HOUSTON—Berkadia has made two big hires in Houston.

Tucker Knight is the firm's new senior vice president and branch manager. Knight, previously with HFF, brings more than 15 years of experience in commercial real estate finance to Berkadia's mortgage banking team.

In addition to Knight, Corby Chaffin joins Berkadia's Houston office from HFF as a vice president. At Berkadia, the two will be responsible for originating loans for all of Berkadia's available capital sources across the U.S.

“The success that Tucker and Corby have had speaks for itself, originating more than $7 billion in commercial real estate transactions in Houston, the state of Texas and across the U.S,” Warren Higgins, head of mortgage banking at Berkadia, told GlobeSt.com. “We look forward to their many contributions as we continue to expand Berkadia's integrated platform with the best products and personnel.”

Most recently, Knight served as a senior managing director with HFF in the company's Houston office. There, he arranged debt and equity transactions and structured joint venture opportunities with agencies, life insurance companies, pension funds and fund advisors, as well as helped with investment sales of core and value-add assets. Chaffin most recently served as an associate director in the Houston office of HFF, participating in capitalizations on a broad range of product types including multi-housing, retail, office and industrial properties. During his career with HFF, Chaffin structured transactions with a diverse group of capital sources including agencies, life insurance companies, CMBS and debt funds.

During the course of their careers with HFF, Knight and Chaffin collectively originated more than $7 billion in commercial real estate transactions.