Newmark is growing its capital markets team with Atlanta-based Conor Lalor, who comes on as a president and head of retail capital markets for North America.

Lalor will work with market leads across the country on the sale, financing and recapitalization of retail and mixed-use assets, the firm announced Thursday.

He was with Eastdil Secured for more than a decade, running the retail business in the Sun Belt and Eastern U.S. His teams transacted more than $25B in deals in that time.

Despite the turmoil the sector has faced over the last 10-plus years in the form of e-commerce, the pandemic and now inflation, fundamentals for retail properties seem to be evening out.

The availability rate of retail space across the country is around 5%, its lowest point in more than a decade, and retailers opened more stores than they closed in 2023, the third year in a row they've done so. Retail landlords are no longer giving their tenants discounted rents.

"This is an exciting time in the retail sector, with strong fundamentals and investor interest rapidly expanding," Lalor said in a statement.

Lalor's move is also the second big hire Newmark has made away from Eastdil in as many months. In February, Newmark announced it hired Jonathan Firestone as co-head of debt and structured finance. Firestone spent 23 years at Eastdil before making the switch.