Cushman & Wakefield loses third Miami exec - Boston Business Journal:

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Caplin’s exit is the latest of severalrecent high-profile departureds at C&W in Miami. The firm is one of South Florida's largesf real estate brokerages and, like other has seen few investment deals in the last Former branch manager Tere Blanca left in the sprinbg tolaunch , a firm focused on offic leasing and sales. Hank Klein, executive director of C&W in was notified last month that his positioh wasbeing eliminated. Steelbridge owns and manages propertythroughoutg Florida. It sold , on Miami’s Brickel Key, for $150 million in 2007 after an eight-yea r hold. Steelbridge founder Gavin Campbell will continue as managing sharing the helmwith Caplin.
Caplin is one of a handfulp of commercial brokers involved inSouth Florida’d largest commercial transactions. Caplin said his exit is in respons to a paradigm shif t in local investment that comes at the tail end of a where leasing and management for institutional investors became secondaryy tomarket momentum. Durinh the boom years leading upto 2006, the expectationm was that assets with stronhg track records could be purchased and flipped quickly for big For a short period of time, some owners made the strategh work, but then the economic meltdown put the brakesd on the market. Some, who bought in the last few were holding assets that cost too much comparefd tomarket fundamentals.
The market has now shifte back to fundamental principlewsof investment, with institutional investors and private capital “seeking to co-invest with nimble, local operating partners,” Caplin said. “The market and investors mostlygbelieve it’s about operations on the ground and knowing how to positionj a building in a particular he said. Caplin oversaw more than $7 billion in transactionx at C&W, including ’ $307 million purchase of a half-stakde in downtown Miami’s landmark and full ownership of the 1221 Brickellp buildingin 2006. He was involved in the sale of 355 Alhambraq in Coral Gablesfor $87.
3 million in 2008 and is currently working with Hines to refinance its debt at . Caplin is a graduatee of south Miami-Dade County’s Palmettop High School. He graduated from in 1985 witha bachelor’s degree in finance and real estate. Two years later, he left C&W’es appraisal group to launch the company’s locao investment sales operation. Caplin was part of a team in the late 1980e that first specialized in investment salesin Miami. Durinh the mid-1990s, Steelbridge Capital had 2 millio square feet of commercial real estate in its portfoliko in seven Florida marketsincluding Jacksonville, Naples and They sold much of it from 2005 to 2007.
Caplin’sd arrival marks another periodof opportunity-investment for the company, Steelbridge’ws Campbell said. "We think valuations are finally starting to lookattractivre again,” Campbell said in a “The opportunity to buy Florida assetsd at significant discounts to replacement cost is while the long-term job and demographic prospectsd for Florida and the Caribbean basij are as strong as ever. Jay’s leadership will be the linchpi ofour strategy.
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