James Maddox Heads to Avison Young

LOS ANGELES—James Maddox has joined Avison Young as a principal in the firm's West Los Angeles office. In this new role, he will lead the firm's real estate consulting and advisory services in Southern California, with a special focus on strategic advisory and capital market solutions, serving major real estate investors, owners and developers.

“I was attracted to Avison Young primarily because of its unique principal-led, client-centric culture,” Maddox tells GlobeSt.com. “Unlike many real estate services companies that have service line “silos,” which rarely collaborate or communicate, Avison Young's senior principals deliver integrated solutions across the entire organization in order to meet client needs.  As a generalist with broad expertise in finance and strategic advisory, I was seeking a platform to deliver multi-disciplinary solutions for clients, not a single product or service line. No two client engagements are the same; there is a real need to be creative and resourceful. Avison Young will enable me and my team to deliver best-in-class solutions for our clients.”

Maddox is a 30-year industry veteran with extensive experience in both real estate and corporate finance. His impressive resume includes leadership positions with such well-established firms as Citicorp, Weyerhaeuser Mortgage, PNC Real Estate (formerly ARCS Commercial Mortgage) and Gramercy Capital. “I can draw upon my broad background in finance, strategy, restructuring and consulting with both large and small organizations (in both depressed and robust markets), together with Avison Young's international platform and tremendous team, to bring lasting value for our clients,” says Maddox.

During his seasoned career, he has met many of his goals, leading financial advisory actions that total more than $2.3 billion in both commercial and residential real estate. He plans to bring that same ambitious attitude to Avison Young and capture new client engagements and increase value for real estate clients. “In particular, I see a major opportunity to assist and advise baby boom owners of legacy portfolios who want to develop and implement a global plan for their enterprise to meet future business, family and personal needs,” says Maddox. “Many of these legacy owners are very concerned about preserving and protecting asset values for the next generation, and they also want to plan for their own futures.  They also want to align stakeholders and avoid or minimize partnership and personal conflicts.  In other cases, we will see leadership vacuums or other crises that arise when a future transition plan is not in place, which we can very effectively address by providing interim leadership and support while a plan is developed and implemented. Additionally, many clients will face looming debt maturities in 2015 to 2017 that may require re-capitalization or de-leveraging of major assets or portfolios. We will be well positioned to help clients tackle these and other challenges.”

Avison Young has been adding to its roster of seasoned real estate professionals. Last month, GlobeSt.com reported that the firm hired 11 new professionals in the New York City area to provide additional coverage in the tri-state region.