Barry Gosin, Jimmy Kuhn and David Falk

Newmark has been on a talent-poaching spree that seems to be paying off.

In December, the New York-based brokerage arranged a 765,000-square-foot lease for law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison at Fisher Brothers’ 1345 Avenue of the Americas — the biggest office deal of the year in the United States.

For that matter, Newmark also brokered six of the top 10 office leases in New York City last year.

“That’s no surprise because the leaders at the firm are very capable advisers that represent investment firms, law firms, media firms and tech firms that are all the best at what they do,” said David Falk. “It’s all under one roof. You can feel the momentum even in a difficult market.”

Early last year, Cushman & Wakefield’s Doug Harmon and Adam Spies — whom the FDIC hired to find a buyer for Signature Bank’s approximately $60 billion loan portfolio — jumped ship to join Newmark’s investment sales operation, blazing a trail that others soon followed. In January, Newmark welcomed Steven Rotter and Howard Hersch, two of JLL’s most prolific office brokers.

According to longtime Newmark CEO Barry Gosin, the era of the star broker is far from over. “We are an incredibly comfortable place for high-producing talent to reside — we embrace it, we nurture it, we support it,” Gosin said. “It’s an incredibly collaborative, cooperative environment. Our culture is a big part of who we are as a company.”

While Newmark has always been a regional powerhouse in office tenant representation, its ascendancy in capital markets is more recent. Gosin said that side of the business really started to ramp up around seven years ago after Newmark made its initial public offering in 2017 and went on a hiring spree that included Robert Griffin, formerly with C&W, and Kevin Shannon, who departed CBRE for Newmark to help build out its investment sales talent pool.

Newmark’s revenue was up 4.9 percent annually in the first quarter of 2024, though it reported a net loss of $29.8 million in pre-tax income for the quarter.

But Newmark is readying its troops for the $929 billion in commercial and multifamily mortgages coming due this year, one-third of which will likely result in a loan or property sale, Gosin told investors on an earnings call in May.

“We are at the beginning of a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Newmark to grow its business,” Gosin said.