Cushman & Wakefield hires Marcus & Millichap’s hospitality team

UPDATED, Jan. 30, 12:25 p.m.

Cushman & Wakefield hired a team of brokers from a main competitor by hiring away Marcus & Millichap’s South Florida hospitality team.

This week, David Greenberg, Gabriel Shamay, Christopher Passeggiata, Ely Silverstein, Jesse Lastofsky and Ryan Glasser joined Cushman & Wakefield in Boca Raton, as the brokerage seeks to expand its hospitality business in the Southeast U.S. They were previously in Marcus & Millichap’s Fort Lauderdale office.

The six brokers – along with Charleston, South Carolina-based commercial realtor Rick Redmond, formerly with Hertz Realty Group – will focus on investment sales, Greenberg and a Cushman & Wakefield spokesperson said.

Harrison Rein, regional manager for Marcus & Millichap’s Miami office, did not respond to a voicemail and an email seeking comment. After publication, Marcus & Millichap’s Southeast Division Manager Ryan Nee told TRD that Greenberg did not leave the brokerage in good standing.

“Marcus & Millichap terminated its relationship with Mr. Greenberg in June 2022,” Nee said in an email. “We wish him well in his future endeavors.”

Greenberg, is an 18-year company veteran who grew Marcus & Millichap’s South Florida hospitality business, and mentored agents in the hotel sector, including Shamay and Passeggiata, according to his bio.

“I had been talking to Cushman for a while,” Greenberg told The Real Deal. “There are more opportunities with Cushman. The fact that I can partner with a global company with offices all over the world, it widens the exposure for my clients to get the best eyes and true investors looking at deals.”

During their tenure at Marcus & Millichap, Greenberg and his team generated $1.2 billion in sales volume and closed deals in 23 states, according to a press release. Since the onset of the pandemic, the team has sold 53 hotels and generated more than $511 million in sales, the release also states.

Chicago-based Cushman & Wakefield has hospitality brokers in other offices that do deals nationally, a company spokesperson said. But Greenberg and his team are going to focus on expanding Cushman’s reach in the Southeast U.S., the spokesperson added.

Except for Richmond, the team is based in Cushman’s Boca Raton office with the expectation that some of them will eventually be in Tennessee, Texas and other Sunbelt states so they can “be boots on the ground in other offices,” Greenberg said.

Their first week is already proving they made the right move, Greenberg said. “Yesterday, I had a Zoom call with people in France to talk about investment opportunities here in the U.S.,” he said. “Someone at Cushman immediately put me in touch with this group.”

During the courtship, he had multiple conversations and meetings with key Cushman executives that made him fully understand the platform, resources and vast network of contacts the company offers agents, Greenberg said. “The decision became very clear,” he said. “It really became a no-brainer that this is the right place for me and my team.”