Top Savills Studley I-sales brokers leave for Park Hill Group

Jeffrey Baker and Graham Hobbs – two top brokers who led large multifamily deals at Savills Studley such as the $1 billion sale of the Putnam portfolio and the $315 million sale of Savoy Park – have left for the alternative-asset advisory firm Park Hill Group.

Baker took the position of partner in the real estate group at Park Hill – which advises in areas beyond real estate, including private equity and hedge funds – while Hobbs joined the firm as a managing director, sources told The Real Deal. They will focus on sales, recapitalizations and financing.

The brokers could not be immediately reached for comment.

While at Studley [TRDataCustom], the two worked on some of the firm’s biggest deals as part of the capital transactions group led by managing director Woody Heller.

In 2014, they represented Urban American in the sale of a majority stake in the 4,000-unit Putnam multifamily portfolio in Upper Manhattan and on Roosevelt Island to Brookfield Property Partners for $1.04 billion, which was the largest multifamily deal of the year.

And last year they worked alongside Ariel Property Advisors’ Victor Sozio and Shimon Shkury to broker the sale of the 1,790-unit Savoy Park rent-stabilized apartment complex in Harlem to Fairstead Capital for $315 million.

Studley has added more muscle to its investment-sales team in recent months. The company in February hired CBRE’s Paul Leibowitz and David Krantz, as well as Cushman & Wakefield’s Michael Rotchford.

A source said Baker and Hobbs left after the new hires came on board.

Heller and Rotchford recently picked up the company’s first big assignment since the shakeup: a listing for L&L Holding Company and PGIM Real Estate’s 200,000-square-foot West Chelsea office building at 511-541 West 25th Street, which is asking around $200 million.