Savills makes hire to ride Austin's tech wave; Cushman expands Phoenix team to chase industrial deals; Student housing developer names executive to target apartments

Erin Morales joined Savills as executive managing director and market leader in Austin, Texas, the brokerage said. The 25-year industry veteran came to Savills from Avison Young, where she was principal and managing director. Savills Texas region co-president Cally Miltenberger said the brokerage is seeking to expand Austin services in response to growing demand among technology, healthcare and manufacturing firms.

Morales also worked previously as a senior vice president at CBRE, where she was a tenant representative in the Austin region. Her career includes overseeing lease and sales transactions totaling more than 4.5 million square feet. London-based Savills has more than 600 offices worldwide, including more than 40 in North America.

Cushman & Wakefield expanded its industrial capital markets services in Phoenix by hiring Jack Stamets as director and Madeline Warren as an associate. The brokers will work on the firm’s Mountain West industrial capital markets team led by Executive Vice Chair Will Strong, the firm said.

Stamets previously worked at Clarion Partners in Dallas, where she was a vice president on the company’s industrial team and managed a portfolio spanning 30 million square feet. Warren joined Cushman from Eastdil Secured in Dallas, where she worked as a senior analyst, specializing in investment sales and capital markets and the underwriting of properties in several categories across Sun Belt regions. Both brokers are originally from Phoenix. 

Residential developer Landmark Properties appointed Nikko Politis as senior director of multifamily acquisitions, as it expands its investments in that property category, the Athens, Georgia-based company said. The firm is planning nationwide investments as it looks to build on its prior work in student housing and related infrastructure.

Politis has 15 years of industry experience, with prior leadership roles at The Calida Group, BMC Investments, Ascentris and Starwood Capital Group. His work has included acquisitions, dispositions, financing and portfolio management. During his career, he has handled transactions totaling more than $9 billion. Landmark is one of the largest developers of student housing in the country and has more than $15 billion in assets under management.

Ted Cuthbert rejoined the San Diego office of brokerage CBRE as senior vice president. Cuthbert worked for the past two decades in the San Diego office of Colliers, where he focused on industrial, land and research-and-development property sales in North County and along the Interstate 15 corridor.

Cuthbert previously worked at CBRE from 1988 to 2005. During his 37-year career, he has sold commercial buildings totaling more than 2.5 million square feet and has completed leases involving more than 10 million square feet of space.

Cuthbert is joined at CBRE by senior associate Cynthia Carter and associate Sebastian Sak, who both worked with Cuthbert at Colliers in San Diego. Carter worked on industrial and office leasing in the suburb of Poway, California, after prior work at the publisher Simon and Schuster. 

Industrial developer Agracel promoted Richard Blackwell to the position of vice president of business development, the Effingham, Illinois-based company said. Blackwell joined Agracel in 2018, and the new position expands his previous work in development for the firm.

A 20-year industry veteran, Blackwell has also worked in local and regional economic development roles, as well as in investor relations and public policy positions.

Agracel President Ryan Witges said in a statement that Blackwell's experience and relationships "will aid our pursuits of build-to-suit and sale-leaseback opportunities for all five Agracel offices.” Agracel has developed more than 150 properties with a total of more than 25 million square feet across 22 states during the past 40 years. Its project focus is primarily on secondary and tertiary real estate markets.