Vestian, a tenant-focused commercial real estate brokerage with 30 offices worldwide, has expanded to Philadelphia with a new hire.
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The firm brought on Tommy Choi as executive managing director and market leader of its new Philadelphia office, it announced Tuesday. Vestian is looking to lease space in Center City for the office, a spokesperson said.
Choi comes from Greenwood Commercial Real Estate, where he was a founder and led its Philadelphia office for the last five years. Prior to that, he spent three years at SVN and three years at Cresa.
A Temple University graduate, Choi has represented major real estate occupiers including Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Paramount, the University of Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia, according to Vestian's release.
“Tommy’s experience and deep relationships throughout the Philadelphia business community make him an excellent addition to Vestian as we establish a dedicated presence in the market,” Vestian CEO Michael Silver said in the release.
At Vestian, Choi will focus on growing its office and industrial tenant representation business in the region, as well as providing corporate real estate advisory and portfolio services.
Philadelphia's office market has had tenant-favorable dynamics in recent years, with vacancy at more than 22% as of last quarter, according to CBRE. Its industrial market is tighter at 11% vacancy, but that has also risen over the last several years.
The city has a number of commercial real estate brokerages that Vestian will compete with, including the big national firms that have tenant rep teams and local tenant-focused firms like Tactix Real Estate Advisors. Another local tenant-focused firm, SSH Real Estate, was acquired by Transwestern earlier this year.
Based in Chicago, Vestian employs more than 500 commercial real estate professionals around the world, according to its website. Its other East Coast offices are in Boston, New York, Charlotte, Raleigh, Atlanta, Tampa, Miami and Southport, Connecticut.
Last week, the company hired another executive managing director, retail broker Rick Ste. Marie, in the Connecticut office. He previously spent 20 years as vice president of real estate at Panera Bread.
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