Don’t Mess With Texas? Transwestern’s Lindsay Ornstein and Patrick Robinson Take Manhattan, One Broker at a Time
By Daniel Edward Rosen September 25, 2012 7:15 am
reprintsDoes Transwestern have a strong retail representation in the city?
Ms. Ornstein: We have a gentleman named Rick Rizzutto in New Jersey. He’s really active.
Have you recruited all the people you need? Or are there some specialists you need to bring in?
Mr. Robinson: I think we have all four legs to the stool: Tenant rep, landlord leasing, property management and investment sales. So we have all of those areas.
Ms. Ornstein: We also have sub-specialties. We have industrial and retail also.
Mr. Robinson: So we have people in those seats, but we’re absolutely still looking for experienced talent that matches our cultures, so that we can continue to fill in the bench. Right now, if a client comes to us and says “I have XYZ assignment,” we’re highly confident. Whether it’s tenant or landlord or property management or investment sales, we can execute on it today. That’s in a very short period of time of being here. Over 40 people we’ve hired, but we will continue to expand the bench—but we are not looking to be a big firm. We are looking to be a meaningful player in the market and compete on all assignments. But big is not a goal at all. We’d rather be a significant firm with a boutique feel.
Ms. Ornstein: Our CEO [Larry Heard] calls it a “global boutique.” We’ve been very deliberate in our hiring. I’ve been in on over 225 interviews, Pat’s been in on well over 300 interviews. We’ve only hired 40 [people]. It’s been a very thoughtful process, and we’re very selective. Who we hire, especially initially, sets the tone and the precedent for our culture in the office itself and our reputation in the industry. We’re hiring really smart people with great reputations and high levels of integrity, [who] reflect well on what we are trying to build.
