Avison Young is continuing to beef up its New York City investment sales team.

After hiring James Nelson from Cushman & Wakefield to lead its Tri-State investment sales operations, the Toronto-based commercial brokerage has added to Nelson's team with the hire of James Kinsey as principal and director of investment sales. Kinsey joined Avison Young from the firm he founded in 2012, Kinsey Capital LLC.

“Having owned and operated my own firm while developing teams, I understand what it takes to be successful in this business,” Kinsey said in a statement. “I was looking to join a firm that aligned with my values and philosophy of aggressive growth, collaboration and a client-focused approach. Avison Young fit the bill, and I look forward to working with the team and tapping into its successful Principal-led platform that is global in reach, yet local to the New York City investment community.”

Kinsey worked under Nelson when they were at Massey Knakal, which was acquired by C&W in 2014. Kinsey has brokered the sale of more than $625M worth of properties throughout his career.

Avison Young is building up its investment sales brokerage in New York City as the market is somewhat in flux. While sales plummeted in 2017 from their peak in 2014 and 2015, there was more activity toward the end of the year, and already Manhattan has seen a near-record transaction in 2018: Google's purchase of Chelsea Market for roughly $2.4B.