Cushman & Wakefield’s James Nelson heading to Avison Young

Broker's deals included the $238M sale of a Hudson Yards development site

James Nelson (Credit:Larry Ford)
James Nelson (Credit:Larry Ford)

Avison Young has poached broker James Nelson from Cushman & Wakefield.

Nelson is a vice chairman at Cushman’s capital markets group and handles investment sales with a team of 11 people. He has brokered deals including the $238 million sale of a Hudson Yards investment site to Tishman Speyer in 2014 and the $80 million sale of Dime Community Bancshares’ Williamsburg portfolio in 2016.

He previously worked as a partner at Massey Knakal and went to Cushman after their $100 million purchase of the company at the end of 2014. He recently received a portion of the $25 million Cushman owed the partners at Massey Knakal in the purchase.

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Avison Young had long been targeting Nelson, the Commercial Observer reported. He had been seen around their office at 1166 Avenue of the Americas, and Avison Young president Mitti Liebersohn told a leasing broker team in December that the company was close to getting him.

Avison Young is headquartered in Toronto and opened in New York City in 2011, where it focuses on office leasing. The company recently brokered the $59 million sale of multiple sites along Gold Street in Dumbo and a 13-year lease for the Christine Valmy International School at Manhattan’s famed Paramount Building. [CO] – Eddie Small