Two veteran Grubb brokers depart for Lee & Assoc.

Howard Rosen, former regional managing director for Grubb & Ellis New York, and John Cannon, former executive managing director there, have left the troubled commercial brokerage to join the New York City office of Lee & Associates, which has a network of locations across the country, the company said in a statement released today.

A number of top professionals have left the New York office of Grubb & Ellis since David Arena, former tri-state chairman, left in 2010 for JPMorgan Chase.

Rosen worked two stints at Grubb & Ellis for a total of 26 years, while Cannon had been there for more than a decade. Both represent landlords and tenants in lease transactions, and are vice chairmen and principals in their new positions. Rosen started his new job Friday, while Cannon began in November, but the move was only announced today.

James Wacht and Peter Braus, principals with boutique commercial firm Sierra Realty, launched Lee & Associates NYC in November. Later that month, the firm announced it hired Joel Herskowitz, the president and CEO of Grubb & Ellis New York from 2001 to 2006, as COO of the local office. In October, retail specialist Patrick Breslin left Grubb to be executive vice president at Studley.

The future of Grubb & Ellis remains cloudy. The stock price has fallen to just pennies in recent weeks, and three months after Andrew Farkas’ C-III Capital Partners announced it had invested in the company, it has not finalized a purchase. — Adam Pincus