues as JER Partners and Formation Capital sign on to sell the company, which comes to the table with a portfolio of 147 properties in 11 states.

CoStar Amps Up Offerings with LoopNet Acquisition
The deal comes as no surprise to those who keep an eye on the ins and outs of the industry. B. Riley & Co. director of research Ian Corydon said, “It has made sense for a long, long time.”

Fannie Mae Reveals Top Multi-Family Lenders
Performance hit a higher level in 2010, with each of the 10 lender partners each contributing a minimum of $870 million in loan volume, compared to 2009’s minimum of $700 million.

SRS Hires Landgraf as SVP

SRS Real Estate Partners has hired Scott Landgraf as senior vice president in the company’s Newport Beach office. Prior to joining SRS, Landgraf was senior vice president at Colliers International. He began his real estate career with Acquisition Intermediary Group as an investment sales broker and then joined Massey Knakal Realty Services in New York City as director of sales. He then headed west to lead the real estate efforts for Club One Fitness as chief development officer where he was responsible for expanding the Club One Fitness and Frog’s Fitness brands. Landgraf specializes in retail tenant representation and investment sales throughout southern California and the Inland Empire.

JLL Picks up Hampton as SVP

Jones Lang LaSalle today announced that tenured sales, workplace and business strategy expert John Hampton has joined the firm as senior vice president on the solutions development team in the firm’s corporate solutions business. In his new role, Hampton will focus on enhancing Jones Lang LaSalle’s suite of strategic solutions for the firm’s global occupier client base. Hampton joins Jones Lang LaSalle from The Regus Group, where he served as vice president of enterprise solutions and corporate accounts. In this role, Hampton developed and led the execution of revolutionary office and mobile workplace solutions, advising key global clients on implementation best practices.

Transwestern Names McLain as New CAO

Transwestern has announced that Mike McLain has joined the firm as chief accounting officer. In this new role, McLain will work with Transwestern’s CFO, Steve Harding, in the oversight of the company’s accounting and reporting functions. Prior to joining Transwestern, McLain spent a combined 16 years in public accounting with Arthur Andersen, and most recently with Grant Thornton.

CBRE Appoints Swerdlow as Americas COO, Smith Takes Swerdlow’s Former Position

CBRE Group Inc. has appointed Steven Swerdlow as chief operating officer of the Americas, a new position. Swerdlow previously served as president of the Western Division, where he oversaw the operations of 46 offices in nine states as well as the Latin America operations. In his new role, he will provide executive oversight for a number of key areas, including research and marketing. He will also continue to have responsibility for the Latin America operations and will assume responsibility for both the Canada and valuation & advisory services operations. He will continue to be based in Newport Beach, Calif.

In addition, Michael Smith has been promoted to president of the company’s Western Division. Smith, who has led CBRE’s San Francisco Bay area operations since 2002, succeeds Swerdlow, In his new role, Smith will direct CBRE’s operations in more than 46 offices in nine states, with responsibility for all lines of business. Under his leadership, CBRE has grown into the Bay Area’s top commercial real estate service firm, with activity rising dramatically across all business lines.

Schreyer to Become Head of CBRE’s Agency Brokerage Practice

CBRE Group Inc. has announced that Ed Schreyer will lead the company’s agency brokerage practice in the Americas. In his new role, Schreyer will coordinate and support the activities of CBRE leasing specialists across all property types in their work on behalf of property owners. He is currently executive managing director of CBRE’s industrial services group and will continue with those responsibilities. During his 22 years with CBRE, Schreyer has served as a strategic advisor to many developers and owners as well as Fortune 500 corporations.

Padilla-Andrade Joins LYND as VP of Acquisitions

LYND, a national real estate investment, development and management firm, has hired Camilo Padilla-Andrade as vice president of acquisitions. He will be based out of the firm’s Miami office. In this newly created position, Padilla-Andrade will be responsible for sourcing and managing the acquisition of multi-family, office, industrial, retail and other commercial real estate investments throughout South Florida and the United States. Padilla-Andrade has worked in the real estate industry for nearly a decade. His experience includes sourcing and negotiating real estate and note acquisitions, due diligence, underwriting, deal structure, financing and leasing.

Silverstein (left) and Burger

In an effort to continue the firm’s ongoing expansion outside its New York City base, Silverstein Properties Inc. has announced the appointment of Martin Burger as co-CEO. Burger, who joined Silverstein in February 2010, will now work directly alongside president & CEO Larry Silverstein.

“Over the past two years, Marty has worked closely with our entire management team to expand our business at home and overseas,” Silverstein said. “Thanks in large part to his efforts, we now have projects underway in Florida, Eastern Europe and China.”

During Burger’s tenure, the company has expanded its outreach to multiple overseas markets – for example, in January of this year, Silverstein established a joint venture with China Bridge Capital and the state-owned Jianbeizui Central Business District Investment and Development Co. Ltd. Europe has also been on the radar, as the firm also entered into a joint venture with Poland’s Kulczyk Real Estate Holding to develop and acquire office, retail and mixed-use properties in Central and Eastern Europe.

Burger most recently led the effort to secure financing for the company’s latest development project, the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort, which is set to open in 2014.  Construction on the $364 million, 444-room luxury resort will start on Dec. 15, 2011.

While most of Burger’s work will be outside the New York City area, the company is by no means stopping its development in its hometown. Last year, Silverstein completed and opened Silver Towers, the second of two apartment buildings on W. 42nd Street.

Additionally, Commercial Property Executive has reported extensively on Silverstein’s – and New York City’s – biggest project, the redevelopment of the World Trade Center. In our September issue, we noted that, along with the already-completed 1 and 7 WTC buildings, construction is already underway on the two towers of 2 and 3 World Trade Center as well. Silverstein is committed to building the tower to at least street level so that construction can be jump-started as soon as tenant commitments reach a critical mass. Given the volatility of the economy, a more detailed timetable has yet to be determined. Nevertheless, Silverstein Properties president & CEO Larry Silverstein predicted at a conference last June, “By 2016, this should all be done.”

Prior to joining the company, Burger was the president and CEO of Artisan Real Estate Ventures, a company he founded in 2006.  Prior to that, he was the president of Related Las Vegas and executive vice president of The Related Companies, L.P.  Burger has also worked as a vice president at The Blackstone Group and also for Goldman Sachs’ Whitehall Real Estate funds.