Heaton, who will be based in the City of Commerce/Mid-Cities submarket, is a 22-year veteran of Colliers Seeley International, where he was a senior vice president. He has closed over 10 million sf of industrial transactions and investment sales with an aggregate value of more than $200 million in the past two years, and he has been one of the top producers company-wide for Colliers Seeley for the past 15 years. He is a past officer with the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), and is a member of the American Industrial Real Estate Association and other state and local Realtor groups.

Heaton is the latest in a series of brokers and brokerage executives in Southern California who have switched firms in recent months as individuals and firms alike jockey for the best positions both now and in the future. Brokerage firm executives say part of their strategy is to recruit the best talent now so that they will be better prepared to take advantage of conditions when the market improves.

"In a slow time like this," Heaton tells GlobeSt.com, "you have a little more time to do some strategic planning and assess where you want to be over the next few years." He says he made the switch to Insignia "for the opportunity to be with a national firm and for the challenge of assembling a team that will grow our industrial presence in the L.A. region."

Insignia has not said how large a team it might assemble in building its industrial brokerage, but the company's strategy has typically been to recruit top-producing senior brokers from other firms in the region.

Robert Shibuya, Insignia/ESG Executive Vice President for the Western Region, says the company's goal is "to pursue and gain a significant market share" of the industrial brokerage in the Los Angeles Basin, which has a total of approximately 900 million sf of industrial space.