Doug Middleton and Bill Shanahan

Middleton and Shanahan have been hard at work these past two years rebuilding CBRE’s investment-sales footprint after kingmaker Darcy Stacom stepped down in early 2024.

They’ve arranged deals like the Archdiocese of New York’s $250 million sale of its headquarters at 1011 1st Avenue to Vanbarton Group for an office-to-residential conversion, Sotheby’s $175 million deal for its building at 1334 York Avenue to Aby Rosen’s RFR and the $100 million sale of Nuveen Real Estate’s 440 Ninth Avenue to David Werner.

They’ve got a tall task ahead of them: Led by Stacom and Shanahan, CBRE’s I-sales group reigned over New York’s biggest deals, competing with Doug Harmon and Adam Spies year-after-year to sell the most prime real estate.

When she left, much of that business migrated to CBRE’s competitors. It’s up to Middleton and Shanahan to bring it back.

Middleton had worked under Harmon and Spies at Eastdil Secured and joined CBRE in 2019. Shanahan had worked with Stacom since the 1980s and stayed on when she left.

To help with more boots on the ground, the team hired Ariel Aber, head of DivcoWest’s New York investments, last year as another dealmaker.

As they look forward, Middleton and Shanahan will try to grow CBRE’s market share in a competitive landscape. New York investment sales grew 18 percent in 2025 to $33.5 billion as the chill from rising interest rates thawed and buyers and sellers returned to making deals.

But competitors like Newmark and Eastdil have consolidated their grip, and CBRE’s team has its work cut out for them.