CBRE Brokers Unite With Madison

The former CBRE brokers are Hunt Barnett, Chris Houge and Rick Buckley, all formerly of CBRE's Century City office. The other principals of the new firm are Bob Safai and Gary Weiss. Safai founded the original Madison Partners in 1996 and operated it from offices in Brentwood. In the new Madison Partners, he says, "We are all equal partners."

Weiss, who most recently was with the JH Snyder Co., also spent 13 years with Studley in Los Angeles and three years with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

The Madison Partners principals tell GlobeSt.com that the new firm will provide tenant representation, landlord representation and investment sales, a combination of services that they say is rare if not unique in Los Angeles.

"Our combined expertise allows us to cover all the disciplines of real estate," says Safai. He says Madison Partners until now has been known primarily as an investment brokerage, although the company has also provided landlord and tenant representation as well as advisory work.

Barnett says Madison Partners will differ from other boutique brokerages in that "the other boutique brokerages typically emphasize one aspect of the business, such as tenant representation or landlord listings or small investment sales." He says Madison Partners' emphasis on full service is "analogous to what the large brokerages are trying to do," but the new brokerage sees itself as "more nimble" and capable of moving faster than the larger firms.

Weiss describes the Madison Partners vision as "a very collaborative shop" with a total of 14 brokers. "We're going to chase everything together," he says.Collectively, the Madison Partners principals have transacted more than $16 billion worth of real estate comprising approximately 60 million sf and 2,500 deals. Their combined client list includes Fortune 500 companies, Big Five accounting firms, major law firms, entertainment companies, government agencies, insurance companies, REITS, institutional owners and pension funds. The firm's pending deals include $300 million in sales and financing; and 600,000 sf in lease transactions valued at $200 million.

For Barnett, Buckley and Houge, the move marks the second time the three have left CB Richard Ellis. The first time came in the 1990s, when they were hired away by Insignia/ESG as it expanded heavily into the L.A. market. They became part of CBRE again last year when the firm acquired Insignia.