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.”

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.

NAI Horizon Picks Bartle as President of Property Management

NAI Horizon has selected Barry Bartle as president of its property-management division, and he will be responsible for the division’s strategic repositioning – with a goal of growing the office’s management portfolio to 10 million square feet of office, retail and industrial properties. Bartle has led property management divisions for such firms as RREEF, Cushman & Wakefield Inc. and Pacific Office Properties. A recipient of numerous property management service awards and letters of recognition within the industry, Bartle’s extensive background in asset management and commercial property services includes the supervision and direction of more than $2 billion in real estate investments for more than 100 clients.

Jaccom Named Co-Chair of New York Region for Colliers

Colliers International has named Mark Jaccom, currently CEO of the New York tri-state region, as co-chairman of the region. Jaccom will continue to serve as a member of the executive committee together with Robert L. Freedman, co-chairman; Michael T. Cohen, president; Andrew Roos, vice chairman; Brian Given, vice chairman; and Joseph Caridi, CEO. During Jaccom’s tenure he oversaw the hiring of more than 50 professionals across the tri-state’s multiple offices in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, assembled an industry-leading consulting division, enhanced the organization’s corporate services capabilities and new client opportunities and played a key role in the integration of the tri-state operation into Colliers International’s global platform.

Towle to Become Chief Marketing Officer for Resource Real Estate

Resource Real Estate, located in Philadelphia, has named John Towle as the firm’s chief marketing officer. An industry veteran with more than 20 years experience in financial services marketing, Towle comes to Resource Real Estate from Cole Real Estate Investments, where he served as CMO for three years. Prior to Cole, he was director & SVP of Marketing for ING’s mutual-fund business for five years, in addition to working in a variety of marketing roles at Fidelity Investments for approximately 11 years. He will be responsible for all marketing efforts and will bring the firm’s products to market and drive capital flow through the broker-dealer channel.

Del Roio Hired as Beech Street’s VP of Credit

Beech Street Capital has announced the appointment of Rick Del Roio as vice president of credit. Based in Beech Street’s Bethesda office, Del Roio will be responsible for managing underwriting for the lender’s Freddie Mac business. Del Roio spent the last five years at Freddie Mac, most recently as associate director for multi-family credit and underwriting. In that position he oversaw a team of underwriting analysts for the Southeast Region and acted as the credit authority for transactions under $15 million. During his time at Freddie Mac, Del Roio also personally served as underwriter for over $4 billion in transactions. Prior to joining the agency, Del Roio spent nearly six years with Deutsche Bank Berkshire Mortgage as senior underwriter, underwriting multifamily transactions throughout the United States.

Morrison Joins CBRE-GI as Global Head of Strategy

David Morrison has joined CBRE Global Investors as global head of strategy, where he will be responsible for developing and implementing investment strategies, programs and products for the firm and its clients and overseeing the investment-committee process globally in conjunction with the Global Executive Committee. Additionally, he will oversee the research and portfolio risk management functions and the approval process associated with the allocation of firm capital to fund new business initiatives. Prior to joining the firm, Morrison served as global head of real estate strategy for Morgan Stanley Real Estate and co-CEO of the Prime Property Fund.

Rosenberg Named COO of Radisson, EVP of Carlson Hotels

Javier Rosenberg has been promoted to the positions of COO of Radisson and EVP of Carlson Hotels’ managed hotels group in the Americas. In his new role, Rosenberg will continue to oversee all Carlson’s owned and managed hotels within the Americas and will now oversee the operations of all Radisson franchised hotels within the United States. He was most recently the vice president of owned and managed operations for Carlson Hotels in the Americas. Rosenberg has more than 20 years of diverse global hospitality experience with positions ranging from operations manager to a regional operations position with IHG in the Caribbean. Prior to joining Carlson, he most recently served as partner and managing director at Knightsbridge Partners.

Sterling Bay Hires Former Grubb EVP Gavin as Principal

Sterling Bay Cos. has hired former Grubb & Ellis EVP John Gavin as a principal in the firm to leverage his relationships the institutional-investment space to generate opportunities for sourcing capital. Gavin joins Sterling Bay with more than 17 years of commercial real estate experience working with institutional investors in the acquisition and disposition of major commercial assets in Chicago and across the Midwest. He also served as a director in the Capital Markets Group of Cushman & Wakefield Inc. from 1995 to 2009. Since the middle part of this year, Gavin has been involved in five major assignments totaling more than 1.7 million square feet of space and valued at more than $200 million.

Wanic to Become Cushman’s Head of Occupier Services in the Americas

Mark Wanic has been named as the head of the newly created occupier services position at Cushman & Wakefield Inc. He will be responsible for managing the goals, objectives and financial performance of the occupier services group in the Americas. Wanic’s primary focus will be on growing new and existing occupier clients by leveraging C&W’s global platform. In the course of his activities, he will collaborate closely with the firm’s brokerage professionals, leveraging their deep client relationships. Previously, Wanic served as a senior managing director for Cushman in the New York metropolitan market and was appointed senior relationship manager for a prominent list of international clients including Pfizer, United Technologies, Inc., Abbott Laboratories and Unilever.

