WASHINGTON, DC—CBRE has tapped Michael Mrozek to be managing director of Asset Services for the company's Mid-Atlantic Region, a position in which he oversees nearly 30 million square feet of office, industrial and retail properties.

It is a significant promotion for Mrozek, who joined CBRE in 2007 and has been based in Houston, Texas. While there Mrozek managed several high-level projects, including the Galleria Office Towers, a 1.1 million-square foot, three-building portfolio. He also orchestrated the grand opening of Hess Tower - the first LEED Platinum Core and Shell building in the Houston CBD.

Mrozek is the first to say there are major differences between Houston and Washington DC and the larger region. But, he tells GlobeSt.com, there are fundamental similarities as well.

"The biggest difference is scale, of course. Buildings here in the Mid-Atlantic tend to be a little smaller, which creates other opportunities in staffing and management." A large building in Houston could easily be one-million-square feet; the largest buildings in DC and beyond tend top out at the half-million-square foot mark, he says. "Density is so much greater here as well," Mrozek, who has already made the move to Washington DC, says.

Another difference: there are more mixed-use products in the Mid-Atlantic region whereas in Houston, with its sprawl, tends have some mixed-use buildings in the CBD but not in the suburbs.

"It's not a cliché – Texas is big," Mrozek says.

But there are significant similarities as well, including demographics and income levels.

"And it's definitely a close race as to which city has the worst traffic." The challenge of driving from Baltimore, MD to, say, Tysons, VA, is about equal to a cross-city drive in Houston, he says.

Mrozek intends to be an "active observer" for the next 100 days and then develop a detailed plan for the group's growth targets, he says. "The goal for the next few months is to help identify ways in which we can get better."