Diversified Healthcare Trust Names Next CEO, Swiss Firm Expands US Team, CBRE Capital Markets Adds Retail Veterans From Rival JLL

Diversified Healthcare Trust, a real estate investment trust with a $7.2 billion portfolio of medical office, life science and senior living properties across 36 states and Washington, D.C., said Christopher Bilotto has been appointed president and CEO effective Jan. 1. Diversified Healthcare Trust, or DHC, said Bilotto, an executive vice president of The RMR Group, which manages DHC, will succeed Jennifer Francis, who is retiring from RMR on July 1. As executive vice president of RMR Group, Bilotto is responsible for portfolio management of all office, industrial and retail properties managed by RMR and hotels. He also oversees RMR’s senior living asset management and its development and redevelopment projects across the United States. Prior to joining RMR in 2011, Bilotto worked at General Growth Properties in various management roles. As for Francis, she also will resign from her executive officer positions at Newton, Massachusetts-based DHC and RMR, effective Dec. 31, Diversified Healthcare Trust said. Francis, who has been a member of DHC senior management’s team for five years, will continue as a managing trustee of DHC, the company said.

At RMR, Bilotto will be succeeded by Yael Duffy, a senior vice president. Also, on Jan. 1, Duffy will take over as president and chief operating officer of Office Properties Income Trust, or OPI, the company said. OPI is a real estate investment trust that also is managed by RMR. As of Sept. 30, OPI owned and leased 154 properties in 30 states and Washington. Also, OPI said Duffy will continue in her role as president of Industrial Logistics Properties Trust, another REIT managed by RMR.

Empira Group, a Swiss-based institutional investment firm that recently bought development sites in Miami and Dallas, has expanded its U.S. team with the hiring of Michael Bennett as director of client solutions, USA. The addition of Bennett, who specializes in structuring capital partnerships with funds, is a key move “as Empira Group accelerates global growth and fosters relationships with new and existing institutional investors,” Empira Chairman Lahcen Knapp said in a statement. Bennett will enable the firm to build on its momentum in the States, Knapp said. Empira recently acquired transit-oriented development sites it said will be home to high-end multifamily buildings with ground-floor retail space in downtown Miami near Brickell Avenue. The company also bought a 1.1-acre site in Dallas’ central business district, where it said it plans to build a 375-unit multifamily development with ground-floor restaurant space.

Bennett began his career at Morgan Stanley, where he worked with its real estate private equity funds and focused on acquisitions, asset management and raising capital raising. In 2002, he left Morgan Stanley and served six years as a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army 75th Ranger Regiment Special Operations. After returning to real estate, Michael raised capital as both agent and principal with Hodes Weill, Round Hill Capital and Tribeca Investment Group.

CBRE added industry veterans Chris Munley and Colin Behr to its capital markets team in Philadelphia, where they will focus on sales of open-air, multitenant retail properties across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Munley and Behr joined CBRE from rival JLL. Munley, now an executive vice president at CBRE, has more than 14 years of industry experience. During his career, he has closed retail deals with an aggregate value of more than $6.4 billion. Behr, a senior vice president at CBRE, has more than 11 years of commercial real estate experience. He has completed retail transactions with more than $4.5 billion in total. CBRE said Munley and Behr will join CBRE’s national retail partners group and work closely with existing partners Ryan Sciullo and Casey Smith in Washington, D.C., Jeff Dunne and David Gavin in the New York City area and Nat Heald in Boston to increase coverage in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions. Rija Beares, CBRE’s greater Philadelphia market leader, said she will work alongside Munley and Behrgrow as the group works to expand its business.

Hughes Marino has added veteran tenant representative Bob McGriff to its San Diego team. McGriff joined Hughes Marino from Cresa, where he was a principal and focused on advising corporate tenants, especially those in the tech and life science industries, in their real estate leasing and acquisition activities. Before working at Cresa, he served as Savills’ San Diego corporate managing director. Hughes Marino co-founder David Marino said McGriff’s 20 years of corporate real estate advisory experience and his knowledge of the life science, office and supply chain-logistics sectors will benefit the brokerage’s San Diego office as it grows its business. In addition to serving as a tenant rep, McGriff is host of “Market Knowledge w/Bob McGriff,” a podcast that features influential San Diego CEOs, entrepreneurs and business leaders and centers on the people behind the market’s biggest brands.

NAI Capital Commercial has hired Sam Devorris, who has more than 10 years of commercial real estate experience, as a senior vice president in its West Los Angeles office. The brokerage said Devorris will represent buyers and occupiers of office, retail and industrial properties as a member of its investment services group. He joined NAI Capital Commercial from brokerage and marketplace SquareFoot, where he was its inaugural Los Angeles hire and helped establish and expand the team. Before SquareFoot, he was as a senior vice president at Avison Young, which he became part of through the acquisition of Truss Holdings, a commercial real estate technology company where he served as a senior vice president and market leader for the Los Angeles region. During the first six months after Truss launched in the Los Angeles market, he completed 24 lease transactions that had a total lease value of $4.3 million.