Movers & Shakers: Ackman-Ziff managing director heads to JLL & more

JLL Capital Markets brought on Melissa Rose as a managing director. Rose, previously managing director of Ackman-Ziff’s Miami office, was hired at JLL to expand its debt and equity placement team.

Rose has closed more than $2 billion in first mortgages, mezzanine loans, bridge loans, acquisitions and preferred equity financing. Rose said the demands for capital have changed during the pandemic.

“We’re seeing less acquisitions but we’re still seeing acquisitions, especially in the industrial space,” she said, adding that there is also still “an obvious need for recapitalizations.”

Before Ackman-Ziff, Rose worked at Maxwelle Real Estate Group in Aventura and Eretz Group in New York City.

Jeffrey Soffer’s Fontainebleau Development hired Brett Mufson as president of the company. Mufson was previously head of acquisitions and capital markets at Witkoff, where he worked for 11 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Mufson oversees Fontainebleau Development’s investment strategy, financing, risk management, operations and developments. The company’s properties include the under-construction Turnberry Ocean Club condo tower in Sunny Isles Beach. and the Fontainebleau Miami Beach resort. The $975 million commercial mortgage-backed securities loan for the Fontainebleau entered special servicing last month, but was not in default, as the hotel’s ownership works with its lenders to restructure the agreement.

Soffer launched Fontainebleau Development last year after splitting up interests in Turnberry Associates with his sister, Jackie Soffer. He later hired Bruce Weiner, former CEO of Turnberry Limited, as chief operating officer of residential development for the new company, in addition to Jim Cohen as president of the company’s residential division.