Movers: Colliers snags Cushman brokers, CenterPoint shakes up leadership & more

As the Chicago office market gets murkier while the industrial sector charges ahead, area dealmakers are making moves of their own, with local and national outfits adding, subtracting and promoting prominent players.

Plus, a fast-growing residential brokerage in the Windy City has carved out a foothold in Florida.

Read on for more Chicago real estate industry moves.

➤ Colliers picked up longtime brokers J. Frank Franzese and Steven Bauer, who represent tenants of office and industrial space. The two jumped to the brokerage’s local shop from Cushman & Wakefield.

They’re set to continue their longstanding partnership — they worked together for 15 years at Cushman — focused on corporate assignments both in Chicago and throughout the U.S.

Franzese and Bauer have collectively managed transactions exceeding 50 million square feet and valued at more than $30 billion, and their client roster includes Medline Industries, NiSource, UBS and others.

➤ Oak Brook-based CenterPoint Properties, one of the nation’s 10 largest industrial landlords, added a new leadership position and filled it with a familiar face.

The firm created a chief operating officer role and appointed Jim Clewlow, its longtime executive vice president and chief investment officer, to lead the firm’s investment, development and asset management teams.

“Jim has been a fixture at CenterPoint for 25 years and has been particularly instrumental in our growth and regional expansion,” CenterPoint CEO Bob Chapman said in a statement. “He will collaborate closely with me, our ownership, and the Board of Directors to help drive our strategic objectives while also assuming new responsibilities for coordinating such objectives with our various business units.”

CenterPoint promoted PJ Charlton, the company’s senior vice president of investments in the company’s East Region, to Clewlow’s former positions of executive vice president and CIO.

➤ Chicago-based construction firm Leopardo named Giancarlo Pacini president, effective Oct. 1. Previous president and CEO, Mike Leopardo, will continue as CEO and work closely with Pacini in transitioning roles.

Pacini, who currently serves as Senior Vice President of Leopardo’s healthcare and senior living markets, will oversee the company’s growth, profitability, and strategic initiatives while keeping oversight of the national healthcare and senior living platforms.

“He knows our company inside and out, he’s experienced, and the fact that he started here as an intern 25-plus years ago is what Leopardo is all about,” Leopardo said in a statement.

➤ Fulton Grace Realty has found some footing in Florida.

The Chicago-based residential real estate brokerage closed its acquisition of DreamWorks Real Estate, a boutique brokerage in Stuart, Florida. The closing marks Fulton Grace’s expansion into the Sunshine State, and the company will initially operate under the brand Fulton Grace | DreamWorks Real Estate.

Led by managing broker Kelly Guttveg, DreamWorks has more than 20 agents, according to Fulton Grace president and founder T.J. Rubin.

In a social media post announcing the deal, Rubin thanked Ted Guarnero, a longtime real estate agent who started in the industry in 1982 in Chicago, for introducing Fulton Grace and DreamWorks to each other. Guarnero had been working with DreamWorks in Florida following a stint with Fulton Grace in Chicago that ended in 2020.

➤ Chicago-based commercial real estate brokerage and investment firm Bradford Allen has brought on a Hines veteran.

Jennifer Murphy joined Bradford Allen as its president of management services, and will oversee the firm’s expanding portfolio of office properties in Chicago and across the nation. She reports to Brian Dovalovsky, senior managing director, and will be based at the firm’s headquarters in downtown Chicago.

Before joining Bradford Allen, Murphy spent 16 years at Hines, where her title was most recently Senior Construction Manager for Salesforce Tower.

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➤ Century 21 Real Estate has affiliated with broker Pablo Galarza to add a shop in Hickory Hills focused on serving the area Latino community.

Galarza, who has previously affiliated with RE/MAX, is calling his bilingual firm Century 21 New Beginnings, and its goal is to add at least 15 agents by March, it said.

“We’re very excited to increase the Century 21 brand’s presence in the Chicago

metro and thrilled that Pablo can extend exemplary service to Hispanic homeowners,”

Mike Miedler, president and CEO of Century 21 Real Estate, said in a statement.