C&W, ACORE, Inland Build Out Platforms

NEW YORK CITY—Cushman & Wakefield, ACORE Capital and Inland Real Estate Advisors all began the week by announcingnew hires and the expansion or launch of service platforms. In the case of ACORE, launched this past spring by four former Starwood Capital Group executives, the appointments bolster its originations activities throughout the US, as well as its underwriting, accounting and operations team at its San Francisco headquarters. C&W is moving to expand its diligence & advisory practice, while along similar lines, Inland Advisors is launching a valuation arm, bringing in Andrew G. Hartigan to run it.

ACORE's new hires include four managing directors: Lance Wright and Jason Hernandez, both most recently with GE Capital Real Estate; Tony Fineman, formerly with Brickman; and Stuart Silverberg, formerly of Starwood Property Trust. Leon Wang, most recently with Bank of China in New York City, joins the company as a director.

Another former STWD employee is Jason Miller, who has joined ACORE as a VP. Also coming to ACORE after working at GE Capital Real Estate are VP Kory Klebanoff and assistant VP Allyson Van Blarcum.

The San Francisco-based underwriting, accounting and operations team now includes Joseph George, director and head of underwriting; David Ruiz, director of operations; and Sharon Figi, director and structured finance manager. Additionally, ACORE has opened a Dallas office, which will house the originations team responsible for loan originations across the central US. ACORE's asset management and servicing operations will also be based in Dallas, and the company is looking to hire the head of asset management as well as a construction loan portfolio manager for that office.

At C&W, Brian Murray and David Risdon have joined as senior managing directors in the New York and Atlanta offices, respectively, and will focus on banking and investment advisory work. Along with director Matt Blair, this team will form the nucleus of a sub-service line to be known as special operations, under the D&A practice group.

Larry Lewis joined the firm as managing director in Houston, and together with directors Sonia Horton and Linda Le, both directors, he will focus on diligence and underwriting services for both debt and equity transactions, restructures and recapitalizations. This specifically includes due diligence and underwriting for CMBS, B-piece, mezzanine debt, preferred equity and equity, as well as surveillance of loan portfolios.

The company's goal in building up its valuation & advisory platform, including D&A, has been “to add 'best-in-class' professionals that 'bolt on' to our core asset class expertise to deliver a 360-degree real estate support platform to our clients," says John Busi, C&W's global head of V&A. “Risk analytics in their optimal form need to combine experienced diligence practitioners with real estate professionals who are actively interacting with the real estate being analyzed."

Hartigan has joined Inland Advisors in Oak Brook, IL as senior executive—valuation services. He will lead Inland Advisors' valuation services team and oversee the commercial appraisal engagements on behalf of clients.

“We created the valuation services group to meet the needs of our diverse client base, who continually acquire, sell, exchange and evaluate their real estate portfolios,” says Paul Rogers, president of Inland Advisors. “A significant part of our valuation services will involve litigation support, ad valorem and institutional financing.”