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Cassidy Turley Chooses New President

Cassidy Turley Chooses New President

Michael Kamm has been promoted to president of Cassidy Turley and will join the firm’s board of directors.

For the past three years, Kamm has led Cassidy Turley’s Northern California operations. He will remain based in San Francisco. Kamm previously served as CEO of Cassidy Turley predecessor BT Commercial, a firm he joined in 1994 when he opened its Oakland, Calif., office.

During Kamm’s 12-year tenure as CEO of Cassidy Turley in Northern California and its predecessor, the company grew from five to 15 regional offices staffed by approximately 400 professionals. NREI talked to Kamm about the fiscal cliff fallout, projections for 2013 and trends in the multifamily sector. An edited transcript of that interview follows.

NREI: How are investors feeling about the fallout of the fiscal cliff fiasco? What impact will the deals reached have on investors' attitudes?

Michael Kamm: My sense is that no one was surprised with the fact that Congress kicked the can down the road. They dealt with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts by making some of them permanent and modified other components of it. But there was really nothing to deal with the expenditures side. We’re going to see more arm wrestling and another drama developing in a few months over the debt ceiling. We’re likely to see a broadening of the tax base, thereby generating more revenue. I think that people are not surprised that there was a partial solution and that the real tough work is still ahead of us.

That having been said, I think most investors are not distracted that much by what is going on in Washington. They feel that at the end of the day, these problems will get resolved and that the economy is improving and they are moving forward with their investment plans, albeit cautiously. We’re not going to see a robust recovery in our economy until people are confident that the fiscal mess our country is in is being addressed responsibly. I think we’ll continue to see slow growth and caution as opposed to the kind of business investment we’d see otherwise.

NREI: CT's research showed a very strong Q4 when it came to office sector—I saw one reference to it being the strongest quarter for office demand since pre-recession 2007. Will this trend continue into the first quarter of 2013 or will things slow down? And why?

Michael Kamm: Generally, we’ve subscribed to the notion that growth in 2013 is going to be slow, but there will be growth somewhere between 1.5 percent and 2.5 percent, which really isn’t enough to feel like a robust economy, but it’s sufficient for us to feel like things are improving. Yes, 2012 was a good year and the fourth quarter was the best we’ve had in this recovery, and I think we’ll see some ups and downs on a quarter-by-quarter basis, but 2013 will be positive.

What’s running against that, to a degree, is that businesses are really pushing efficiency and mobility in a way we have not seen before. It’s most noticeable in some of the tech markets like San Francisco, where worker occupancy used to be north of 200 sq. ft. per worker, and many companies are trying to get that below 150 sq. ft. As you multiply that out across more traditional industries, that’s going to have a dampening effect on office demand.

You also have the iPhone, mobile Internet broadband. Work really is wherever the people are. Companies are starting to adopt that mindset and that will also dampen office demand over time. You have a slow growth economy running up against efficiency driven parameters and it’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out.

When you look, for example, at law firms, they have continued to shrink because they are under pressure to reduce fees from clients or have rational fees and that is forcing them to be much more efficient in space usage. It’s the same for accounting firms and other large occupiers. We’ll see a tension in the growth of the economy and office efficiency issues, but don’t get me wrong, I still see 2013 to be a positive year for net absorption.

NREI: What about the multifamily sector? There is so much going on right now with the housing market starting to get unclogged and the rental market still on fire. What's your prediction there?

Michael Kamm: A few years ago I moderated a panel, and one panelist was a CEO of a large national multifamily. That person’s prediction two years ago was that it was the beginning of the best three years ever for multifamily. We’re two years into that, and I think everything that person said is coming true.

A lot of the dynamics on multifamily are still very positive. In some areas, supply is becoming an issue, like San Francisco, New York City. I think one thing really interesting about multifamily goes back to demographics. Gen Y is becoming a big factor, and a lot of them don’t want to buy a home. They like the mobility that being a renter provides from a job and a lifestyle standpoint. We don’t have the same underlying drivers of home ownership that we’ve had in the past cycles, and I think that portends very well for multifamily.

