CBRE Hiring High-Profile Retail Brokers Away From JLL
A three-person retail team with listings in some of Los Angeles' highest-end neighborhoods has moved from JLL to CBRE.
Houman Mahboubi, Greg Briest and Marisa Renfro have joined CBRE in West Los Angeles, according to a release from the brokerage. Mahboubi joined as senior vice president, Briest as first vice president and Renfro as vice president.
Mahboubi and Briest had been with JLL since 2016, according to state licensing records cited by The Real Deal, and Renfro joined JLL in 2022.
Mahboubi’s largest deal since the onset of the pandemic was brokering the $200M sale of the Luxe Rodeo Drive Hotel on behalf of the seller, the Harkham family.
"The addition of this team complements our retail real estate practice and further expands the scope of strategic advice we provide to our clients across the sector," CBRE Executive Managing Director Andrew Ratner said in a release.
CBRE also has been "expanding its scope" by hiring JLL brokers elsewhere in the U.S.
In Philadelphia, two retail brokers are leaving JLL to join CBRE's capital markets team, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported this week. Chris Munley and Colin Behr, hired as executive vice president and senior vice president, respectively, will work throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, teaming up with CBRE's offices in New York, Boston and D.C.
In Los Angeles County, retail leasing dipped in 2023, as did consumer spending. About 1.3M SF of new retail leases were signed in the third quarter, according to Colliers, a 27% decrease from the same quarter in 2022, The Real Deal reported.
"Retail real estate remains in demand, and we have an exciting opportunity to help shape the spaces that resonate with the evolving desires of consumers," Mahboubi said in the CBRE release.
