Jason Presley has been named a senior partner at Goodwin Advisors after a decadelong career at CBRE, where he was senior vice president of investor services. The move represents one of a number of changes near the top in Houston's commercial real estate community in recent weeks.
Presley has 25 years of CRE experience, including a previous role with Lionstone Investments. His career has been primarily focused on office, including portfolio management and leasing, both on the tenant and landlord sides, he said.
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“[That] uniquely qualifies me to understand the value of commercial real estate, particularly in Houston, but nationally as well,” Presley told Bisnow.
At Goodwin, a boutique commercial real estate capital markets firm with offices in Dallas, Houston and Tampa, Presley will focus on the Southwest office sector.
“With the dislocation in capital markets currently, I think Goodwin is very well-positioned to help institutional real estate owners dispose of unwanted office assets," he said.
Managing Partner Evan Stone said in a statement that Presley's addition brought together a combined 175 years of senior capital markets and advisory experience in its leadership.
“Today’s clients are seeking deep product knowledge, a national capital markets perspective and local-market expertise,” Stone said in the statement. “Which is why we see Jason’s background as a terrific fit for us and our clients given the evolving office sector and his long-tenured experience in Houston.”
While some believe the Houston office market’s future looks dim — Colliers reports Houston’s office vacancy rate was 23.2% in Q4 2022, well above the national average of 16.5% — Presley told Bisnow he believes the city's real issue is oversupply.
“I’m less concerned about long-term office demand problems as I am about supply,” he said. “In the 2012-2014 cycle, we built 22M SF that it turned out the market couldn’t absorb.”
The slowdown of new development since, combined with stable demand and more office-to-residential conversions, means that vacancy should start to abate, Presley said, noting Houston’s relatively high return-to-office rate.
Houston office occupancy ranged from 43.8% to 69.6% of pre-pandemic levels last week, according to Kastle Systems data.
Presley's new role comes amid a slew of other members of the Houston commercial real estate market making moves in the past month.
Tyler Garrett and David Baker both left executive positions with Transwestern. Garrett joined JLL’s Houston office as executive vice president, managing director of agency leasing, where he leads the region’s landlord representation team.
Baker joined Newmark as an executive managing director, specializing in office landlord representation.
Jennifer Campbell’s team moved from Institutional Property Advisors to Cushman & Wakefield’s Houston office where they will join the firm’s Sun Belt multifamily advisory group. At Cushman & Wakefield, Campbell is executive managing director, Joshua Hoffman is senior director and Avery Klatt is director.
The Etsky Car Wash Team also moved from Marcus & Millichap to Colliers’ Houston office, where Ben Etskovitz and Sam Etskovitz are vice presidents and Mason Rabel is an associate.
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