CRE Musical Chairs Sees Marketing Moves

MIAMI—For all the chair swapping in the commercial real estate industry in January, there were just as many in the second month of 2013. Indeed, quite a number of Southeast commercial real estate industry veterans saw greener grass in February and jumped the fence. The following are a few of the moves that were on my radar.

Brent LeBlanc landed at Peachtree Hotel Group as senior vice president. He'll handle sourcing new acquisitions, developments and third-party management opportunities, as well as enhancing Peachtree's brand relationships. LeBlanc most recently was vice president of franchise development for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.  

“When we looked to increasing our platform, Brent was an obvious choice because we know he is a perfect cultural fit to our team,” says Greg Friedman, CEO of Peachtree. “He brings a dynamic to the table we did not have previously, and we are confident he will play a key role as Peachtree executes its expanded growth strategy.”

TerraCap Partners brought on Stephen E. Good as the firm's new director of Asset Management. Good is responsible for maximizing the value of all TerraCap-owned commercial real estate assets. He most recently served as senior vice president at NAI Hallmark Partners in Jacksonville, Fla.

"As TerraCap continues to grow its $200 million fund for distress situation commercial real estate, we're excited to welcome someone who has been extensively involved in successful turn-around roles of distressed assets in foreclosure or receivership," says Robert Gray, TerraCap's co-managing principal. "Stephen is an experienced real estate manager whose expertise ranges from construction management and leasing strategies to managing portfolios of multiple asset types."

On the retail front, The Shopping Center Group added Chris Caldwell to its mix. Caldwell now serves as the firm's director of Leasing and is charged with strengthening the landlord services platform in the Southeast. He brings more nearly two decades of experience to the firm. Meanwhile, James S. Wood, Jr. joined Calkain's Tampa office with 20 years of experience in real estate and medical industries on health care properties. His past experience includes positions as executive vice president for SFCC and national sales manager and director of business development for Horizon Medical Products.

Firms are also beefing up their marketing expertise. Horacio LeDon joined Douglas Elliman Real Estate as president of Development Marketing Florida and senior managing director of Development Marketing New. LeDon previously worked at Related and was the West Coast senior vice president for Starwood Capital's ST Residential unit.

Finally, Swire Properties added Mary Arda as director of marketing and public relations. Arda will manage all of Swire's public relations strategies. She has more than 20 years of experience in media, marketing and finance. Before joining Swire, she was the founder, president and CEO of MarketLeaders, an integrated marketing and communications agency that catered to an international clientele from its home office in Buenos Aires, Argentina and satellite office in New York City.

Have an executive move? Promotion? Shoot me an email and let me know. Your announcement could land in next month's CRE Musical Chairs column.