Lee tells GlobeSt.com in a phone interview the pair decided to leave CBRE after Carter offered them "more opportunity" to practice their expertise "on a global scale."

"I doubt our leaving will have any affect on CBRE's strong private capital team," Lee says. "We left primarily because of an opportunity to expand our platform with a company that is recognized worldwide as a leader" in commercial real estate services.

Lee was a vice president at CBRE; Murphy, a senior consultant. Tony Swann, first vice president in the Atlanta office of CBRE, couldn't be reached for comment by GlobeSt.com's. Lee and Murphy aggregately have participated in deals valued at more than $1 billion.

A real estate professional for 15 years, Lee was with locally based Resource Real Estate Partners before joining CBRE. Murphy has been in commercial real estate for five years, participating in sales totaling over $300 million covering more than 1.5 million sf of properties for institutional and entrepreneurial owners. Prior to his work in CBRE's transaction services sector, Murphy was a senior consultant with CBRE's financial Consulting Group where he underwrote and helped position over $6 billion in transactions.

Joe Terrell, Carter's executive vice president, calls Lee and Murphy "an extremely talented team." He says "their focus on business development and contract negotiation for the sale of office, industrial and retail properties will only add value to the transaction services Carter currently provides."