Stream Realty Partners Focuses on Scaling South Florida Office Platform

By Natalie Dolce

October 12, 2023 at 04:00 AM

In a notable development following the company’s expansion into this market, the firm has appointed Shay Pope to serve as the managing director and EVP to grow its South Florida branch. GlobeSt.com chats with Stream about his hire and the key inquiry: What motivated the firm’s entry into Florida in the first place?

MIAMI—In its first significant move since entering the Florida market this past January, Dallas-based Stream Realty Partners has hired Shay Pope to join its team. Pope will serve as managing director and EVP in the company’s South Florida location—which is Stream’s newest location of its 15 offices across the country.

In 2021, the company opened offices in Nashville, Northern Virginia, and Phoenix to complement its locations in some of the strongest commercial real estate gateway markets in the nation.

According to a prepared release, industry veteran, Pope, brings nearly 23 years of experience to Stream’s newest operation, which is led by Executive Managing Director and Partner Greg Katz. Katz tells GlobeSt.com that Stream has been very active over the last several years in expanding its national platform and establishing a strong presence in high growth markets such as Nashville, Phoenix, the Carolinas, and Florida.

He says that the Florida market possesses all the key characteristics and dynamics that allow Stream’s diverse and entrepreneurial platform to thrive: population and employment growth, deep institutional presence, and a strong tenant and ownership base throughout Florida’s multiple markets.

“Florida is a pro-business state with a tax-friendly environment and diverse demographic base,” Katz continues. “This presents significant opportunities for growth over the foreseeable future with respect to corporate relocations into the state, organic corporate growth, and unparalleled opportunities to recruit top talent to Stream. Stream Florida is developing a multi service line organization including office tenant and landlord representation, industrial, and investment sales with a strong presence throughout South Florida, Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville.”

Pope will be responsible for advising office tenants across the U.S. on their key real estate decisions by leveraging his expertise in negotiations, strategy development, finance, and workplace transformation initiatives. Pope will work alongside Katz and his team to scale Stream’s South Florida occupier platform.

His additional responsibilities include recruiting and cultivating talent to meet the market’s needs while expanding the firm’s occupier services offering across the U.S. Prior to Stream, Pope spent nearly 11 years at CBRE in Miami, where he last served as a Senior Vice President.

“Stream’s recognized entrepreneurial spirit, culture and platform will enable us to deliver creative solutions for occupier clients across the U.S.,” Pope said in the release. “I’m excited about joining this high-growth company and multi-disciplinary team that thinks strategically and takes a holistic approach to advising occupiers. I also could not pass up an opportunity to partner with Greg, who has been a fierce but friendly tenant rep competitor over the years.”

According to Stream president Chris Jackson, Shay is a great culture fit and “brings tremendous experience and relationships that will fuel Stream’s continued growth and expansion.” In terms of building up its business in Florida, Jackson has previously said that “Miami has been on the firm’s radar for years.”

During Pope’s tenure at CBRE, he advised a diverse base of industry verticals including law firms, financial services, alternative investments, healthcare, and technology companies. Shay specializes in the development and implementation of strategic plans that align his clients’ real estate and human capital strategy with their organizational, financial, and operational objectives. His law firm expertise also resulted in him being appointed to CBRE’s Law Firm Practice Group Executive Committee.

Prior to CBRE, Pope was a Senior Managing Director at Newmark, where he spent more than eight years and helped launch their South Florida office. He started his commercial real estate career in 2001 at Trammell Crow Company.

“We are at the forefront of redefining the landscape of commercial real estate advisory throughout Florida by leveraging Stream’s unique integrated platform offering. I’m honored that Shay has chosen to be a key part of the team that Stream is building here,” Katz said in the release. “Hiring a professional of Shay’s caliber provides us with an immediate growth path as we are committed to building a full-service platform throughout Florida while driving value for all our current and future clients.”

Derek Land, head of new markets and partner at Stream, tells GlobeSt.com that Florida was a very obvious place for Stream to focus. ”Our strategy has always been to focus our talent and resources on meaningful geographic markets where people are moving. Florida fits perfect for us and we are excited to continue to grow aggressively through the region.” Across the country, Stream leases and manages more than 271.1 million square feet of office, industrial, retail, healthcare, and data center space and has developed or acquired 47 million square feet. The firm completes more than $5.8 billion in real estate transactions annually.