Philly's fantastic growth contributed to HFF's multi-housing transaction volume of $500M in sales so far in 2015. Less than two years since opening its Philadelphia office, the brokerage firm also brings their financing services as the nation’s No. 1 debt intermediary to further execute on behalf of its clients, says senior managing director and Philadelphia office head Mark Thomson (here with Alex and Katherine). Across all products, HFF will execute more than $2B worth of transactions in the Philadelphia MSA this year. Mark, who was born and raised here, opened HFF’s Philadelphia office with an original team of four, has now grown to over 20 and expects to double in size by this time next year. Developers are utilizing HFF not only for sales and financing, but also to raise JV equity, even before the project comes to life. These types of assignments are currently being executed everywhere from Center City and University City to King of Prussia. Mark says that the biggest headwind for development in Philadelphia has been job growth, but with the exciting, large-scale developments happening on both sides of the river, he can now say with conviction that the development will attract the jobs rather than vice versa. For more information on our Bisnow partner, click here.