David Kaplansky is leaving Jones Lang LaSalle to head to Colliers International.
Mr. Kaplansky is a veteran broker who has handled a number of sizable deals, including a 31,000-square-foot lease last year where he represented the Alzheimer’s Association in a renewal and expansion at 360 Lexington Avenue.
Mr. Kaplansky told The Commercial Observer he was making the move because he felt Colliers’ platform was better suited for his business.
“The culture, the available resources, the opportunity to be entrepreneurial and the interaction I get with local management… was the right environment for me to excel,” Mr. Kaplansky said in an emailed statement from a Colliers spokesman.
Mr. Kaplansky’s hiring comes amid several defections in recent months. One of the highest profile moves to date is Arthur Mirante’s decision, which was announced today, to switch from Cushman & Wakefield where he was formerly the chief executive, to Avison Young, a Canadian based firm that is planning to expand in the U.S. and in recent months opened a New York branch.
“It’s an opportunity to build a business from the ground up,” Mr. Mirante told The Commercial Observer in an exclusive interview on Wednesday evening.
Mr. Mirante depicted a leasing brokerage industry rife with dissatisfaction among brokers, an environment that he says will make it possible for him to recruit top level talent.
“You have professionals who have reached a level where they don’t think they can continue to grow, maybe it’s crowded at their firm or their managers aren’t showing them the right kind of appreciation,” Mr. Mirante said. “I think that brokers see smaller companies as a greater opportunity to determine their own success whereas the larger companies might annoint relationships and kind of play favorites, holding some brokers back.”