Prudential Mortgage Capital Co. is bringing a former Freddie Mac executive on board. The latest in a string of departures from the government-sponsored enterprises as the entities await congressional progress on determining their future structure, Michael McRoberts, who had served as vice president & national head of sales and production with Freddie, will spearhead Prudential’s Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lending business as managing director.

The job seems a natural fit for McRoberts. At Freddie Mac, his home for two decades, he oversaw the lender’s conventional multi-family business and structured transactions as well as managing the seniors housing teams, the national Freddie Mac Program Plus network and four regional production offices. In his new role at Prudential, McRoberts will be responsible for the market-rate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac portfolio teams and agency production team.

“Mike is an industry leader respected for his deep and broad knowledge of multi-family finance that will be a catalyst for continued growth in our already strong agency lending platform,” David Durning, senior managing director of Prudential Mortgage, noted in a prepared statement. “The last few years have brought tremendous change for all participants in the agency lending business. Adding Mike to Prudential Mortgage Capital’s leadership team highlights our strong commitment to agency lending.”

In addition to his long history with Freddie Mac, where he also once held the position of national head of underwriting and credit for the lender’s multi-family division, McRoberts brings to the table industry experience garnered from his time with First Maryland Mortgage Corp. and First Interstate Mortgage Corp. He will officially join Prudential on Dec. 5.

The departures from the GSEs are producing significant concern among real estate’s financiers, who worry that by the time a decision is made regarding changes to their structures, they will have lost the key talent and relationships that have produced so many successful deals. Others who have bid adieu to positions with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae since severe financial troubles prompted the government to seize control of the GSEs in 2008. Recent departures have included Michael May, longtime head of multi-family at Freddie Mac; Frank Lutz, vice president for customer management in Fannie Mae’s northeast business center and head of secondary markets; Mitch Kiffe, Freddie Mac’s head of multi-family loan production; and Phil Weber, who headed Fannie Mae’s multi-family business.

For more on the GSE brain drain, including commentary from industry heavyhitters Eduardo Padilla, Shekar Narasimhan and Richard Green, click here to access CPE’s Special Focus: Changes at the GSEs.

The Commercial Real Estate Women Network last night unveiled the winners of this year’s Impact Awards during the 2011 Convention & Marketplace. The event took place at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center at the National Harbor near Washington, D.C. The awards recognize professional achievement and support of diversity and the advancement of women in commercial real estate.

Winners of this year’s awards were as follows:

• Career Advancement: Char Fortune, managing director of corporate services for Grubb & Ellis Co., and Lee Eastwood, president of Eastwood Real Estate Services, for their work in creating and developing the CREW Leadership program for CREW Atlanta. The now 10-year-old program has graduated 140 women in seven classes and focus on developing business and personal skills such as strategic planning, change management, problem solving and team building to build leadership capabilities through a year-long series of monthly half-day and whole-day classes.
• Economic Improvement: Irene MacDougall, partner in Tucker Ellis & West L.L.P. and a member of CREW Cleveland. MacDougall was nominated for her more than three years of work to finance the Flats project, the Wolstein family’s redevelopment of the east bank of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland.
• Entrepreneurial Spirit: Pamela Bundy, founder & CEO of Bundy Development Corp. and a member of CREW Washington, D.C. Bundy was nominated for the award for her work as a “pioneer in urban-style developments” in Washington, D.C., including the development of such recognized communities as The Castle, The Icon and the 6th Street Flats. She is also a managing partner in the development of the mixed-use projects City Vista and CityCenter DC.
• Member-to-Member Business: Cindy Wolfe, executive vice president at Bank of the Ozarks and a member of CREW Charlotte. Wolfe was nominated for her commitment to doing business with other CREW Network members, consistently referring financing, debt restructuring, legal, design and other work in a year when finance-related deals were tough to come by.

CREW Network also honored Bundy with the topmost Achievement of Excellence Award, designed to recognize an Impact Award winner for “extraordinary leadership, commitment to professional excellence and community, and a steadfast commitment to the selfless advancement of others.”

The award ceremony followed a keynote speech by rand* Construction Corp. CEO Linda Rabbit, who reviewed advances in the perception and role of women in society over the past several decades and concluded that, while there has been progress, there is still far more to go. Naming the clarion call for the 21st century one for gender equality, she declared, “Women have the power to make things happen in the commercial real estate industry.” Rabbit herself was originally trained as a schoolteacher, later became a secretary supporting her children as a single mother and quickly advanced before founding her construction company, the third-largest woman-owned general construction company in the country, with $250 million in revenues.

Look for upcoming commentary from the award winners on CPE TV.

CPE was the exclusive media sponsor for the event.