Williamson will work with James E. Savage and Jeff Hollinden, both former Granite names who shifted three years ago to HFF's Houston office, now the firm's official headquarters. Granite Partners did not return telephone calls for comment on the exit and possible replacement prior to publication time.

H. Scott Galloway, senior managing director and co-head of the Houston office, tells GlobeSt.com that Williamson's hiring, just like that of David Fournier from the Boston office of Insignia/ESG, are not tied to a new strategy based on the HFF management team's takeover from Lend Lease, but rather part of a five-year push to add to the size and number of the investment sales teams.

Galloway says the plan is to provide "a full array of real estate capital markets solutions-- debt, private equity, investment sales and structured finance," all on one floor. "We can talk from A to Z," he adds.