NEW YORK CITY—Hotel brokerage Hodges Ward Elliott has expanded beyond the hospitality sector, opening a New York office that will house its commercial investment sales brokerage practice. Heading the new office will be Will Silverman, who has closed billions of dollars in sales transactions himself.

The new practice will broker investment sales in retail, office and multifamily as well as land. HWE has already been among the New York City market's most active brokerages, having arranged more than $1.5 billion in hotel sales thus far in 2015.

Silverman joins HWE as managing director from Savills Studley, where he closed approximately $6 billion in deals totaling 18 million square feet. Bringing Silverman aboard was critical to establishing the new office, says Mark Elliott, HWE's president and partner.

“Will's methodology is more than just running a process, but one of seeing the possibilities of real estate's potential and then creatively and persuasively explaining such a perspective, which is a perfect fit for Hodges Ward Elliott's approach,” says Elliott. He adds that Silverman has earned “his well-deserved, sterling reputation, and we are proud to have him on our team in such a key leadership role.”

Silverman plans to build a significant platform for HWE in New York. “HWE has transacted more than 50% of its volume with international buyers over the past two years, and we are in a unique position to expand our service from this well established platform,” he says.

The expansion is a logical outgrowth of HWE's current book of business. “More than half of our clients who maintain a large hotel exposure trade in commercial real estate assets, and we look forward to offering our firm's exceptional sales, recapitalization and debt-placement services across an expanded spectrum of property types,” says Bill Hodges, the firm's CEO and founder. “This move is not about adding a dot on a map; it is about delivering on our commitment to serving our clientele with the depth of talent, reach and intellectual rigor to which they've become accustomed.”