WASHINGTON, DC—Over the past few months Newmark Grubb Knight Frank has scored some big recruitment wins. Here in Washington DC, the firm has lured Delta Associates' Greg Leisch and his colleague Sandy Paul. The Boston office has brought over Mitchell Jacoby and Leeanne Rizzo, of Grubb & Ellis and Colliers International, respectively. Elise Couston of Paine/Wetzel Assoc. was recruited as senior managing director in its Chicago office. Last October GDC/RE founders Joe Doucett and Tim Gunnink brought their team of retail specialists to the Phoenix office.

The company has hired a number of reps from Savills Studley as well, building up its East Coast teams. In the Miami office Greg Katz, a vice chairman, will co-head the Florida region with Vice Chairman Patrick Duffy. Carlyle Coffin is joining as managing director, as is Jeremy Hakala, as an associate. In the Carolinas, Tim Capps will head NGKF's operations. Will Greene, a senior managing director, Greg Capps, a managing director and Mike Hopper, a senior managing director, have also joined.

And so on. More hires are expected as the company continues to expand and seek out the best possible talent in markets around the US, CEO Barry Gosin tells GlobeSt.com.

To be sure, the firm does have some geographic goals: it wants to expand in Maryland and target retail in particular, he says. Indeed, DC has been a growth target for the company, having hired 43 people in the area, 28 of which are brokers.

The bigger question to ask, though, is not where but why—why are brokers leaving their companies to work for NGKF, in some cases en mass in teams? In general this is a question the CRE industry, indeed every sector of the economy, would like answered about skilled workers and talent. Is it the prestige of a bigger name, a national platform? Is it the challenge of trying something new? Is it the money?

If you ask Gosin, he'll tell you that, in the case of NGKF, it is the allure of working with a high-quality company that is in growth mode. "We are doing exciting things now and people want to be a part of it."

Certainly that might explain why Leisch is leaving the firm he founded 30 years ago to join NGKF.

But let's face it, the money probably plays a role as well and based on an earnings presentation by parent company BGC partners for Q4 2014 it appears that NGKF is positioned to deliver. Namely, one of the slides of the presentation showed that average revenue per broker increased 17% year over year.

In general, real estate has become a growth story for BGC: since 2012, the first year it broke out its stats for this sector, growth has been 120%.

And overall, BGC has not been shy in advertising its goal of $1 billion in revenue in 2015.

While its activity to date could well push BGC over that mark, the company is not finished its acquisition spree just yet. Newmark doesn't have a limit on the acquisitions or hires it wants to make in the near future, Gosin says -- and they will continue to expand so long as they are high quality and meet the firm's criteria.