CREBA Honors Top D.C. Brokers At Annual Awards Ceremony
Four hundred D.C. commercial real estate professionals came together Tuesday evening at The Ritz-Carlton in the West End to bestow honors to the top-performing brokers and most respected executives in the industry.
One of the top honors at the annual CREBA Awards event, hosted by the Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Association, was given to Transwestern Executive Managing Director Phil McCarthy, who received the Joseph Stettinius Jr. Leadership Award.
The award, named after the former Americas CEO of Cushman & Wakefield who died in 2018 at age 55, was presented to McCarthy by his longtime partner in leading Transwestern's Mid-Atlantic region, Keith Foery.
"I am so honored by this award, but anyone who knows me knows that this is actually a shared achievement with my partner of 33 years, Keith Foery," McCarthy told Bisnow in an email. "Keith is the former Naval officer, the ballast to our partnership. The stabilizing influence for our clients and partners. Because he is who he is, I get to be who I am."
McCarthy and Foery have spearheaded Transwestern's acquisition of two D.C.-area firms in recent months — MGA and West, Lane & Schlager — part of a larger national expansion for the firm.
"I love to see how Phil has Transwestern growing even in times where we’re facing a lot of challenges," Carr Properties CEO Oliver Carr, who brought on McCarthy's team to lease the high-rise Wilson office building in Bethesda, said in an awards video.
Another top honor of the evening, the Brendan McCarthy Memorial Award, was given to JLL Executive Managing Director Steve Conley.
Conley, a capital markets broker with 35 years of experience, launched HFF's D.C. office in 1999 and then joined JLL in 2019 as part of its $2B acquisition of HFF. His team has closed over $46B of commercial real estate deals during his career, according to his bio on JLL's website.
The James L. Eichberg Broker of the Year Award was given to CBRE Vice Chairman Rob Faktorow.
A 37-year veteran at CBRE, Faktorow founded the firm's data center practice. He has also represented major office tenants in the D.C. area, and he has been a member of CBRE's Institutional Investment Sales Group.
CREBA's Rising Star Award was given to BXP Vice President of Leasing Erin Cotter.
Cotter was promoted to vice president this year after joining BXP in 2019, according to her LinkedIn page. She previously spent more than five years with Cushman & Wakefield and DTZ, which merged in 2015.
Since joining BXP, Cotter has led the REIT's spec suite program at Reston Town Center and successfully signed leases or agreements for all 27 of the spaces, BXP Vice President of Leasing Sam Orr said in the awards video.
"One of the best hires ever for our leasing team," Jake Stroman, BXP's co-head of the D.C. region, said of Cotter in the video. "She has been really instrumental to our group in that she brings an energy and enthusiasm and creativity to every deal she works on, both big and small."
The remainder of the CREBA awards given out Tuesday evening are listed below.
Top D.C. Leasing Broker: CBRE's Kevin Howard
Top Maryland Leasing Broker: Colliers' Adam Schindler
Top Virginia Leasing Broker: JLL's Jeff Groh
Top GSA Leasing Broker: Savills' Mett Miller
Top Developer/Landlord Agent: Carr Properties' Kaitlyn Rausse
Top Retail Leasing Broker: Dochter & Alexander's Dave Dochter and Matt Alexander
Top Sales Broker: Jorge Rosa, Cushman & Wakefield
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D.C. Leasing Transaction of the Year: The British School, brokered by Cushman & Wakefield's Mark Richardson
Maryland Leasing Transaction of the Year: BioReliance, brokered by Colliers' Adam Schindler
Virginia Leasing Transaction of the Year: T-Mobile, brokered by Brandywine's Jerry Kilkenny and Stephanie Morgan and Cushman & Wakefield's Marc Rosenberg and Anne Rosenau
Leasing Transaction of the Year Under 75K SF: Federated Wireless, brokered by JBG Smith's Andrea Murray, Brian Cotter, Leanne Berthiaume and Connor Steward and JLL's Jay Farmer and Adam Shreiner
Sales Transaction of the Year: the Universal North and Universal South buildings, sold by JBG Smith to Post Brothers and brokered by Newmark's Jud Ryan and James Cassidy
Finance Transaction of the Year: Brookfield Properties' Zachary Cohn, Justin Kollender and Marshall McNair for a pair of financing deals at 77 K St. NE and 650 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Retail Transaction of the Year: Lidl and OneLife Fitness at Upton Plaza, brokered by Donohoe's Bert Donohoe and Don Konz and H&R Retail's Brad Buslik
Project of the Year: Marriott International's headquarters, developed by BXP and Bernstein Cos.
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Best Architecture Firm: Collective Architecture
Best Contractor: DFS Construction
Best Flexible Office Space Provider: Industrious
Best Furniture Vendor: Washington Workplace
Best Law Firm: Cooley
Best Moving Company: Fitzgerald Commercial Movers
Best Developer: JBG Smith