As you look at multifamily investment, there is good reason to expect that transaction volume will increase significantly in 2013. It really comes down to the fact that cash flows are very strong, depreciation is very favorable for multifamily. We have very attractive fixed-rate, long-term debt for multifamily and those facts will induce sellers to bring their property to market at a rate we didn’t quite see in 2012.

NREI: Could you take one geographic region and say why you think it's particularly untapped and ripe for one type or sector?

Michael Kamm: When you look at that, you have to look at where the population growth is concentrated. Where will job growth continue to happen? You match that up with the areas that have not benefitted so far from the recovery. I’d still look at places like the Southwest, like Phoenix, where you have net migration and job growth. I think in 2013 and 2014, Phoenix will be a market with a lot of opportunity.

Similarly, if you go into the Southeast, like Atlanta, Florida, you’ll see the demographic dynamics and job-growth dynamics in those markets turn around pretty quickly. Those markets that are less positive from a demographic standpoint—say, the center of the country, the Midwest—it will take them longer to bounce back.

Taking Kamm’s place as regional managing principal in Northern California will be Greg Moss.

Moss will provide leadership and oversee the strategic focus, growth and talent management for Cassidy Turley’s Northern California team, which consists of more than 400 professionals in 15 offices throughout the region. He has more than 22 years of experience in Bay Area commercial real estate and had joined Cassidy Turley predecessor BT Commercial in 2001 as managing partner.

Cassidy Turley also added Rod Bailey as senior managing director, brokerage services and Drew O’Connor as managing director, property management.

Bailey will be responsible for strategic development and implementation, as well as securing and maintaining global and national client accounts. He has advised and represented clients in their real estate interests in excess of $3 billion. Prior to joining Cassidy Turley, Bailey served as executive managing director at Colliers International.

O’Connor brings more than 20 years of experience and expertise in portfolio management to the firm. He most recently was a managing director, senior portfolio manager at Cushman & Wakefield.

Koehler brings to Cassidy Turley 25 years of commercial real estate experience, primarily in industrial project leasing, dispositions and tenant representation in North Los Angeles submarket. He comes to the firm from Cushman & Wakefield, where he was a senior director.

Gancarczyk specializes in office tenant representation, including renewals, relocations, subleases, purchases and lease restructuring, both in Los Angeles and nationally. He joins Cassidy Turley from Travers Realty Corp., where he was a tenant advisor.

CT also named Executive Managing Director Frank McCafferty to lead the firm’s occupier services team in Texas. McCafferty will lead the state’s office and industrial tenant representation efforts.

He has more than 20 years of experience in commercial real estate tenant representation, corporate services, development and construction management. Over the course of his career, McCafferty has closed transactions valued at more than $2.5 billion and accounting for more than 12 million sq. ft. of office, industrial and telecom space.

Transwestern Shakes Up the Top, Expands into Latin America, Hires Atlanta Pros

Transwestern created a new position—president, Americas—and named Chip Clarke to the post.

Transwestern’s nine regional offices in the U.S. have been reorganized into seven territories to further its market-leading position across multiple markets. Presidents of the seven areas will report to Clarke and Mark Doran, COO of the firm. Clarke previously served as president of the Gulf Coast and Mountain regions.

At the same time, the firm has expanded into Latin America, marking the fourth time in two years that the company extended its global footprint.

Kevin Roberts has been promoted to the new position of president, Southwest. The Central Texas, Gulf Coast and Mountain regions were consolidated to create the new Southwest territory, comprised of offices in Houston, San Antonio, Austin, New Orleans, Denver and Salt Lake City. Roberts previously served as president of the Central Texas region.

Transwestern’s Atlanta office hired Mike Kotzin as senior vice president for the Southeast region’s tenant advisory services group and Bob Robers, senior vice president of industrial brokerage services.

