WASHINGTON, DC-CB Richard Ellis is building out two niche areas of its commercial real estate platform that it believes to be on the brink of morphing into more robust categories. One is private client investment, an area that includes both high net worth individuals as well as private equity. The other is its automotive sector. The firm has tapped two executives to lead these respective areas.

Company veteran Marc Rampulla is becoming VP of CBRE’s Private Client group, which is part of CBRE’s capital markets platform. Rampulla joined Trammell Crow Co. in 2002 as part of the firm’s local Capital Markets Group and transitioned to CBRE in 2006 when it acquired Trammell. “With the market showing signs of coming out of recession from last year there are a lot of investors sitting on sidelines that have the backing or ability to obtain financing for real estate investment,” he tells GlobeSt.com. “This is a good opportunity to provide a new level of service to these people.” He says the group has several deals in various stages.

Automotive is becoming more important to the real estate community as well, as more dealerships are rethinking strategies. So it’s no surprise that CBRE has decided to build this platform out as well. The company has tapped James Mitchell to join as first vice president. Most recently, Mitchell created and directed the automotive properties division at Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, assisting dealers with the acquisition and disposition of business assets and real estate along with financial transactions.

“CBRE offers us the opportunity to expand our existing regional client base into national markets through the firm’s platform and network,” Mitchell said in a prepared statement. “We also look forward to working work with the company’s capital markets and distressed debt division to bring our knowledge of the distressed automotive properties sector to bear to help grow this service line.”