Top DC Brokers Honored At 35th Annual CREBA Awards
The top commercial real estate brokers in the DC region were honored at CREBA's 35th annual awards ceremony last night at The Ritz-Carlton in Foggy Bottom.
Washington REIT executive vice president and chief operating officer Tom Bakke took home the Brendan McCarthy Memorial Award. Bakke joined WashREIT in 2014 after spending a year as senior managing director at Cushman & Wakefield. Before that, he spent 20 years at Equity Office Properties.
JLL international director Elizabeth Cooper, CREBA's president-elect, took home the James L. Eichberg Broker of the Year award. As co-chair of JLL's global law firm group, Cooper represents several prominent law firms and has negotiated more than 50M SF of deals. She has been ranked among CREBA's top 10 brokers in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015.
JLL vice president Kayma Liburd took home the Rising Star Award. Liburd worked on Wall Street, in management consulting and as an HR recruiter before making the jump to commercial real estate and joining JLL four years ago. If the past is any indication — previous winners include Colliers' Kurt Stout, Vornado's Gary Cook and Cushman & Wakefield's Mark Wooters — the Rising Star Award will be a stepping stone to even bigger things for Liburd.
For the fifth year in a row, Dochter & Alexander Retail Advisors Dave Dochter and Matt Alexander took home the top regional retail agents award. The duo also won the retail transaction of the year for landing Saks Off 5th and Nordstrom Rack for a combined 74K SF at 555 12th St. NW.
Last year's Brendan McCarthy Memorial Award winner, Cushman & Wakefield's Spencer Stouffer this year took home the top Virginia leasing agent award. Stouffer represented Carr Properties last February in a deal that kept tech company Opower in Arlington County, signing them for 63K SF at 2311 Wilson Blvd.
Awards were also given out for the top deals of the year. The Wharf lured its first law firm away from the central business district in November when Fish & Richardson signed on for 60K SF at 1000 Maine. That deal, brokered by JLL's Brian Dawson and CBRE's Mark Minich, won the top leasing transaction of less than 75K SF.
The top deal in DC overall was The Advisory Board Co. signing a 530K SF lease at 655 New York Ave. NW, which Douglas Development and Brookfield are now building for the company. CBRE's Randy Harrell and Mark Klug represented Douglas, while JLL's Greg Lubar, Trip Howell, Amy Bowser and Marshall Durston represented The Advisory Board. DC gave ABC $60M in tax incentives to keep it in the District in exchange for the company creating 1,000 new jobs over the next 15 years.
Awards were also given out for top Maryland and Virginia deals, and several other brokers and firms received honors. See the full list of awards here.
