Mitch Rudin, David Lipson and Janet Woods

Savills has been rapidly expanding geographically across North America since 2020, most notably by opening five new offices, increasing its head count by 10 percent and blazing trails into new industries.

With Mitch Rudin at the helm since July 2020, and Janet Woods as well as David Lipson (who has been at the firm since 1989) leading the brokerage’s Northeast operations, Savills saw a record year in 2021, setting itself up for what could be the best year in the history of the company in 2022.

Laying part of the groundwork for such a run, Savills in June 2021 acquired T3 Advisors, a leading real estate adviser, to expand its brokerage services into the exploding life sciences sector. Over the past 18 months Savills also brought on board Kate North as executive vice president to manage client experiences, and promoted Lipson to North America president.

Moves and growth aside, Savills had a busy run in arranging major deals, including in D.C. and New York.

For two years in a row, the brokerage won the Real Estate Board of New York’s (REBNY) Sales Brokers Most Ingenious Deal of the Year Award, with the most recent one being for the National Urban League’s relocation back to its original home in Harlem.

In February, Savills negotiated a 71,757-square-foot lease for luxury brand Hermès in the land-marked 550 Madison Avenue. A few months before that, in September, Savills represented the U.S. General Services Administration in leasing 1,229,345 square feet for the new headquarters of the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. Valued at nearly $1 billion, it was the largest government lease in nearly two decades in the nation’s capital, according to reports.

Savills also received REBNY’s Edward S. Gordon Memorial Award for its formula to represent 28 gem industry tenants at 608 Fifth Avenue.