Avison Young names new Florida market lead following corporate debt restructuring

Commercial real estate firm Avison Young named a new Florida market leader, filling a position that was vacant for nearly a year. 

Lisa Jesmer assumed the role last month and will remain as company principal and national director for investor services development, a role she has held since joining the firm in 2022, Avison announced in a release. 

The appointment comes after Avison Young finalized its corporate debt restructuring and also wrapped up its in-house reorganization. Toronto-based Avison consolidated its U.S. operations into five regions, as opposed to its previous market-led structure, according to Jesmer. 

“After developing this regional structure in January, I think we were better positioned to select the Florida market lead,” Jesmer said, adding that brokers and employees were not cut in the reorganization. 

Jesmer previously was a Florida-based CBRE broker from 2011 to 2015 and prior to that was with JLL from 1992 to 2010, working in Miami; Washington, D.C.; and Atlanta, according to her LinkedIn. 

In her new role, she will continue to be based at Avison’s Coral Gables office, one of the company’s six Florida outposts, and report to the South regional leader Chris Fraser. 

Although Jesmer is Avison’s broker of record for Florida, she won’t be working on deals. Instead, she will focus on expanding leasing, investment sales, and debt and equity services. This includes potentially tapping new brokers or acquiring smaller firms, as well as expanding Avison’s focus on health care, life science, retail and industrial real estate. 

Also, Jesmer will focus on growing Avison’s business lines, such as project and property management, consulting and valuation services. The move to further diversify into non-brokerage services comes amid a nationwide drop in commercial deals due to elevated interest rates. 

“Real estate management is somewhat of a guaranteed fixed monthly income, so that is something you can rely on, and it’s a service line that is not as affected as some of the other service lines based on economic conditions,” Jesmer said, adding that brokerage still is the biggest revenue source for commercial real estate firms. 

Avison’s previous Florida market leader was Randy Buddemeyer, who was ousted last April after 17 months on the job. In an internal email sent out at the time, Avison cited “cost containment efforts” and added that its focus is “ensuring every dollar spent is effective,” according to Bisnow, which had obtained a copy of the letter. 

In February, Avison was finalizing its loan restructuring to slash its debt by half and push out maturities by five years, in exchange for some concessions to its lenders. The deal is tied to two loans, a $325 million senior loan Avison took out in 2019, and a $50 million senior loan the firm took out in 2022.  

In 2018, Avison also landed a $250 million equity investment from Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. 

In February, S&P downgraded Avison, saying in a news release that the brokerage failed to meet principal and interest payments on its senior loan in the third and fourth quarters of last year. But Avison CEO Mark Rose quickly countered that those nonpayments were part of its restructuring deal with its lenders. 

Jesmer said the debt restructuring is now finalized. 

“We are very well positioned going forward to continue with our growth strategies,” she said, “and focus on recruiting clients and focus on our talents.”

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