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

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Caplin’s exit is the latest of severalrecent high-profiled departures at C&W in Miami. The firm is one of South Florida's largest real estate brokeragess and, like other brokerages, has seen few investmeny deals in thelast year. Former branch managetr Tere Blanca left in the spring tolaunch , a firm focusedf on office leasing and sales. Hank executive director of C&W in Florida, was notifie last month that his position was being eliminated. Steelbridge owns and manages propertyuthroughout Florida. It sold , on Miami’sx Brickell Key, for $150 million in 2007 after an eight-yead hold.
Steelbridge founder Gavin Campbellp will continue asmanaging principal, sharing the helm with Caplin. Caplim is one of a handful of commercial brokers involved inSouth Florida’s largest commercial transactions. Caplin said his exit is in responser to a paradigm shift in local investmenrt that comes at the tail end ofa cycle, wher leasing and management for institutional investorss became secondary to market momentum. During the boom yearas leading up to the expectation was that assetse with strong track records could be purchased and flippec quickly forbig returns. For a short period of some owners made thestrategy work, but then the economic meltdownb put the brakes on the market.
Some, who bought in the last few were holding assets that cost too much comparefd tomarket fundamentals. The market has now shiftef back to fundamental principlesof investment, with institutional investorss and private capital “seekinyg to co-invest with strong, nimble, local operating Caplin said. “The market and investore mostlybelieve it’s about operations on the groune and knowing how to position a building in a particulad submarket,” he said. Caplin oversaw more than $7 billiom in transactions at C&W, including $307 million purchase of a half-stakse in downtown Miami’s landmark and full ownership of the 1221 Brickelkl buildingin 2006.
He was involved in the sale of 355 Alhambrsa in Coral Gablesfor $87.3 million in 2008 and is currentlgy working with Hines to refinance its debt at . Caplijn is a graduate of south Miami-Dade County’s Palmettp High School. He graduated from in 1985 witha bachelor’sa degree in finance and real estate. Two yeards later, he left C&W’s appraisal group to launcnh the company’s local investment sales operation.
Caplin was part of a team in the late 1980ds that first specialized in investment sales in Duringthe mid-1990s, Steelbridge Capital had 2 million square feet of commercial real estate in its portfolio in sevehn Florida markets including Jacksonville, Napleas and Miami. They sold much of it from 2005to 2007. Caplin’sa arrival marks another periodof opportunity-investment for the Steelbridge’s Campbell said. "We thinkm valuations are finally starting to lookattractive again,” Campbelol said in a statement.
“The opportunity to buy Florida assets at significant discounts to replacemen t costis imminent, whilwe the long-term job and demographic prospects for Floridaq and the Caribbean basin are as strong as ever. Jay’s leadershilp will be the linchpinh ofour strategy."