Movers: CBRE’s Laura Barr Promoted to Americas Retail Leader

Laura Barr, former head of CBRE leasing in San Francisco, has gone national.

The 35-year-old retail leader at CBRE’s San Francisco office has been appointed America Retail Leader for the Dallas-based firm’s Advisory & Transaction Services, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The appointment takes effect immediately.

Barr, who will remain based in San Francisco, will head leasing growth across the U.S., Canada and Mexico on the heels of $11.1 billion in deals last year.

In her 14 years with CBRE in San Francisco, she shaped developments in Ghirardelli Square, Union Square, the waterfront, Oakland’s Uptown Station and beyond.

“I have great confidence in CBRE’s focus on our retail practice and took on this role very intentionally,” Barr told the Business Times.

She will be replaced in San Francisco by her brother, Alex Sagues, a CBRE vice president and member of its San Francisco retail leasing office.

Barr takes on her new role after numerous leadership positions, including a seat on the Americas Producer Advisory Board. She also served as co-chair for the Futures Committee, which researched the impact of autonomous vehicles on real estate values.

In addition to being one of CBRE’s top retail brokers, Barr was the inaugural winner of CBRE’s Darla Longo Award, recognizing “the best and brightest” at the firm.

She’s involved in numerous charities and community organizations, serving as a board member for La Cocina, an incubator for food and beverage businesses in the Bay Area for women of color.

She also serves on the board of Health Hospitality Partners, a real estate development and operating firm focused on health care, and Onsights, an AI-based retail intelligence firm that provides e-commerce analytics for brick-and-mortar stores.

— Dana Bartholomew