Brokerage Lee & Associates has appointed Peter Braus, who most recently served as managing principal, as president of its New York City operation. In his new role, Braus will continue the firm's work to position itself as a key middle-market commercial brokerage in the city, Lee & Associates said. Braus is succeeding James Wacht, who will step down as president and continue to serve as a managing principal and member of the firm’s executive team, the brokerage said. Braus, who co-founded Lee & Associates NYC in 2011, has more than 25 years of real estate ownership and brokerage experience.

Lee & Associates said Braus played a critical role in several high-profile transactions, including the sale of the Banking Hall at 108 Leonard St. to Jack Shainman Gallery and the 30,000-square-foot lease of commissary space to Union Square Hospitality at Terminal Warehouse. He also helped secure City Winery’s 32,000-square-foot flagship location at Pier 57 in a transaction that was recognized as the Real Estate Board of New York’s 2020 Retail Deal of the Year. In addition to appointing Braus as president, Lee & Associates NYC recently hired Todd Korren as a principal and executive managing director and director of leasing. In his role, Korren leads the day-to-day brokerage operation and recruitment, development and management of agents and staff, Lee said.

Cushman & Wakefield has expanded its industrial team in South Florida with the addition of managing directors Andrew Fernandez and Nicolas Palazzo from rival CBRE. Fernandez and Palazzo will be based in Cushman & Wakefield's Miami office and focus on industrial brokerage and advisory services, the firm said. The duo will join the industrial brokerage team that includes Vice Chair Wayne Ramoski, Managing Director Skylar Stein and Associate Ivanna Leitner-Perez. The larger team will focus on expanding the brokerage's established presence in the region, Cushman said. The addition of Fernandez and Palazzo will help Cushman & Wakefield "as we thoughtfully build out our vision for our industrial platform within South Florida," Wanda Riley, managing principal for Florida, said in a statement. In their previous jobs at CBRE, Fernandez and Palazzo worked on the industrial and logistics services team in Miami, where they specialized in landlord and tenant representation and the off-market sale of properties. Last year at CBRE, they worked on transactions with an aggregate value of more than $150 million. They represented clients including DB Schenker, AGI Group, Realterm, Faropoint and Bridge Industrial.

Newmark has hired Bryan Beel, who worked for two decades at CBRE, to lead its valuation and advisory group's multifamily specialty practice. In his new role, Beel will provide national direction to the group and work to expand its team, fortify client relations and spearhead new business development efforts, Newmark said. He will be based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and report to Helene Jacobson, executive managing director and the U.S. valuation practice lead. During his 20 years at CBRE, Beel oversaw a large portfolio and the completion of more than 3,000 multifamily valuation assignments in addition to 1,000 valuations of office, retail and industrial properties. Newmark's multifamily valuation practice works with mortgage lenders and institutional owners to value high-rise and garden-style apartments, student housing condos and other properties.

Chesapeake Real Estate Group, or CREG, has formed a new group focused on long-term investments and tapped Gene Parker, who has more than 30 years of industry experience, to lead it. In his new role, Parker will oversee the division that has the goal of acquiring up to $250 million of office, retail and industrial properties that have investment upside potential, CREG said. With the hiring of Parker, CREG founder, managing partner and principal Jim Lighthizer will transition to CEO, the company said. CREG said it plans to expand its portfolio by targeting acquisitions of $3 million to $20 million that are at least 50% occupied and offer the opportunity to create value. Ideal properties will be located within a 90-minute drive of Baltimore-Washington International, or BWI, Airport, said the company based in greater Baltimore.

CREG's principals recently formed a joint venture with Thompson Creek Window Co. CEO Rick Wuest, who joined them as an investor and adviser. CREG and Wuest have acquired three properties for a total of more than $20 million. together. As for Parker, he previously worked at Continental Realty Corp. for 26 years, during which time he served as president for a decade. Over the past 12 years, he has been directly involved in raising over $500 million in private equity funds. In hiring Parker and adding Wuest as an investor, "CREG has attracted two leaders with the ability to drive growth," Lighthizer said in a statement.

The RMR Group has appointed Summit Walia as a vice president and head of residential acquisitions. In this new role, Walia will spearhead the execution of RMR's residential investment strategy across the U.S., the company said. He will report to Rob Lester, senior vice president and chief investment officer of residential. Walia, who has more than 20 years of real estate investment experience at large institutional asset managers, most recently served as a managing director of real estate acquisitions at LaSalle Investment Management, where he oversaw a team that completed transactions in the U.S. West. Before that, he served as executive director of real estate acquisitions at JP Morgan Asset Management. During his career, Walia has closed more than $5.2 billion in acquisitions, including more than $4.1 billion in the residential sector.

CBRE has promoted Rob Burlingame and Josh Aguilar, a duo that's worked together since 2012 in the brokerage's industrial and logistics group, to executive vice president. Burlingame and Aguilar focus on representing tenant and landlord industrial clients in Central and South Texas. Their client list ranges from local firms to Fortune 500 companies. Combined, Burlingame and Aguilar have completed transactions with an aggregate volume of more than $2.5 billion.

Burlingame joined CBRE in 2001 and has spent his entire career at the firm. Aguilar joined CBRE in 2012. John Moake, managing director of CBRE’s San Antonio office, said the pair have played a significant role in the operation.