Prior to joining Transwestern, Kotzin served as senior managing director for Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, where he specialized in strategic planning, acquisition, disposition and lease restructuring services. Over the past decade, he has served a diverse client base, including Accenture, Burger King, Unipro Foodservice, First Indiana Bank, White & Case, Frost Brown Todd, Shutts & Bowen and PNC Bank.

Robers comes to Transwestern from Jones Lang LaSalle, where he was vice president for the company’s supply chain and logistics solutions team and specialized in bulk distribution, railroad and port-related real estate projects.

GSF Mortgage Chooses Jampedro as President

GSF Mortgage named Chad Jampedro president of the company.

Jampedro began his career with GSF in June 2001, when he was hired as a loan originator in the company’s Illinois branch. He most recently served as the company's COO and was selected to the National Mortgage Professionals 40 under 40 in 2011.

GFI Names New CFO

GFI Capital Resources Group welcomed Jennifer McLean as CFO.

She brings 26 years of experience in the property management, construction, and real estate development industry to GFI. She will have direct oversight responsibility for the financial operations of the company and its related affiliates. Prior to GFI, McLean served as CFO at Pennrose Management Co., an owner/property management firm; Diversified Property Services, a construction management firm; and Etkin Equities, a development and property management firm.

CBRE Picks Debt and Equity Finance EVP

CBRE Group Inc. named Bradford J. Zampa executive vice president in the debt and equity finance group. He will focus on sourcing and placing capital on behalf of institutional clients, and will be based in San Francisco.

Zampa joins CBRE from Newmark Knight Frank Cornish & Carey’s Capital Group, where he was senior managing director of the finance team and arranged debt and equity for all property types throughout the Western U.S. Over his 15-year career in real estate finance, Zampa has closed more than $6 billion in commercial real estate transactions.

Additionally, CBRE Raleigh hired Sabrina L. Jones as director of asset services. She will manage key client relationships, procure new property management opportunities, oversee division operations and business development collaboration with brokerage services lines. Her portfolio currently includes 3 million sq. ft. of office, industrial and retail properties and 12 property management professionals.

Prior to joining the firm, Jones was the director of East Coast operations at Zapolski Real Estate LLC, where she managed a portfolio of retail, office and land investment properties in addition to acquisitions, underwriting and business development.

CBRE Hampton Roads promoted Don Crigger to executive vice president and Ricky Anderson to senior associate.

Crigger has 26 years of experience in commercial real estate and has specialized in office brokerage. He represents both landlords and tenants in office, office/warehouse, industrial and medical office properties. He also represents buyers and sellers of office buildings throughout the Hampton Roads group.

Anderson joined CBRE Hampton Roads in 2007. He started his career in property management and transitioned to the office leasing team in January 2009.

David Egan joined CBRE Chicago as director of research and analysis. Egan brings 10 years of experience in real estate valuation, acquisitions and dispositions from time spent as manager of transaction real estate at Ernst & Young and as an investment sales broker at Colliers International.

Stream Opens Offices in DC and NC

Stream Realty Partners opened two new offices in Washington, D.C. and Charlotte, N.C., as its ninth and tenth locations nationwide.

The Washington, D.C. office will be spearheaded by Kyle Luby, who was instrumental in establishing the firm’s Atlanta office. Daniel Farrar, a consistent top-producer in the firm’s Austin office, will lead the Charlotte region. Luby and Farrar will facilitate new business development and employee recruitment. Both offices will provide a full range of commercial real estate services throughout all product types.

Atrium Mortgage Names Stewart Managing Partner, Opens Calgary Office

Atrium Mortgage Investment Corp. appointed Daniel Stewart as managing partner for Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada. Additionally, the company has opened an office in Calgary, Alberta in Canada.

Stewart was previously a vice president with a major trust company in Calgary; prior to that, he was with a U.S. bank in Vancouver. He has over three decades experience sourcing and underwriting residential and commercial mortgages in the Prairie Provinces, British Columbia and the western United States.

