MIAMI-The commercial real estate industry is seeing some twists and turns this year—not so much in the market but in the brokerages. Young retail guns Paxti Diaz and Danny Diaz have switched allegiances to CBRE.

The two Diazes are joining forces with another Diaz, CBRE senior vice president Paco Diaz, to focus on opportunities in South Florida’s retail market. Paxti comes to CBRE from Horizon Properties while Danny came from a large local retail-focused brokerage. Both will work alongside Paco as associates.

“We feel there is going to be more activity in 2012 is than in 2011,” Paco tells GlobeSt.com. “We wanted to use or leverage our experience across different generations. I’ve been in the business for close to 30 years and both Paxti and Danny have been in the business for about five years and understand the new concepts. They have new relationships with younger folks, which is also an asset to the team.”

Prior to joining CBRE, Paxti was responsible for leasing activities on 10 shopping centers in Miami-Dade County with Horizon Properties. He previously served as a site acquisition manager with The Paradise Development Group, and a leasing representative with Equity One.

“The banks are going to make a stronger push in the next couple of years as they overcome the credit issue of 2008,” Paxti tells GlobeSt.com. “We are seeing a lot of work done in the medical sector and national retail and restaurant tenants are leasing as retail sales improve.”

Paxti’s brother, Danny, joins CBRE with a history of successful retail leasing experience. He tells GlobeSt.com a few of the big name retailers are still closing down, and the name of the game in 2012 is location.

“There is space available but it’s all about location,” he says. “We’re not back to the boom times just yet so everyone needs to be willing to make deals. Finding the equal medium is still a challenge.”

For Paco’s part, he was among CBRE's Top 25 Retail Producers in the country in 2010. He has represented national and regional tenants throughout South Florida, Puerto Rico and Spain. In 2005, he achieved Top Retail Performer in the U.S. and became a two-time recipient of the Colbert Coldwell Circle award—the firm's recognition the top 100 professionals among all specialties in the country.

“Big box space is at a premium,” Paco says. “You are going to see some new development getting planned, which is very encouraging since we haven’t seen any new development in the last five years. The vacancy rate is going down to 5% here in Miami, so when that happens rental rates tend to go up and new development opportunities tend to surface.”