At Several Top Brokerages in L.A., Veterans’ Allegiances Are Changing
Some of Los Angeles’ leading brokerages are making key personnel moves as the new year gets underway--apparently reflecting the thriving local economy, strong commercial real estate markets and competition for experienced professionals in a consolidating field.
New York-based Julien J. Studley Inc. is bringing an experienced broker from the firm’s Chicago branch to oversee the downtown office--which just lost its longtime manager and his partner--and help run the Western region while expanding the company into the industrial real estate arena. Studley has also recruited a top-producing broker, Rosey Miller, from national giant Grubb & Ellis Co.’s Westside office.
In other moves by veteran brokers actively making deals again after surviving the local real estate depression of the early 1990s, a pair of top producers with Westwood’s highly active Westmac Commercial Brokerage--David Thurman and Gregory Sackler--have opted to launch their own investment-oriented company. Veteran broker Carl Muhlstein, most recently of Insignia/ESG, has joined L.A.-based national powerhouse Cushman Realty Corp. And the president of one of L.A.’s biggest independent local brokerages, Jay Haskell of Seeley Co., has resigned, and a search is underway to replace him.
Commercial property professionals note that, like their counterparts in the investments and securities fields, successful brokers often jump from shop to shop--with the New Year’s holiday a particularly active period. The aggressive growth of a handful of global giant service firms also generates movement. Some brokers are attracted to the big firms, while others leave them for less institutional structures.
More movement is imminent. “The word on the street is that lots of people are talking to lots of people,” said Thurman, who along with partner Sackler opened the doors Monday at Concorde Real Estate Partners in Santa Monica.
And as word spreads that certain brokerages are interested in certain skill sets, more personnel trades will come, Thurman predicted.
Ten-year Studley broker Gregory Gerber, who has been executive managing director and co-branch manager at the firm’s Chicago office, will soon be regional manager of Studley’s Western operations and also branch manager of the downtown L.A. and San Francisco offices. Gerber helped office specialist Studley expand throughout the Midwest and also oversaw expansion into the industrial sector in that region.
Gerber said he also plans to recruit a local industrial team at Studley, which will continue to focus primarily on representing property “users” rather than on helping landlords find tenants or buyers. Gerber, who will become manager of the downtown office next month, will fill the void left when Studley stalwart Steve Bay and his longtime partner Clay Hammerstein joined expansion-minded Insignia/ESG. Gerber will work closely with Studley’s Howard Sadowsky, who was promoted to senior regional manager.
Miller, who worked at full-service firm Grubb & Ellis for his entire 12-year career, said he’s making the move to Studley because it focuses on his area of expertise: representing office tenants. Miller’s client roster at G&E--where; he ranked among the company’s top producers--includes such top firms as Salomon Smith Barney, Time-Warner, PolyGram, Motown and Hachette Filipacchi.
Muhlstein, who recently joined Cushman Realty, has also represented a bevy of corporate clients as well as property owners during his two decades on the local commercial real estate scene. The firm, like Studley, boasts strong ties to corporate America.
“We’re very happy to have Carl rejoin us; I’m sure he’ll make a big contribution here,” said Cushman Realty Executive Vice President Bob Ortiz. He noted that before founding Cushman Realty, John Cushman recruited Muhlstein to industry giant Cushman & Wakefield’s local operation when Cushman and Ortiz were both at C&W; in the late 1970s.
Dave Drummond, a Seeley senior vice president who manages the South Bay office and is a member of the company’s executive committee, said Haskell, the company’s former president, resigned his post at the beginning of the year but remains a special projects director. Drummond added that directors of the 11-office, 120-broker multi-service operation hope to name a successor by midyear.
Drummond is among those anticipating more changes in the months ahead. “There’s a lot of movement today as we’ve seen changes to commission structures at some of the major firms,” he said. “I think as these firms get larger and more institutionalized, it rubs against the entrepreneurial spirit of some of the successful brokers, so they look for firms that are more entrepreneurial.”
