CREBA Honors Top D.C. Deal-Makers At Annual Ceremony
Remote work trends and challenging capital markets meant last year was a slow one for major leases, sales volume and development in the D.C. area.
But at the annual CREBA Awards, held Tuesday at The Ritz-Carlton Washington, D.C., hundreds of commercial real estate professionals gathered to celebrate a variety of brokers and projects that have waded through the difficult terrain.
The winners represented a morphing landscape in the greater D.C. region. Awarded deals ranged from office-to-residential conversions to university acquisitions to trophy redevelopments.
The Meridian Group Senior Vice President Katie Yanushonis won the Brendan McCarthy Memorial Award, accepting it while joined by nine previous recipients.
“We are very grateful for her ability to lead by example, her care and empathy across the board,” Carr Properties' Kaitlyn Rausse said in Yanushonis’ tribute video.
The brokers who achieved the most leasing volume last year in D.C., Maryland and Virginia received awards: JLL’s Evan Behr and Doug Mueller won in D.C., JLL’s Danny Sheridan came out on top in Maryland, and Cushman & Wakefield’s Tim Summers prevailed in Virginia.
Stream Realty Partners won Sales Transaction of the Year for brokering the University of Southern California’s $49.4M acquisition of the former National Broadcasting Association headquarters in Dupont Circle at 1171 N St. NW.
An office-to-residential conversion won Finance Transaction of the Year. Cushman & Wakefield’s Marshall Scallan and Michael Zelin won for the 1425 New York Ave. NW conversion. Foulger-Pratt is converting the 13-story building in the heart of downtown into 255 apartments. It is one of just a handful of conversions to begin construction, as the projects have proven difficult to finance.
Three leasing transactions of the year went to one project each in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Teams from JLL and CBRE won for the Crowell & Moring 199K SF lease at the former WMATA headquarters in Chinatown.
Teams from Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE won for the National Cancer Institute’s 574K SF headquarters renewal in Rockville. Teams from JLL and Cushman & Wakefield won for Arcfield’s 124K SF full-building sublease in Chantilly.
The Rising Star Award went to Newmark’s Max Planning.
“We would drive around, and I would say, ‘I did that building and I did that lease and I did that lease,’ so he’s been looking at buildings for as long as he’s been alive,” Spartin Planning’s Anne Planning said in her son’s tribute video.
“I had no idea that Max was under 35, to be totally candid,” BXP’s Jake Stroman said in the video. “Max feels like and acts like a tenured professional in town.”
JLL’s Evan Behr and Doug Mueller won the James L. Eichberg Broker of the Year award.
“This team is the reason we won this award,” Behr said in his acceptance speech. “This team works harder than anybody.”
The Joseph Stettinius Jr. Leadership Award went to CBRE’s Brad Flickinger.
“Leadership is a privilege,” he said upon receiving the award. “You don’t get to declare it. People have to give it to you.”
The remainder of the Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Association of Greater Washington, D.C.'s awards given out Tuesday evening are listed below.
Top Agents of the Year
GSA Leasing: Cushman & Wakefield’s Scott Johnston
Developer/Landlord Agent: Carr Properties’ Kaitlyn Rausse
Retail Leasing: Dochter & Alexander’s Dave Dochter and Matt Alexander
Top Leasing Agent, 35 Years or Younger: CBRE’s Harry Stephens
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Leasing Transaction of the Year Under 75K SF
Regional: The Cadmus Group, JBG Smith's Andrea Murray and Brian Cotter, and Transwestern's Michael Goldman and Kamis Lawrence
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Retail Transaction of the Year
Regional: Water Park at National Landing, JBG Smith
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Best in Industry
Architecture Firm: OTJ Architects
Contractor: Rand Construction
Flexible Office Space Provider: Space+ by Brookfield Properties
Furniture Vendor: Washington Workplace
Law Firm: Greenstein DeLorme & Luchs PC
Developer: Federal Realty Investment Trust
Project of the Year: 20 Mass redevelopment
CORRECTION, APRIL 10, 8:20 A.M. ET: A previous version of this story misidentified two brokers posing for D.C.’s Lease Transaction of the Year photo. It has been updated.
