Compass snags Colliers’ James Emden to head office leasing

Compass has hired another grizzled veteran broker as part of its push into New York’s commercial markets.

The brokerage last month hired office leasing broker James Emden from Colliers International, according to Commercial Observer.

Emden is the latest in a string of executive appointments at the New York-based firm led by Robert Refkin, which in September was valued at $4.4 billion and backed by Japanese conglomerate Softbank. It has more than 200 locations across 80 cities.

Emden told CO that he felt he could merge the “experience and younger generation there” to benefit the firm’s growing commercial outfit. Last February, he represented French asset management firm Tikehau Capital, which paid a neighborhood record $195 a square foot to lease the top floor of Rockpoint’s 412 West 15th Street in the Meatpacking District. He primarily works on the tenant side, and also represented Charter Communications in its 137,000-square-foot deal at 2485 Second Avenue.

Compass has increasingly diversified its brokerage arms, and in August hired the now-defunct Eastern Consolidated veteran Adelaide Polsinelli to lead its new investment sales division. It also hired Polsinelli’s Eastern colleague Robin Abrams to build a commercial leasing team.

In November, Compass hired Kristen Ankerbrandt as chief financial officer, a former Carlyle executive, to overseeing its financial operations, acquisitions and investor relations. [CO] — David Jeans