One of Newmark Knight Frank’s top retail brokers, Amira Yunis, has left the brokerage to join CBRE, CBRE announced today. Yunis will join the company’s Midtown Manhattan office as an executive vice president in retail services, effective next Monday.

Yunis, who has been with Newmark since 2000, served most recently as executive vice president and principal of the company, where she brokered several high-profile deals such as a Trader Joe’s lease at Union Square (the retailer’s first lease in the city) and an 8,500-square-foot space at the Fred French Building at 551 Fifth Avenue to the clothing retailer Tommy Bahama.

“Amira has steadily and intelligently built a notable retail real estate business in New York, including prime international and national brands,” said Matt Van Buren, president of the New York tri-state region at CBRE. -- Katherine Clarke… [more]

CB Richard Ellis promoted Matt Van Buren to president of the New York Tri-State Region, the firm announced today. Van Buren had served as an executive managing director of the Midtown Manhattan brokerage division since 2009 after joining the firm as a managing director in 2006.

Van Buren is replacing Mitch Rudin, who, as The Real Deal previously reported,  left CBRE in June to serve as the president and CEO of U.S. commercial operations for developer Brookfield Properties. Van Buren will continue to work out of the firm’s New York City headquarters at 200 Park Avenue. – Adam Fusfeld
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Manhattan office asking rents fell by their largest amount in four months in March even as leasing volume increased, according to data from commercial services firm CB Richard Ellis.

Average asking rents fell by 51 cents per foot in March to $48.27 per square foot, the steepest decline since rents fell by 73 cents in November 2009 to $49.17 per foot, CBRE data shows.

Over the previous three months, the average asking rent in the market fell by an average of only 14 cents per foot. The flattening in the decline in rents was seen as an indicator of stability in pricing.

Matthew Van Buren, executive vice president at CBRE, said the fluctuations in asking rent may just be individual large deals swaying the market. … [more]

From left: Stephen Siegel and Matthew Van Buren, both of CBRE

A day after a Cushman & Wakefield broker said at a quarterly market briefing that the vacancy rate Downtown could rise by two-thirds, a top broker at competitor CB Richard Ellis gave a more optimistic view of the area during its own briefing today.

Stephen Siegel, chairman of global brokerage at commercial services firm CBRE, said many of the financial giants may not give back all the space once expected. He, along with executive managing director Matthew Van Buren, spoke this morning at the CBRE fourth-quarter market briefing at the firm’s Midtown office.

“I also believe with the exception of 85 Broad [Street], Goldman Sachs will probably retain a lot more space than they were anticipated to, maybe 1 New York Plaza, etc.,” he said. “I think Merrill [Lynch] will stay. If not with all their space then with a significant amount of their space. That is my opinion.”

Although he would not identify Goldman Sachs by name, he suggested in another instance that the firm had removed from the market 260,000 square feet previously offered for sublet at 1 Liberty Plaza, and once again utilized that space. … [more]