Heller Hires VP of Investment Sales

The Heller Organization named Nicholas Nakos vice president of investment sales. He will be responsible for investment property sales, residential leasing and sales and new business development.

Nakos comes to Heller from Napco Holidings LLC, where he served as director of acquisitions for the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based boutique investment and development company. In addition to regularly negotiating deals that exceed a 30 percent internal rate of return, Nakos secured a 50 percent return for a 33-unit property in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, New York.

VP Joins Hunter Hotel Advisors

Hunter Hotel Advisors welcomed Laura Wolinsky to the firm’s capital markets division as vice president.

Wolinsky comes to Hunter with more than 20 years of hospitality real estate experience. Most recently, she spent eight years as an underwriting team leader at Capmark Finance LLC (formerly GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corporation.)

Bell State Bank & Trust Hires SVP and credit officer

Rebecca Kronlund has been hired as senior vice president/commercial finance attorney at Bell State Bank & Trust. She worked at Briggs and Morgan, P.A. and most recently worked at U.S. Bank as an in-house commercial attorney.

The company also hired Jeremy Lyons as been hired as credit officer for the Minneapolis bank. Lyons will protect the asset quality of the bank’s commercial loan portfolio, assessing and mitigating risk through appropriate loan structure, covenant packages and reporting requirements.

VP Joins Cornerstone

Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC appointed Michael Marron as vice president—senior equity analyst for its global real estate securities operation.

In his new role based in Stamford, Conn., Marron will analyze the U.S. REIT market, participate in collaborative coverage of the Americas and contribute to portfolio strategy decisions.

Marron brings more than 25 years of experience to Cornerstone, most recently as senior analyst of global real estate securities for European Investors Inc.

NGKF Promotes Pro in Global Corporate Services

Michael G. Morris has been promoted to executive managing director of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank global corporate services.

In his career, he has completed more than 10 million sq. ft. of assignments encompassing all facets of real estate and operations, from strategy development to lease negotiation. Also an expert on facilities operations, cross-cultural issues and globalization opportunities, Morris has executed consolidation and relocation projects in more than 60 countries. Additionally, he has been instrumental in data center consulting, evaluation, and consolidation and relocation assignments across the globe.

NGKF also added three hospitality professionals to NGKF Hotels, an extension of NGKF Capital Group. Joe Weinberger joins as a managing director, Jonathan Kule as a vice president and Rachel Cohen as an associate.

Weinberger was most recently the founder and CEO of Two By Two LLC, a hospitality investment and advisory business; he previously served as principal and COO of JF Capital Advisors. Kule formerly was responsible for property valuation strategies at Ducat Investment Group, a single-family mortgage fund. Cohen previously worked with the acquisitions team at Hersha Hospitality Trust to analyze hospitality capital markets and underwrite investment opportunities.

HFF Names DC Head

HFF Senior Managing Director Jim Meisel has been appointed as the head of its Washington, D.C. Metro area investment sales departments. Meisel will oversee HFF's teams covering office, multifamily, industrial and single-tenant sales.

Meisel has more than 25 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. Since joining HFF in 2007, he has been involved in more than $2.6 billion in commercial real estate sales transactions for office properties in the greater Washington, D.C. region.

Lynch Joins PRC as Managing Director

PRC welcomed Stephanie Lynch to the company’s investment banking group in Washington, D.C. as a managing director.

For the past 14 years, she has sourced domestic and international institutional debt and equity for complex transactions collateralized by multifamily, office, industrial, and hotel property types. Lynch has structured and executed more than $3.5 billion of debt and equity transactions on behalf of institutional and entrepreneurial owners, as well as advised domestic and multinational bank holding companies and foreign sovereign wealth funds on $2.5 billion of U.S. loan sales, debt restructurings and fund investment decisions.

