Brookfield Eliminates D.C. Office Leasing Division
Brookfield is fully outsourcing its office leasing in the D.C. area, cutting two leasing executives this week, Bisnow has learned.
The company, one of the largest owners of real estate in the world and the D.C. region, had in-house leasing agents in the region for decades. In recent years it has also worked with JLL and Cushman & Wakefield to lease its major projects at The Yards and Halley Rise in Northern Virginia.
“We have employed third-party leasing teams on nearly all of our commercial buildings in the D.C. region for several years with success," a Brookfield spokesperson said in a statement. "Given the expanded and more diverse nature of our local portfolio, we are expanding our work with those firms while maintaining vigorous oversight at a senior level in-house.”
Two vice presidents of leasing will lose their jobs as a result, the spokesperson said. According to a source, those two are Melanie Stehmer-Townsend and Andrew Jones. Jones has worked for Brookfield for more than 22 years, according to his LinkedIn page, and Stehmer-Townsend has been at Brookfield for the past 11 years.
Cy Kouhestani, Brookfield's senior vice president of asset management and leasing, will remain on and oversee the local portfolio, the source said. Kouhestani, who started at Brookfield as a leasing manager in 2012 and has risen rapidly up the ranks, per his LinkedIn page, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
In D.C., Brookfield owns more than 10M SF of office properties, according to its website, including recently completed developments at 655 New York Ave. NW and 2001 M St. NW.
