CBRE Appoints US Multifamily Leader, JLL Names Hospitality Executive, Lee & Associates Promotes Principal

CBRE Group, the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm based on revenue, has launched five multifamily regions across the United States, and tapped an industry veteran to lead them all.

Kelli Carhart will serve as executive managing director and leader of multifamily capital markets for the United States as the Dallas-based firm continues to expand its apartment business nationally.

In her expanded role, Carhart will lead a platform that combines investment sales, financing and investment banking. CBRE reports it was the intermediary for more than $76 billion in multifamily engagements in the U.S. last year and has led the country in investment sales activity in the sector since 2001.

CBRE has also selected regional multifamily leaders for each geography: Eli Hanacek in the Northwest, Asher Gunter in the Southwest, Danny Baker in the Central U.S. region and Shea Campbell in the Southeast. An announcement on the leader for the Northeast region is expected in the coming weeks. The regional leaders will continue to oversee their local production practices in their respective markets along with the expanded leadership responsibilities, according to the firm.

“Kelli is a uniquely skilled multifamily leader with an expert understanding of the sector and deep relationships with capital sources,” said Chris Ludeman, global president of capital markets at CBRE, in a corporate statement announcing the move. “She will provide invaluable leadership to our new regional leads — all experienced producers with proven success across markets — to create real-time market connectivity and further differentiate the breadth of the strategic advice we provide to our clients.”

Carhart succeeds Brian McAuliffe, who after 10 years leading CBRE’s multifamily practice has transitioned into a national production role as vice chairman, where he will focus on special multifamily assignments.

Based in Austin, Texas, Carhart has more than 20 years of real estate industry experience. She joined CBRE in January 2021 and most recently served as head of multifamily debt production.

Prior to joining the firm, Carhart spent 17 years at Freddie Mac, where she oversaw $30 billion of annual volume across 26 states as vice president of multifamily production and sales.

JLL’s hotels and hospitality group has appointed Managing Director Andrew Dickey to lead hotel investment sales across the southeastern United States, the Caribbean and Central America, effective Jan. 30.

Dickey is based in JLL’s Miami office and will report to Kevin Davis, JLL Americas CEO. The global brokerage reports it has completed $83 billion in worldwide hotel and hospitality transactions over the past five years, more than any other real estate adviser.

Dickey brings 17 years of experience in investment sales throughout the region, and throughout his career has been involved in over $8 billion in hospitality transactions. He earned an MBA from Esade Business School in Barcelona, Spain.

Dickey is succeeding Senior Managing Director Gregory Rumpel, who will remain with the firm to focus on key transactions and provide leadership advice to the team. Rumpel has been with the firm for 25 years and established the Miami office of JLL Hotels in 2001.

Cori Nuttall has been promoted to principal at Lee & Associates. She is based in the firm’s Atlanta office.

Nuttall began her career in 2018 with Lee & Associates in Charleston, South Carolina, where she focused on office and corporate services before joining the Atlanta team in 2021.

Since that time, Nuttall was recognized for representing JTEC Energy in securing its new headquarters at Lee + White, and last year she completed more than $23 million in transaction volume, according to the company.

TruAmerica Multifamily promoted Amir Eshkol from executive managing director of construction services to chief construction officer in its Los Angeles office.

Eshkol has more than 30 years of construction and development experience, having worked on multifamily capital improvements for companies such as Kennedy Wilson Multifamily and Goldrich and Kest Industries. He joined TruAmerica in 2013 as the firm’s first construction project manager.

Throughout his career at TruAmerica, Eshkol has implemented processes that have controlled costs and created value-add construction solutions on over 1.1 billion in completed projects, according to the firm.

JLL Capital Markets Senior Managing Director John Huguenard, co-lead of industrial capital markets, has made the move from one of the firm’s Chicago offices to Miami, Florida.

In his new role, Huguenard will continue to specialize in industrial investment sales for institutional and corporate clients as well as private owners. He is based in the firm’s Biscayne Boulevard office.

With more than 30 years of experience in the industry, Huguenard has consistently been one of the nation’s top producers at JLL, receiving several industry achievements including being named a top producer for industrial capital markets in 2021.

“The Florida industrial market has remained strong and shows no signs of demand slowing down in the foreseeable future,” said Huguenard in a statement. “As part of a business-friendly environment and a hub for international trade investors, tenants continue to look for quality space within the state.”

Comunidad Partners has launched Comunidad Credit Capital in Washington, D.C., and named multifamily leader and Freddie Mac veteran Debby Jenkins as CEO and partner of the initiative.

In her new role, Jenkins says she will draw on her experience leading the nation’s largest multifamily finance platform to address the “chronic lack of capital being invested into workforce and affordable housing […] which ultimately negatively affects the diverse tapestry of residents who reside in these communities.”

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that in 2023, multifamily loan purchase caps for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will include a mission-driven category for workforce housing properties, providing incentives for borrowers to maintain rents at affordable levels for extended periods of time, Jenkins notes.

“The secular demand of affordable workforce housing and the current market environment lends itself to an impact-oriented capital markets provider, as there has never been a more opportune time, nor a more proven leader than Debby Jenkins, to introduce an innovative credit platform led and owned by diverse leaders,” Antonio Marquez, founder and managing partner of Comunidad Partners, said in a statement announcing the move.

Regional commercial real estate services firm Bull Realty, which is celebrating 25 years in business this month, has named Will Young as its newest partner.

Young currently serves as president of the brokerage firm’s retail group. In his expanded role, Young will continue to focus on multi-tenant retail investment acquisitions and dispositions throughout the Southeast.

Young has 17 years of commercial real estate sales and valuation experience across various commercial property types. Young joined Bull Realty in 2016, and last year he closed 17 investment sale transactions totaling more than $67 million.

Marcus & Millichap has hired Brian Ward as a senior vice president with the greater Inland Empire team in Palm Springs, California.

In his new role, Ward will focus on office, industrial and land sales in the Coachella Valley.

Ward has 25 years of experience in commercial property investment sales and property leasing, and has completed more than $450 million in completed transactions throughout his career. A few years into his brokerage career, Ward was recruited by CBRE, promoted to first vice president and then promoted again in 2012 to senior vice president. He then became a founding principal at Lee & Associates in Southern California.

Kurt Hediger has joined brokerage firm Graystone Capital Advisors as a senior vice president in Newport Beach, California.

In his new role, Hediger will specialize in industrial investments for institutional, corporate and private investors.

Hediger brings more than 15 years of commercial real estate experience, most recently as a first vice president at Marcus & Millichap, where he was consistently ranked as a top producer for over 10 years. Before that, he was with NAI Capital and provided full-service real estate advisory to middle-market and institutional-level investors and capital providers.