It's a Seller's Market for Commercial Broker Talent

MIAMI-More top brokers are writing their own financial tickets as leading brokerages vie for high-performers.

One example is George Sacks, who started at Cushman & Wakefield as an office broker in the Miami branch nearly 20 years ago. In 1994, he opened his own firm, Commercial Florida Realty Partners.

He sold the business last year to Grubb & Ellis and became managing director of G&E’s two South Florida offices, operating from Boca Raton regional headquarters.

Brokers have been lured to the Grubb & Ellis banner with lucrative signing bonuses, some rumored in the six-figure category. Sacks’s hires have included Edgar Jones, a 25-year market veteran who last headed Terranova Corp.’s office division.

Since opening its first South Florida office in Fort Lauderdale two months ago, New York-based Julien J. Studley has hired 20 brokers and expects to add another 30 before its first year is over, according to Neal Golden, who manages the company’s Southeast operations from Atlanta. He maintains the new hires signed on without receiving upfront bonuses.

More recently, Timothy Prunka moved from the Shorenstein investment and management company’s Florida division to Insignia/ESG, an international operation that entered the South Florida market last year. As executive director, Prunka is in charge of the Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach staffers, as well as Insignia/ESG’s upstate coverage of Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville, plus the Caribbean.

Just about every major player in commercial real estate services is now represented with South Florida outposts. This is thought to have created a seller’s market for the savviest brokers.

Even those with more modest experience are in much greater demand. Moreover, in order to hold onto the best people, some firms may be forced to strike incentive deals that could include more favorable commission splits for individual brokers.