Florida Brokerage Foundry Commercial Expands to DC Region
Andrew Genova and Justin Barker will lead the Bethesda office
By Keith Loria October 17, 2023 3:26 pm
reprints
Foundry Commercial, an Orlando, Fla.-based brokerage and advisory firm, has expanded to the Washington, D.C., market, tapping real estate veterans Andrew Genova and Justin Barker to lead the effort
Genova will serve as managing director and Barker as vice president at the Foundry office, which will be located at 8001 Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda, Md., and will serve the District, Maryland and Virginia.
“We’re working with the support of a number of other professionals across different offices to get everything keyed up the right way, and allow us to strategically identify what our growth projection in this market is going to look like and which verticals we will build out,” Genova told Commercial Observer.
Genova has 15 years of experience, primarily in tenant representation and occupier services. Most recently, he led the occupier advisory business for Donohoe Real Estate Services. Prior to that, he served as principal at Avison Young. Over his career, Genova’s projects have exceeded 3 million square feet and more than $2 billion in value, with clients that include Inova Healthcare Services, Amazon, Wildlife Conservation Society and Amalgamated Transit Union.
He has had a longstanding relationship with Foundry Commercial, having worked with the firm as a strategic partner and co-broker on several deals over the past decade.
“What drew me to Foundry was seven years ago, I met a lot of them, and there was a lot of really positive energy and I saw things being done just a tad differently,” Genova said. “My immediate goals are to plant the roots for Foundry and continue to compete for tenant rep occupier advisory business with a lot more tools, resources and business intelligence analytics that will allow us to do things smarter and faster.”
Looking at the D.C. market currently, Genova said he feels it’s in the second phase of a new establishment of a baseline of vacancy rate and absorption, and believes it will continue to be a “tenants’ playground” as office buildings look to remain vacant for a long time. He cites the federal government reducing its footprint and the difficulty in office-to-multifamily conversion as adding to the challenge.
Barker, a D.C. native, will serve as a strategic adviser to corporate and nonprofit occupiers within scientific, industrial, government contracting, and technology industries. Over his 16-year career, he has worked with clients such as Amazon, World Bank Group’s International Development Association, Under Armour and law firm Morgan Lewis. He most recently served as a senior adviser with Cresa.
The Bethesda office will be Foundry’s 12th office nationwide, joining locations in places such as Miami, Tampa, Nashville, Atlanta and Dallas.
Keith Loria can be reached at Kloria@commercialobserver.com.
