The D.C.-area brokerage community gathered Wednesday night for the market’s biggest real estate awards ceremony of the year: the Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Association Awards.
Hosted at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown D.C., the ceremony honored the biggest CRE dealmakers and transactions across D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
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The top honors of the night — the five named awards, which were presented along with video compilations — went to JLL’s Evan Behr, CBRE’s Randy Harrell, Lincoln Property Co.’s Brandon Ernst, CBRE’s Brett Schweitzer and JLL’s Elizabeth Cooper.
A CBRE team led by Lou Christopher — which has since moved to Stream Realty Partners — won Leasing Transactions of the Year for the D.C. and Maryland categories.
In D.C., the Leasing Transaction of the Year went to BXP's deal with Sidley Austin at 2100 M St. NW. The law firm preleased 240K SF of a new 320K SF office building that BXP is set to develop at the West End site.
Christopher and Jordan Brainard, who were at CBRE last year before joining Texas-based Stream in February, were honored along with BXP’s Jake Stroman and Saara Brown.
The sale of 2100 M, which put that lease in motion, also won a CREBA award. The 300K SF vacant office property had been taken by its lender, AllianceBernstein, at a foreclosure auction in August, then was sold to BXP for $55M at the end of the year in conjunction with the lease closing.
That deal won the Sales Transaction of the Year, with BXP's Stroman and Pete Otteni taking home the prize.
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Maryland's Leasing Transaction of the Year went to Geico’s headquarters lease at Carr Properties’ The Wilson in downtown Bethesda. The insurance giant leased 100K SF across five floors at the office building in February 2025 in a move from its Friendship Heights campus. Geico added a floor to the lease this year.
Christopher and his colleague Asher Inman — now also at Stream — won for the transaction, which they completed at CBRE, as did JLL’s Bernie McCarthy, Amanda Davis and Danny Sheridan and Carr Properties’ Ryan Lopez.
For Northern Virginia, Booz Allen Hamilton’s headquarters lease at Comstock Cos.’ Reston Station development won the Leasing Transaction of the Year.
The contracting giant took 310K SF at Reston Row Plaza in its move from The Meridian Group's EastBoro complex in Tysons. That award went to Cushman & Wakefield’s Michael Christian, Craig Estey and Greg Millwater.
The Finance Transaction of the Year went to the deal to bring Stonebridge’s residential conversion of Victory Center in Alexandria to fruition. The 607K SF office building at 5001 Eisenhower Ave. is set to transform into 377 units of affordable housing.
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Lincoln’s Ernst won the Joseph Stettinius Jr. Leadership Award, which recognizes a “a true leader who puts the good of all his or her colleagues first and is a confidant and great friend to the business community.”
“This guy’s five stars. He checks all the boxes,” Douglas Development Corp. founder and President Douglas Jemal said in Ernst’s compilation video. “He’ll follow through to the nth degree. He’s easy to talk to. He’s easy to reach. He’s just a good guy.”
JLL’s Behr won the Brendan McCarthy Memorial Award, which goes to a member who embodies the qualities of its namesake, demonstrating “unselfishness, caring and giving of oneself to help others.”
“He’s one of the most passionate and enthusiastic people you will ever meet,” CBRE Executive Vice President Brad Wilner said in Behr’s video. “The energy level, I don’t know where it comes from.”
CBRE’s Harrell won the James L. Eichberg Broker of the Year award, CBRE’s Schweitzer won the Rising Star award, and JLL’s Cooper won the Agent of Change award.
A full list of the night’s winners and links to all honorary videos can be found here.
