Cushman & Wakefield’s Adam Spies and Doug Harmon Jump to Newmark
By Andrew Coen February 15, 2023 5:31 pm
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Two of the commercial real estate industry’s most powerful investment sales brokers are jumping ship to one of their fiercest competitors.
Adam Spies and Doug Harmon, who were the highest-ranked investment sales team in Commercial Observer’s 2022 Power 100 list, are leaving Cushman & Wakefield (CWK) for rival brokerage Newmark (NMRK), the Wall Street Journal first reported Wednesday.
The duo, who together executed $22 billion in transaction volume across 165 transactions in 2021, will now work beside Newmark’s Dustin Stolly and Jordan Roeschlaub, who were ranked as the highest among debt and equity brokers last year in CO’s annual Power Finance 50 list.
“It’s a formidable partnership,” said one source upon hearing the news today.
Adam Doneger, Josh King, Kevin Donner, Marcella Fasulo and Avery Silverstein, longtime members of the Spies-Harmon team, are also joining Newmark, sources told CO. Spies and Harmon have worked as partners for more than 20 years.
The team starts Monday, sources said.
“Doug, Adam and members of their long-tenured team joining is a testament to the growth of our platform,” Newmark CEO Barry Gosin said in a statement. “These hires are expected to amplify Newmark’s strength, upwards trajectory and momentum to become the most trusted and sought-after capital markets firm in the world for both producers and clients.”
Gosin noted that the high-profile hire marks the latest example of Newmark’s rise in the capital markets space since its initial public offering in 2017. It generated $155 billion of overall investment sales and debt transactions over a 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2022, a 194 percent increase from 2017.
Harmon and Spies will work alongside Newmark’s current co-heads of U.S. capital markets, Kevin Shannon and Robert Griffin. Harmon and Spies managed a group ranked No. 1 for New York capital markets in 2022 with nearly $5.7 billion of deals closed for the year, which included advising on the $850 million sale of the American Copper Buildings.
Over the course of his lengthy CRE career, Harmon has arranged transactions totaling over $250 billion in value since 1997. He previously worked with Spies at Eastdil Secured before the two jumped to C&W in late 2016 as chairmen of capital markets.
“The deepest bench of commercial real estate talent, across nearly every asset class and business vertical, is at Newmark right now,” Spies said in a statement.
Harmon said, “We are excited to start this new chapter and are committed to stamping an indelible mark on the industry.”
C&W did not immediately return a request for comment.
Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com.
