John O'Neill Departs Cushman & Wakefield As New Head Of U.S. Multifamily Sales Takes Over
Cushman & Wakefield’s onetime Atlanta office leader and domestic multifamily sales head has left the firm.
John O’Neill vacated his position as president of the U.S. multifamily capital markets division late last month. He has been replaced by a senior executive from Greystone, the apartment investment firm that Cushman & Wakefield acquired a large stake in two years ago.
O’Neill confirmed his departure in a post on his LinkedIn profile. Neither Cushman & Wakefield nor O’Neill responded to Bisnow's requests for comment.
“After a fulfilling 20 years at Cushman & Wakefield, I have decided to transition out of the firm,” O’Neill posted. “It has been a terrific experience — affording me the opportunity to collaborate with best-in-class professionals, work with great clients, scale the business and grow as a leader. I wish the C&W team continued success. I look forward to my next chapter.”
O’Neill has been a mainstay in Atlanta’s commercial real estate industry. He began his career at Lavista Associates in 1994 before moving to Insignia/ESG in 1996, where he remained as managing director until CBRE purchased the firm in 2003. Cushman & Wakefield courted O’Neill at that point, bringing him over as a senior managing director.
By 2012, O’Neill was named the head of C&W's Atlanta office, replacing Mike Elting, and steadily expanded his purview from there to lead the Southeast, South Central and Central regions until his escalation to president of multifamily capital markets in December 2021, according to his LinkedIn.
“We’d like to thank John for his many contributions to Cushman & Wakefield and we wish him well in his future endeavors,” Cushman & Wakefield President of Advisory Dan Broderick said in a statement.
O'Neill's move came after Cushman & Wakefield made a $500M investment in Greystone, a multifamily lending platform, that gave it a 40% stake in the company. And it was Greystone Chief Revenue Officer Blake Okland who C&W elevated as O’Neill’s replacement as multifamily head, a move that took effect Dec. 1.
Okland, who worked with CBRE and Archstone-Smith Communities Trust in the past, also served on the global capital markets board for Newmark prior to his hire at Greystone, according to a press release.
“As we look ahead to 2024, I am confident we will build on our positive momentum and will thrive under Blake’s leadership,” Cushman & Wakefield President Dan Broderick said in a Nov. 30 press release. “Multifamily continues to be one of the largest asset classes for institutional investors in the U.S. and remains a key area of strategic growth and focus for our business. Our joint venture with Greystone has contributed to our goal of building the finest multifamily platform in the country.”
The change in leadership comes as commercial real estate finds itself in its lowest moment since the Great Recession, with investment activity dropping 54% year-over-year in the third quarter to $82B as owners struggle to maintain property values, according to a CBRE report. But even in this environment, multifamily proved to be the strongest asset class for investments, generating $29B in deals in Q3, CBRE reported.
Cushman & Wakefield has been particularly affected by the downturn in capital markets, recording a $33.9M loss in Q3 and bringing its year-to-date losses to $105.2M, down from a profit of $166.6M during the same period in 2022.
It is in the process of cutting expenses by $130M and could look to sell pieces of the business as it looks to pay down debt, executives said on the company's most recent earnings call.
“We are always focused on efficiencies,” Chief Financial Officer Neil Johnston said during the call on Oct. 30. “There are always additional levers we can pull.”
UPDATE, JAN. 18, 9:50 A.M. ET: This story has been updated with a statement from Cushman & Wakefield's Dan Broderick.