Prior to joining PRC, Lynch was co-founder and managing director of Ceres Capital Partners, a real estate structured finance advisory firm arranging capital for urban development sites and distressed assets.

Argent Hires Two in Ontario

Argent Retail Advisors added two new members to its Inland Empire leasing team, Nick Ritch and Mike Kihm.

Ritch will serve as associate director in Argent’s Ontario, Calif. office. Kihm joins Argent as an associate. Ritch comes to Argent from KORE Properties in Azusa, Calif. As managing director there, he was the asset manager for a portfolio of 14 retail, office and multifamily projects.

Kihm has been in the real estate industry for the last 25 years, primarily in the appraisal sector. He founded a successful appraisal company based in Rancho Cucamonga and has led it for the last 15 years.

Hudson Realty Capital Co-Founder Takes New Role

Co-founder and managing director at Hudson Realty Capital, Sanford Herrick, is transitioning to a new role as a senior advisor.

Herrick will continue to be involved with Hudson’s investors and investment activity related to Hudson Realty Capital Fund IV and V while he also pursues various outside activities, including potential investment opportunities.

Kennedy Named Director of Development at Frew

Frew Development Group named Kathleen Kennedy director of development.

Kennedy has served as executive assistant as part of the company’s executive team since May 2011. Kennedy will focus on the company’s redevelopment of the 72-acre Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

New Lawyer at Pircher

Pircher, Nichols & Meeks welcomed Kaleb Keller to the firm as an associate in the firm’s Los Angeles office, in its real estate group.

Prior to joining Pircher, Nichols & Meeks, Keller was an assistant vice president with George Smith Partners, a national real estate investment banking firm in Los Angeles.

While there, he formulated financing strategies for real estate investments based upon market dynamics, client objectives and risk/return criteria, as well as managed the financing process for transactions totaling in excess of $1 billion.

Lee & Associates Launches New Venture

Lee & Associates launched Lee & Associates Valuation and Consulting Services. The new venture will be headed by Daniel Boring, who was formerly the senior managing director of the Southeast region for Grubb & Ellis Landauer, and Victor Segrest, who was a Grubb & Ellis senior vice president in the institutional group.

Boring was one of the eight original members of the executive management team responsible for relaunching the Landauer platform in 2010. During his time with Landauer, Boring managed seven offices in a nine-state region.

Segrest, a 23-year CRE veteran, was responsible for capital markets in the Southeast for Grubb & Ellis, where he started in 2008. Since 1989, he has completed more than 30 million sq. ft. of real estate acquisition, development, leasing and disposition assignments, with a combined value of more than $1.2 billion.

Two Pros Join Coldwell Banker Commercial Alliance

Coldwell Banker Commercial Alliance brought Evan K. Elias on board as a senior financial analyst. In his new advisory and consulting capacity, Elias will be in charge of providing CBC Alliance brokers with up-to-the-minute property analyses and long-term projections for leasing terms through a total line-by-line cost basis. In addition, he will oversee the compilation of data for quarterly, mid-year and annual reports. Elias spent 16 years as a senior financial analyst for Cushman & Wakefield.

The company also named April Michelle Simmons as its marketing director. She will be responsible for providing marketing support to the brokers, including leasing collateral, strategic advertising campaigns and social media promotions. In addition, she will oversee the firm’s public relations programs and help design reports. Prior to joining CBC Alliance, Simmons was a client support specialist at Lexis Nexis Law Firm Marketing Solutions.

The company also named April Michelle Simmons as its marketing director. She will be responsible for providing marketing support to the brokers, including leasing collateral, strategic advertising campaigns and social media promotions. In addition, she will oversee the firm’s public relations programs and help design reports. Prior to joining CBC Alliance, Simmons was a client support specialist at Lexis Nexis Law Firm Marketing Solutions.

Bickmore, the independent risk management and actuarial consulting firm, acquired Nelson & Bernstein, the real estate and retail risk management company. Nelson & Bernstein has provided independent insurance and risk management advice for more than 20 years.

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