Trammell Crow's Boston-Based Investment Team Jumps Ship

BOSTON-In a move that has shaken up the commercial real estate industry here, an entire team at Trammell Crow has resigned and signed on with rival Cushman & Wakefield. The move is especially significant because the team, the Investment Services Group, is among the top investment teams in this city, selling over $1 billion in assets in each of the last three years.

The team leader, Robert E. Griffin Jr., along with Marci Griffith, Ed Maher Jr. and Christopher Griffin, left along with mid-level brokers and support staff, totaling 14 people. Thomas Collins confirms for GlobeSt.com that Cushman & Wakefield has hired Griffin and his team and adds that it’s a “homecoming” for the brokers. Griffin, Griffith and Maher all worked for Cushman & Wakefield in the early 1990s before moving, as a team, to Fallon Hines O’Connor, which was acquired by Trammell Crow three years ago for $35 million.

According to Collins, “Rob, who leads the team, was thinking about what to do as a group. He approached us.” Griffin will serve as president of Cushman & Wakefield’s New England office. Griffith and Maher will serve as executive directors and Christopher Griffin will be a senior director.

Among Griffin’s clients are MGI Properties, PaineWebber, MetLife, Hart Advisers, Shaw’s Supermarkets, Congress Group Ventures, Westbrook Partners and RREEF. The team’s recent deals include One Federal Street, which was a $375.4 million deal; State Street Banking Building, a $268.4 million deal; 99 High Street, a $213.5 million deal; One Kendall Square, a $192 million deal; Arsenal on the Charles, a $168 million deal; One Memorial Drive, a $112.5 million deal; and, Waltham Woods Corporate Center, a $104.5 million deal.

This is Trammell Crow’s second defection in less than six months. This summer, four brokers from Trammell Crow, Bob Richards, John Barry, Steven Purpora and Michael Frisoli joined forces with two brokers from CB Richard Ellis/Whittier Partners to form a new firm.