Mike Ryan and Brian Linnihan each worked for well over a decade as debt and finance brokers at Cushman & Wakefield and were involved in numerous high-profile deals at the firm. But when the chance emerged to join a larger rival, they and their team jumped at it.
Last week, Ryan and Linnihan made the move to CBRE, the world's largest commercial property brokerage firm by revenue. At Dallas-based CBRE, they serve as vice chairmen, the highest-ranking position for producers at the company. Their teammates Richard Henry and Blake Cohen, senior vice presidents, also joined CBRE.
Ryan said the team moved to CBRE because of the firm's dominant market share across the capital markets spectrum.
"We are also excited about integrating with CBRE’s various debt and sales teams," Ryan said in an email.
Based in CBRE's Atlanta office, the Ryan-Linnihan team will specialize in providing financing options for all types of commercial properties and assets primarily across the Southeast. David Lanier, senior managing director for CBRE in Atlanta, said the team's "deep understanding of the debt and structured finance sector" would benefit the brokerage and its clients.
Ryan said demand for financing for commercial property deals remains strong, though interest rate increases mean clients should be prepared to be pragmatic when seeking funding.
"The debt markets remain very liquid, however, macro-economic conditions are resulting in increased borrowing rates," he said. "Borrowers are adapting to the new rate environment and are looking at all financing options."
CBRE said the Ryan-Linnihan team would complement CBRE’s national debt and structured finance teams. Over the past five years, the team worked on some of the Southeast’s largest and most high-profile deals.
Last year, Linnihan and Ryan were part of the Cushman & Wakefield team that arranged $233 million of acquisition financing for PPF Real Estate's $315 million purchase of SouthPark Center, a 10-building office park with about 1.28 million square feet of space in Orlando. Based on the price, the deal marked one of the largest office sales for central Florida.
In 2020, Ryan, Henry, Cohen and Linnihan, while all at Cushman & Wakefield, arranged acquisition financing for Coastal Ridge Real Estate Partners of Columbus, Ohio, and Saudi Arabian asset management company Sedco Capital for their purchase of Willis Avondale Estates, a 197-unit multifamily property with 8,300 square feet of retail space northeast of downtown Atlanta.
Ryan, who most recently served as a vice chairman at Cushman & Wakefield, worked for nearly 18 years at the Chicago-based global brokerage. Linnihan worked at Cushman from October 2010 until earlier this month. He previously served as a senior vice president at Corporex Capital and a vice president at The Opus Group.
Henry served as a senior director at Cushman & Wakefield and before that spent 12 years with JPMorgan Chase. Cohen, who served as a managing director at Cushman, has worked in capital markets for over 16 years. He previously worked at Voya Investment Management and RR Donnelley Global Real Estate Services.