David Amsterdam
#75

David Amsterdam

President, U.S. Capital Markets and Northeast Region at Colliers

Last year's rank: 67

David Amsterdam
By May 9, 2024 9:00 AM

It’s been a tough market, but Colliers is soldiering on — including its capital markets team. 

Since David Amsterdam took over its helm in 2018, that team’s market share has grown by nearly 200 percent. Meanwhile, its deals over $25 million in 2022 remained the same as they did in 2021, which it called a “banner year,” and doubled its revenue during that same time. Those deals included brokering the $220 million sale of the industrial property at 13000 Mission Boulevard in Eastvale, Calif., in December; the $232 million sale of Allstate’s Northbrook, Ill., campus that closed in October; and the $240 million sale of 40 acres in Las Vegas to Formula 1 owner Liberty Media.

And Colliers’ 2023 has been off to a good start with its involvement in the $324.2 million sale of the Corona Lakeside Logistics Center in Corona, Calif.; Everglades College picking up a $238 million portfolio spread across Florida; and Reyes Holdings buying the Richmond Distribution Center in Richmond, Calif., for $140 million.

The brokerage also continued its expansion into investment management, bringing its total assets under management to $98 billion by 2022’s end. All of that helped Colliers’ market cap reach $4.9 billion as of March 9, which it said made it the third-largest global real estate firm.

On the financing front, Colliers arranged the $215 million debt for Chinese builder Hongkun and partner Windfall Group’s 285-unit development in Weehawken, N.J., and $343 million in debt and equity financing for Panattoni for a 2.5 million-square-foot industrial park in Pennsylvania.

Its leasing team also had some notable deals in the past year, including Braze subleasing 92,306 square feet at 63 Madison Avenue, and Global Relay taking 76,984 square feet at 1155 Avenue of the Americas.

Amsterdam has helped Colliers’ U.S. team expand its reach across borders and has been working with international buyers hoping to get a foothold stateside. “There is a healthy appetite for long-term foreign capital to take advantage of the current dislocation in the market, and I anticipate we will see an uptick in that arena over the remainder of the year,” Amsterdam said in a statement. “New entrants to the U.S. market will emerge in geographies and asset classes that we did not previously anticipate.”