Richard B. Hodos took a position as executive vice president at CB Richard Ellis in early December, leaving his post as president of Madison HGCD Retail Group, which he helped found seven years ago.
In 2002, the company, then called HGCD Retail Services, merged with a San Francisco-based retail leasing agency, Madison Marquette, to become Madison HGCD.
Hodos has partnered with senior vice president David LaPierre at CBRE to start a team that will handle tenant representation nationally. So far, the duo has hired an associate director, and is looking to grow their team to a staff of six to eight people.
A seasoned tenant representative, Hodos will bring with him the many clients he represented during his time at HGCD. The big-name clients he plans to bring over include high-end health club Equinox, J. Crew, Limited Brands and fashion designer Michael Kors.
Hodos said his departure from Madison HGCD was amicable, and that the company is not bitter about the loss of business. Madison HGCD declined to comment.
Hodos refers to himself as a consultant first and broker second, advising clients on overall strategy and “not just plopping a store down here and there.”
He said he is looking forward to working at an international company and hopes to represent retailers coming to the U.S. market from Europe or Japan.
His experience with international retailers started when he reintroduced Esprit to the New York market after the clothing company was purchased by a German company in the 1990s and shuttered all of its U.S. locations.
Hodos brokered the deal for Esprit when it reopened its first U.S. store, in the Flatiron district. Since then, he has helped the company open several new spaces, and it is once again a known name in New York. “There are 600 cabs driving around Manhattan with Esprit ads on top of them,” he said.